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Brake maintenance is one of the most important parts of regular car servicing. After all, your brakes are what helps you stop. Or, what keeps you from careening off the road or into another vehicle. So yeah, they are kind of important.
When we think about brake maintenance, the most common part that comes to mind is brake pads, and for good reason. Brake pads are what allows the callipers to produce the friction that ultimately slows the wheels down.
Obviously after a while, this repeated friction causes them to wear down. The more worn they get, the less effective they are at stopping your vehicle. And if they get worn out completely? Your brakes become non-existent. The repercussions of that could be terrible.
We are not here to scare you. In fact, this post is all about helping you know when the right time is to have your brake pads changed. So you can avoid the headache and cost of more extreme repairs needing to be done later on. Here are 3 effective ways to tell if you need to replace your brake pads.
The most obvious indication your brake pads are worn out is the sound your vehicle starts to make when you brake. If you begin to hear a faint scraping, squealing, clicking or even a buzzing sound every time you brake, this means your brake pads are severely worn down and your wear indicators are beginning to scrape against your rotor.
This is a way to warn drivers that their brake pads are in danger of completely eroding away. Think of these sounds as early alarm bells. Heed the advice and book an appointment ASAP!
Is your car taking more time than usual to come to a complete stop? This is called “brake fade” and it is particularly common for people who live in hilly areas and spend a lot of their commute driving downhill.
Forcing your brake pads to make contact with your rotors for long periods of time causes them to heat up and wear down. Eventually, their ability to make the friction needed to slow you down is lessened over time. Leading to slower stop times when you hit the brakes.
Brake pads never wear out at the exact same rate. Your right brakes might become worn out before the left brakes and vice versa. If this happens, your vehicle might start to get pulled in one direction after you brake. If you ignore this sign for too long, it can have more damaging effects than just the brake pads. It can also affect your steering rack.
Remember, this pulling might also be caused by other factors like uneven tire pressure. The point is – check it out anyways! Something needs to be fixed and it’s better to know at the early stages before it leads to bigger and more expensive problems down the road.
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If any of these signs already sound familiar to you, it might be time to book an appointment and have the experts take a look. Within minutes, our technicians can identify the health of your brake pads and have them replaced right away.
Your brakes are so important. Avoid an accident or more long term vehicle damage and book a service appointment today!
