New brake pads or what?

desodon

Hi there. My friend has a 99 VW Passat. I had to drive it from Cork to Dublin yesterday. The brakes seemed really bad on it I had to press them hard to stop. Then coming up the M7 lastnight/yesterday and there was a tailback due to an accident. I braked coming in and there was a grinding noise after breaking so I pulled in checked the oil/brake fluid. Then I pulled out into slow moving traffic again and noticed the brakes had completely gone. I had to use handbrake. When I pressed brake pedal in went all the way down to floor with very little resistance and nothing happening. Then there was a puff of white smoke came from the front right tyre - but that only happened once. There was also some griniding noises on the way back. When I got back to Dublin the brake fluid seemed to be below MIN and we had lost a good bit of it. There seemed to be brake fluid all over the wheel and side of car. What needs to be done to this vehicle? it's not worth much. Is there anywhere cheap in Dublin we could get it done? Why was the brake fluid leaking? tHANKs in advance!

Anan1

FFS, STOP DRIVING THE CAR. Have it towed to a mechanic.

desodon

Anan1 wrote: »

FFS, STOP DRIVING THE CAR. Have it towed to a mechanic.

Ya it's parked up now like, but do ye know what's wrong with it?

DublinDilbert

desodon wrote: »

Ya it's parked up now like, but do ye know what's wrong with it?

It sounds like its got a hydraulic leak. Your going to need to get a mechanic to identify the source of it and fix it. Could be a brake calliper seal, flexible hose pipe, metal brake line etc...

challengemaster

desodon wrote: »

Hi there. My friend has a 99 VW Passat. I had to drive it from Cork to Dublin yesterday. The brakes seemed really bad on it I had to press them hard to stop. Then coming up the M7 lastnight/yesterday and there was a tailback due to an accident. I braked coming in and there was a grinding noise after breaking so I pulled in checked the oil/brake fluid. Then I pulled out into slow moving traffic again and noticed the brakes had completely gone. I had to use handbrake. When I pressed brake pedal in went all the way down to floor with very little resistance and nothing happening. Then there was a puff of white smoke came from the front right tyre - but that only happened once. There was also some griniding noises on the way back. When I got back to Dublin the brake fluid seemed to be below MIN and we had lost a good bit of it. There seemed to be brake fluid all over the wheel and side of car. What needs to be done to this vehicle? it's not worth much. Is there anywhere cheap in Dublin we could get it done? Why was the brake fluid leaking? tHANKs in advance!

I actually can't believe what I've just read. No RSA advert can cure this kind of stupidity

desodon

DublinDilbert wrote: »

It sounds like its got a hydraulic leak. Your going to need to get a mechanic to identify the source of it and fix it. Could be a brake calliper seal, flexible hose pipe, metal brake line etc...

Cool thanks Dilbert. Are these big jobs? Is it worth it on a 99 Passat?

biko

Have a mechanic look at it and give you a quote, then decide if it's worth it.

DublinDilbert

desodon wrote: »

Cool thanks Dilbert. Are these big jobs? Is it worth it on a 99 Passat?

They are only really worth doing if you want to be able to stop.

Like with everything the cost will vary greatly, where you bring the car to, they state of the braking system etc, ect...

Unless its a freak occurrence that this leak has occurred, I would imagine the rest of the braking system will also need work, to keep the car roadworthy and safe.

coylemj

When I were a young lad there was a guy up in court for having no functioning brakes in his car. When the judge asked him how he stopped the car he said that he used to drive into town on Fridays to collect the pension but he drove very slowly and when he wanted to stop he opened the driver's door and stopped the car with his right boot!

desodon

coylemj wrote: »

When I were a young lad there was a guy up in court for having no functioning brakes in his car. When the judge asked him how he stopped the car he said that he used to drive into town on Fridays to collect the pension but he drove very slowly and when he wanted to stop he opened the driver's door and stopped the car with his right boot!

Ah ya - that'll do!

desodon

Can anyone recommend a good garage/handyman in southside Dublin for this kind of work?

biko

Try a search like this
http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=good+dublin+garage+site%3Aboards.ie