I recently had an issue with my Ford E350 cutaway school bus. The front brakes started smoking, and I assumed it was a stuck caliper, but the brake place I stumbled into (I was 3000 miles from home) told me no, it was my rear brakes, and the fact that they were messed up was causing my FRONT brakes to smoke. They showed me a piece of SOMETHING which MIGHT have been a drum liner. It looked like black rubber, shaped like a tongue, and curved. I found out afterwards that there is nothing rubber on the rear drum brakes, so either I was mistaken as to its composition or they were testing to see how dumb I am. I guess I tested high on the dumb scale because I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to brakes. They said when they took off the wheel to inspect them the rear brakes literally fell apart, so I was of course stuck. It's not like I could drive anywhere else. Well over a grand later, I caught a glimpse of notes they were writing to each other behind the counter that led me to believe (I suspected it already) that they were using my lack of brake knowledge to rip me off.
I'm no mechanic but I know my bus, and I pay a LOT of attention when it acts funny. Though I know the front brakes bear most of the burden in this vehicle, I can't help thinking I would have felt SOMETHING if my rear brakes were falling apart, and the idea that the front brakes were smoking because the back brakes were bad just does not sit right with me.
Fifty or so miles later, the front started smoking again and what fixed it was replacing the master cylinder. Further evidence for my theory, but not absolute proof that the scenario the brake shop laid out could NOT have been true. But the rear brakes were a significantly more expensive repair so I'm thinking that would have been the motive, I guess.
So... not because I can do anything about it, but because I'd like to know for future reference, is it even possible that my front brakes would start smoking because of a problem with my rear brakes?
I'm no mechanic but I know my bus, and I pay a LOT of attention when it acts funny. Though I know the front brakes bear most of the burden in this vehicle, I can't help thinking I would have felt SOMETHING if my rear brakes were falling apart, and the idea that the front brakes were smoking because the back brakes were bad just does not sit right with me.
Fifty or so miles later, the front started smoking again and what fixed it was replacing the master cylinder. Further evidence for my theory, but not absolute proof that the scenario the brake shop laid out could NOT have been true. But the rear brakes were a significantly more expensive repair so I'm thinking that would have been the motive, I guess.
So... not because I can do anything about it, but because I'd like to know for future reference, is it even possible that my front brakes would start smoking because of a problem with my rear brakes?
