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I own a Ford Focus ZX4 LE 2.0 engine. This is on my Android so bullet points are not available. But I would explain as good as I can.

-The problem I have is when I drive anywhere either on the highway or regular road.
The brakes would get tight and make my speed diminish quickly. It doesn't happen often. Once in a while usually happens in the heat during the day.

What happens is that the brakes get tight like it doesn't know my foot is off the pedal and still brakes slowly When it hits 40 it would advance more than that. If it does I would be forcing the transmission but when it goes over 50 then when I let go of the accelerator goes back down quick (could cause an accident if someone is tailgating me )

  • the brake pedal is hard when this happens

-doesn't go more than 40 if I let go of the accelerator it would slow down quick like if I were braking

-this happened recently my mechanic said the wheel baring or "arm" he called it is loose making a click sound when I hit a pothole I'm not sure if that could be the cause

-smoke comes out of the brakes when I'm driving I'm guessing because of the friction

-my mechanic gave up on me and my car xD

  • I've changed the caliper , breaks and even the brake disk two times.

  • could it be the brake line ? Or the caliper isn't on correctly ?

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  • Welcome to the site. This is a little hard to follow... If I'm reading correctly, the main problem that you are currently having is that the brakes are too tight and are stopping the car even when the pedal is not pressed?
    – JPhi1618
    Apr 18, 2016 at 17:28
  • Perhaps if you could edit it down to ONLY the relevant components of your question with bullet points it could simplify everything and make it a little easier to understand.
    – DucatiKiller
    Apr 18, 2016 at 18:01
  • Yeah after I let it sit , it would cool down and I press on the brakes while the car is off and sounds and feel like they loosen up.
    – user16536
    Apr 18, 2016 at 18:14
  • Does it get better after you let the car sit for a bit? If so, that's a sign of a bad flexible line swelling up.
    – rpmerf
    Apr 18, 2016 at 18:36
  • Have you changed the brake fluid with new fluid of the recommended type, and fully bled the brakes? Did you lubricate the sliders when you replaced the caliper?
    – TMN
    Apr 19, 2016 at 17:02

3 Answers 3

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Here are some places to start:

You car has a wheel bearing inside a wheel hub assembly (the part you bolt the tire to), there are also one or two control arms that are part of your suspension. Normally the bushings inside these control arms tear or disintegrate (they are usually a rubber compound) and the mounting components (a pin and clevis system) will bang against each other when you drive over something hard, causing the banging sound.

Smoke from the breaks sounds like oil. Unless you used a lot of brake grease when you installed the new parts I would check to see if there is oil on the calipers in the morning before you drive it.

Since the car seems to decelerate abnormally quickly and there may be oil on one of the rotors you should inspect and replace the brake lines. Like rpmerf mentioned in his comment if your brake line is swelling the pressure could be causing your brakes to stick. When the brakes cool down the swelling decreases and the brakes will operate normally until they warm up again.

Some other things that can cause brakes to stick are:

  • misaligned caliper (one loose bolt?)
  • misaligned pads (something lodged between pad and caliper?)
  • inteference - something simple like a rock stuck in between your pad a caliper?

Finally you could have a bad wheel bearing. Does the wheel spin okay with the caliper off?

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I've checked the brake fluid frequently and also yes I've tried a couple different brands. Even dot 4 when in the manual it says dot 3. Only thing that seems to help is letting the car sit and press on the brakes while the car is off so loosen them up.

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I'm not familiar with Ford Focus, but I used to have a '77 Plymouth Fury that had this problem, it was a valve in the master cylinder not allowing the front brakes to release, and any dragging would cause expansion to cause the brakes to apply, aggravating the condition to the point where it wouldn't move, even though I was spinning the back wheels on dry pavement. Cracking the brake bleeders would "fix" it during any particular instance by releasing the pressure. The final fix was a new master cylinder

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