What happens if you lock your brakes

A vehicle with ABS brakes is unlikely to lock up unless a component in the system is kaput. Damaged disc brakes, calipers, rotors, wheel bearings, and a handful of other parts can cause the lock up.

An ABS-equipped car will prevent locking automatically when you start losing grip on rough tracks. All you will feel is a beating sensation in the brake pedal at the time of hard braking. Just ignore it and keep the pressure on the pedal to bring the car to a safe stop. Driving Tips. Maintenance Tips. Car Review.

Car Comparison. The brake system is completing the pumping on your behalf. To schedule an appointment or get in touch, give us a call at or email us at service tommyht. Phone: Fax: Email: service tommyht. Phone: Email: service tommyseuro. Denton, TX. Plano, TX. About Tommy's. Our Team. There is typically a grinding sound every time you hit the brakes. When your brakes are dragging, it prevents them from disengaging properly.

The grazing of two metals within the system of the brakes will produce a burning smell and can even lead to extreme damages. A seized caliper or brake pad is the usual culprit why your brakes are not releasing. This normally occurs because of ageing or rusting.

Naturally, you will notice your car pulling to one side when you press down on your brakes. If the culprit of the brake issue is the parking brake cable or mechanism, an asymmetrical pad, or the pads are sticking to the disc, the solution is quite simple. Detaching the pads and applying a small amount of grease to the edge should take care of the skewed pads, while lubricating the parking brake system should resolve the issue.

The solution is replacing the pads and resurfacing the disc once stuck pads have been freed from a disc. For locked up slide pins, or caliper pistons, a specific tool is available to apply force and retract the pad.

Most of the time, a regular C-clamp can be used. To detach a caliper piston that has become locked up or stuck, the hydraulic pressure of the brake system itself can be used. Take the caliper off from the disc, and pump the brake pedal to move the piston past the corroded or oxidized portion.

After that, you should be able to disassemble and rebuild it. Check out this link if you want to know how your braking system works. If you notice that your vehicle pulls to one side, or you smell burning, it could be that one or more of your brakes are locked up or seized. There are several factors why brakes get locked up or bind, but it is usually because something in the system got locked up, or became stuck.

The piston can cling within the caliper. Brake pads can get asymmetrical and lock up. Sometimes the slide pins get stuck up on single-piston calipers. In the end, the pads can actually become stuck to the disc if a vehicle is left to sit in a damp environment.

The symptoms are quite obvious if a brake becomes stuck when the vehicle is unused. When you try to run the vehicle, it feels like the brakes are on.

It can be really bad to the point that the vehicle will not even budge at all. The vehicle may appear to run normally, however, the pads will only be shoved onto the disc from the piston side, if the caliper slide pins are the ones that have seized. The reason behind the bakes locking up may be a number of things, from the calipers seizing to the brake cable locking to fluid being low. Have your car towed to a garage where it can be diagnosed and fixed before you drive it again.

Safe Car Maintenance Tips: Getting the most out of the car battery. Aaron is unashamed to be a native Clevelander and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo which recently replaced his Saturn SC