Ready for a brake job?

There are a number of parts to your car that you depend on to help you go. The primary part you depend on to stop is your brakes. How do you know that you’re ready for a brake job? After all, it’s at least as important that you can stop your car as it is that you can get it to go.

Our brakes work so well that we often take them for granted. The worked every other time; why wouldn’t they work now? Your brakes won’t work, eventually, because they are a diminishing quantity. Every time you use your brakes some of the lining is worn from the brake pads or brake shoes. Eventually, the brake pads and brake shoes wear down to the point where the rivets that help to hold them in place (they are also glued in place) are level with the surface of the brake pads and brake shoes.

Once the rivets are at the surface of the pads or shoes, the rivets begin to make contact with the rotor or brake drum when you apply the brakes. Allow this to happen even a little while and the rivets will burrow ruts into the metal of the rotors or drums. Every time you have new brake pads and brake shoes put on your car it isn’t necessarily required that you replace the rotors or drums. But, if you let the rivets from the pads or shoes work on the rotors or drums a while, you’ll certainly have to spend the extra money to replace those parts, too.

The point is that it’s generally better to catch worn brakes before the rivets start to damage the rotors or drums. It’s usually less costly this way.

So, how do you know you’re ready for a brake job? Here are some ways that you can tell:

• You’ll hear noise when you stop the car. A grinding noise is a sign that the rivets are starting to work on the rotors or drums. You may hear a squealing noise, as well.
• You’ll feel a shimmy when you apply the brakes. You may feel this as a hard shaking in the pedal and/or steering wheel. 
• The brakes just don’t seem to work as well as they used to; the car doesn’t stop as responsively anymore.
• The brake pedal fades or even falls to the floor (this may indicate a bad master cylinder or a leak of brake fluid somewhere in the system).
• The car pulls when you stop.
• Perform a visual inspection of the brake pads, assuming you have rotors, where the edges of the brake pads are visible, which also assumes you have spoked wheels. If your pads are close to, or less than a quarter of an inch thick, that’s a good sign you may need new pads.

Maybe you won’t notice any of these things. Your car may not be ready for a brake job. Then again, maybe it simply isn’t displaying any of these symptoms yet. The best way to be sure is to have a professional inspect your brakes.

When an auto repair technician inspects your brakes, they’ll also check the brake lines, the master cylinder and the emergency brake cable. In other words, they’ll conduct a comprehensive inspection and, when they’re done, you’ll know if your car is ready for a brake job or if you’re good to go for a while yet. That peace of mind will justify the confidence you put in your brakes.