Front brakes dragging and smoking

[Anonymous]

had a first time experienced yesterday when I noticed the car started slowing down and losing power as I was tryna give it more gas, I went to mash the brakes and the pedal was real tight, I threw it in 1st and the car went nowhere and the front brake began to start smoking on both sides I let it sit for about a half hour and they were fine but I don't know what could cause that to happen it's the first I've seen something like that happen anyone here has that same experienced ?

 

[sperold]

You are going to have to tell us what you have done lately. That is one odd problem.

The only thing I can think of (no matter how far out it is) is that your 2 front flex hoses failed simultaneously. Here are some questions:
If you do not touch the brake pedal and go on a drive, does this problem not appear? I am talking about the first drive of the day.
Does this problem materialize if you stomp on the brakes a bit harder than usual.

The other thought is the master cylinder has a failure, and the rear brakes are affected too, but the fronts show the smoke because they are doing most of the work.

The failure of the flex hoses are internal and can't be detected. The inner hose bunches up and will allow the pressure of your foot pedal to go through, but the forces that return the pads to their rest position are not great enough to do that job, hence the brakes remaining on.

 

[luigisho]

Things that come to mind with more than one caliper binding is bad master cylinder, brake booster and air in the lines/ abs system. Is this car driven frequently? I have seen sliders corrode and stick --also agree with above rubber hoses deteriorate but it's usually only one at a time when it's happened on my cars

 

[black92]

I just went through a similar issue. Cold the car rolled find. Drive a few miles and warm brakes up, all four wheels would start dragging.
Problem started after I installed a new master cylinder. I tore down the master to find a port not drilled through 100%. I finished the hole and all good.

Did you recently replace the master and or booster recently?

 

[AREA 91]

I have seen a slightly sinking brake pedal do this as well.
Next time you take a drive, use your toe and pull up on the brake pedal and see if the dragging goes away. If it does, you have a bad booster.

 

[shomanbob]

I have had a similar problem that seems to come and go over several years. Yesterday I took my SHO for a very nice drive of about 40 miles with a few stop signs along the way. No problem until, at the end, I found myself in rush hour traffic that involved a lot of red lights and stop-and-go driving. As I got close to home I sensed that the brakes were not releasing. There were instances where the car was on an slight incline after stopping but did not roll as it normally would. When I got in the the driveway, both front wheels were very hot, while the backs were not. After the car sat for a while and everything cooled down, all was back to normal.

 

[rubydist]

In addition to the items mentioned above (bad master cylinder, bad calipers, bad abs system, flex hoses damaged) you could have a rusty brake hard line such that it is restricted enough that the caliper cannot back off from the rotor. Unfortunately, you will have to diagnose this yourself, as we cannot tell you over the internet which of those items it may be that is causing the issue. However, since you said it appeared to be similar on both sides rather than just one side, it is more likely that it is something that affects both - the master cylinder, the hard lines, or the abs system.