Hi all

Well I was so impressed with the wife's automatic Rocky (sportrak) that I went and got me a new toy in the shape of a uk spec manual sportrak.

until now it been fine for the last 2 weeks and I have covered loads of miles in it including motorway and local stuff.

This is where it all went wrong.......

On my way to run an errand today, I was going allong the A5 through nuneaton and there are roundabouts every few miles, on pulling away from one of them the car stained as if it was fighting/pulling something lerched forwards and strained again and again and again, as if I had square wheels.

So I promptly changed direction and went down a quieter road, got out looked under the car got back in tried it forwards and reverse without any faults, plucked up enough courage to take it back onto the A5 and went to the next roundaboute when pulling away it made a different noise that I can only describe as as cogs grinding, then came a loud bang as if something jumped back and it was ok.

Not wanting to take anymore chances I called the AA out, not much use.... the patrol bloke just orded a transporter to take me home, it arrived eventualy.

when I got home, I got all wheels off the ground using axle stands, started the engine and tried all gears in 2H 4H & 4L
what I noticed was that the near side (left) front wheel was not turning on idle and if I reved the wheel stopped as soon as the revs dropped. Took the wheel off and inspected the brakes, they were non existant.

so my question is.............

could a siezed/stiff near side front brake cause gear grinding noise's in the 2h possition?

and how much damage have I done?

I'll be changeing the front pads tomorow and test riding, will post results as soon as I'm confident I have fixed it, In the mean time ANY sugestions, solutions, idea's, expereiences are most welcome.....