Is it safe to drive with a loose or detached brake caliper?
Driving with a loose or detached brake caliper is extremely dangerous and can cause total brake failure. Even if a mechanic is nearby to fix a warranty issue under your car's warranty, attempting to drive with compromised brakes risks losing control of the vehicle completely.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1finding another ride home
- 2towing the vehicle
- 3trying to have a mobile mechanic come look at it
- 4driving the car to the original mechanic who installed the brakes to utilize the warranty
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“heard clunking and saw this when I checked is this safe to drive home with?”source ↗
“got to work yesterday and there was a clanking noise whenever i put the car in reverse. It's gotten worse and come to find out the front left caliper is loose.”source ↗
“Trying to have a Mechanic come tomorrow to look at it but if I cant I may have to drive to the mechainic who installed these brakes. He gives a 12 month warranty and would fix them for free...its this an awful idea?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 6How to get a stuck brake rotor off the hub
- 4Pushed CV axle in while changing brake rotors
- 4Why do brakes still fail after replacing calipers and bleeding?
- 4Why is my brake caliper piston so hard to compress?
- 3Brake parts missing or falling off after service
- 3Cracked engine head while torquing oil pressure sensor