Jack Williams

The Basics of Brake Maintenance

You might first notice it during a completely unremarkable stop at a traffic light: a faint squealing noise as you apply your brakes. In the following days, it gets louder and more insistent. That's by design: your worn-down brake pads are telling you they need replacement. Don't put it off. Ignoring it can not only risk your personal safety behind the wheel, but also dramatically increase the costs of the eventual repairs to your braking system.

Auto repair website AutoMD.com reported recently that brake pad replacement was the most widely quoted repair job requested by American motorists in 2013.

If your vehicle pulls to one side, vibrates or shakes during braking, or if your brake pedal seems to have lost responsiveness, these could be indications of more serious brake problems. Bring your car to a service professional immediately.

When you take your car in for routine brake work, the repair shop may inform you that you need new brake pads and new brake rotors. In many cases, they'll need to be replaced at the same time. This wasn't always the case.

Most modern brake pads are made of metal, but as recently as the early 1990s, they were made out of softer materials such as asbestos and other ceramic compounds. A single set of rotors could often be used through several sets of ceramic brake pads. Today's metal pads last much longer, but wear the brake rotors down along with them. Though ceramic brake pads are still available, it's unlikely your service technician will select them unless you specifically request them.

[Photo credit: Robert Couse-Baker, used under CC-by-2.0 license]