So I was driving back to school from thanksgiving break today and I was going about 60 mph when I heard "clunk cluck clunk" in the back tire of the drivers side of my car. I pulled over as soon as I found a safe spot about 2 miles down the road and I could smell my brakes and my car was braking really funny-- kind of a rough stop shaking back and forth.
So a police officer stopped behind me and asked if I was okay. I told him what happened and he suggested that I just keep driving since I was 100 miles from home and 70 miles from school and a tow truck in either direction would cost an arm and a leg. He said drive slow and use caution and I should be okay. So I did.
I even stopped midway through the rest of the 70 mile drive to school to call my stepfather and ask if I should drive or call a tow from there and he even said 'keep going.'
It was going okay until I would drive over 40 mph and then the clunking and screetching and scraping would happen again. When I had to stop, I used a combination of the emergency brake and the foot brake even though they made really loud awful noises.

Finally, after a very long and stressful drive, I got about 10 miles outside of the town where my college is and all the sudden, in the middle of town, when I was about 400 feet (!!!!!!!!) from the service station my brakes locked up and I skidded down the road 20 feet. I tried to get to the side of the road and then I walked the rest of the way to the service station. The repairman drove his tow truck a total of 400 feet down the road to tow me to his station.

SO-- MY QUESTIONS ARE:

1.) What the heck is wrong with my car? Is it the brakes? The drums? The rotars?

2.) How much will it cost to fix it?

3.) How much will the tow truck cost?

4.) Did I damage my car MORE by continuing to drive it after the brakes had problems, or was that better than calling a tow?

5.) Should I be worried? I feel really upset and nervous and I need some reassurance that this is not a big issue.

Thanks to anyone who can give me some good information and advice! It means a lot.

 

1. Sounds like the caliper/ drum locked up and would not release the brakes, and basically would overheat the rotor and pads.
2. Depends on where you take it. To do it yourself, then around 75-150 for parts depending on the car. A dealership, around 300-500.
3. Tow Truck is usually a 50-75 hook up fee, then around 2-3 dollars a mile.
4.Depends on the milage, but should be an easy fix, as long as it didnt take out the wheel bearing from overheating. then add this to the cost, and a tow truck would have been cheaper.
5. Worried, no, its only a car, and they break all the time.. if they didnt Auto Zone would not be in business.