Tips For Caring For Your Car's Brake System

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Your car's braking system is critical to your safety on the road. Take care of the brakes so they don't fail you when you need them most. Below are some tips to ensure you always have effective brakes. 

Don't Strain the Brakes While Driving

How you use your brakes determines how fast they wear out and how efficiently they can stop the car if needed. Habits that strain the brakes accelerate their wear and tear. Below are a couple of tips that help.

Don't Overload the Car

Every car manufacturer designs the brake system with the car's load in mind. For example, a hatchback brake system differs from a tractor-trailer brake system. You damage the brakes if you force them to stop more weight than the manufacturer's limit.

Avoid Hard Braking

Anticipate your stops so you can decelerate gradually and brake softly. Hard braking damages your brake system in several ways. For example, hard braking increases braking force, overheats the brakes, and even makes the brakes less effective.

Regularly Check the Brakes

Regular physical inspection is a free and effective brake maintenance habit. The inspection is especially valuable for the rotors and pads. The brake rotors clamp down on the wheels to stop their rotation and stop the car. The brake pads clamp down on the rotors to force their actions. The design means brake pads and rotors wear out faster than other brake system parts.

A new brake pad is approximately half an inch thick, and you should replace it once it gets to an eighth of an inch thick. You can measure your bake pad's thickness with the right tools or know-how—or just take your car for a professional inspection.

Regularly Flush the Brake Fluid

The brake fluid transmits pressure from the brake pedal to the rotors to stop the car. The brake fluid allows efficient pressure transmission because it is non-compressible. Impurities in the brake fluid make it compressible and interfere with pressure transmission and braking efficiency.

Moisture is a common impurity that finds its way into the brake fluid. Besides interfering with the fluid's compressibility, the moisture also corrodes the brake components. Regularly replace the brake fluid to get rid of the impurities.

Contact a local auto repair service when you suspect something is wrong with your car, especially the critical parts, including the brakes. Many of these problems worsen without prompt intervention, increasing the risk of failure without warning.

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27 July 2023

Learning About Auto Services

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