I think one of my wheels is rubbing against something.

Wheety

My partner went to use the car earlier and said there was a bang when she took the handbrake off. We don't use the car during the week and had a problem before with the handbrake kind of seizing up. I'm not sure if this is the same thing. I reversed it out of the driveway and it was making a funny noise. Sounded like something rubbing. Drove down the road and back and could smell burning rubber.

Have parked it up outside the drive for the night as it is flatter and I've just left it in gear and no handbrake.

Any ideas on what I could try tomorrow? I'll try and look under the car but I'm not sure what I'm looking at to be honest. Should I try removing each wheel to see if I can get a better look?

colm_mcm

If there was burning rubber the tyre would be hot, proceed with caution obviously.
You could always chock the wheels, put on a flat surface, jack the car up and see if the wheel turns easily with e handbrake odd. If the brakes were stuck, they'd be getting hot too after driving.
Be careful touching hot brakes, they get very hot.

If the tyres were rubbing, it should have been obvious.

Wheety

I'm not very good with cars

I don't have chocks but could I jack up one corner at a time and see if the wheels move freely? If one is stuck, should I try and take it off and see what's causing it?

irish bloke

Stuck on brakes will give that burnt rubber type smell.

No need to remove wheels right now, just jack up the back wheels (one side at a time on a flat surface) and see are they running freely with the handbrake down.

If not you cable has most likely snapped which will need repairing

Wheety

Ok. Managed to jack the car up on one side (passenger) and the back wheel was moving freely. The front wheel however was sticking. I took the wheel off and it seems like the pads are rubbing against the disc.

Is this something I can remedy myself? Are there any videos I can watch?

I haven't tried the drivers side yet as it started bucketing down and i ran inside :mad:

colm_mcm

was the car out of gear (in neutral) when you checked?

Wheety

Yeah, in neutral and handbrake off.

colm_mcm

You'd really be better off getting a mechanic to fix it, if you haven't gone at brakes before it's not the best time to start.

not sure if breakdown assistance would be of any help here, you might have it on your insurance.

Wheety

I do have breakdown assist.

Would there be a way to release the brake calliper so I could drive to a mechanic? Would it just stick again it I managed to release it?

colm_mcm

There's every chance it would stick again once you applied the brakes.
Ring your breakdown assist, they may tow you to a garage. Not many places open at this stage of the day though.

Wheety

Called the breakdown assist and a guy came to tow the car away. He said it's a broken coil. Didn't really notice myself but the front was a lot lower than the back. He said this would be pushing into the wheel and stopping it from turning.

Will be towed to a garage on Monday. Will let you know the final verdict.

I really know nothing about cars

colm_mcm

Fiesta?

Wheety

Yeah, 9 years old now.

Cheensbo

Just as a fyi - what he calls a broken coil is a Broken coil spring - the spring that you can see when you look under your arch.

Not a big problem, very common across a lot of cars - shouldn't be expensive to sort out at all. 30-70e for the spring and an hour labour I reckon.

Wheety

Cheensbo wrote: »

Just as a fyi - what he calls a broken coil is a Broken coil spring - the spring that you can see when you look under your arch.

Not a big problem, very common across a lot of cars - shouldn't be expensive to sort out at all. 30-70e for the spring and an hour labour I reckon.

Yeah sorry. He did say coil spring. I said the wrong thing.