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I know almost nothing about cars, I have an 05 Vauxhall Corsa 1.2

The other day I had to brake hard, like the hardest I've ever braked, but it wasn't full foot down. As I stopped, I noticed a large puff of smoke from my front right tyre and an instant burning smell.

It dissipated after a while and has been fine for two days, the car handling and breaking feels normal. I assumed that I just made the breaks worked hard during the fast stop, maybe worn/burnt something on on my break pads?

On the way back from work after driving for 20mins I started smelling a burning smell and I think I could see smoke (it was raining super hard) and as I stopped the car (and turned it off) there was a noisy vent sound that continued for a minute and then turned itself down to less of a noise and then stopped, I opened the bonnet and the smell of burning wasn't strong, I couldn't see any smoke, leaks or anything obvious - I couldn't really isolate where the noise was coming from either.

Turned the car back on and there were 0 warning lights.

I took the car out again 3-4 hours later and it didn't happen again and it was an even longer drive.

Can anyone help me isolate the problem? I had a full MOT (I know MOT's are just to check car is legal) 4 months ago and there were no faults, however I have yet to have my full service (almost a year since the last one).

Thanks for any advice.

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    Maybe stuck/sticky caliper? All you've described is some pretty vague symptoms and anything would be kind of a shot in the dark. It could be related to the brakes, might not be. Have you taken it to a mechanic and had them look at it?
    – Becuzz
    May 31, 2016 at 18:09
  • Most car brake shops will give you an evaluation for free (because they hope they'll get the work). Take it to two or three, and if they agree something is broken, it's probably broken. The noise may, I think, be a red herring because it happens after the car is stopped and turned off.
    – PeteCon
    May 31, 2016 at 18:18

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Smoke coming from brakes isn't very common. I would monitor your oil level to make sure that you are not burning or leaking oil somewhere from the engine. When you start your car, walk around it and see if you see smoke coming from the exhaust or engine compartment.

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