Brake Repair - Taking Care of Your Brakes

Brakes require maintenance on a preventative basis to keep them working as they were intended to work. In other words to have brakes that are safe you need to be up-to-date with your brake inspections and assessments. Do not wait until a problem crops up before you take action! Brake repair can start long before something goes wrong!

Preventative maintenance can mean a few different things. It means making sure that your braking system remains as clean as possible. The same goes for your wheels. Brakes that are as clean as possible function at a higher capacity. They also serve to keep the temperatures down. In order to clean your wheels buy a good quality wheel cleaner that you are guaranteed is safe to be used on the wheel finish. Do not ignore this aspect of brake repair.

Refrain from the temptation to ride your brakes when you want to stop. Instead what you should do is to slow your motor vehicle down with a moderate degree of pressure. Once you do this you can then release the brake and give it the opportunity to cool down. If you ride the brake pedal then you run the risk of causing too much heat which can wear down the brakes sooner as opposed to later.

When your car is poised on a steep grade such as a hill to preserve the life of your brakes you should downshift your brakes. You should only do this however when the traction conditions are adequate. In other words do not do this when your car is on a slippery surface such as ice and has very bad traction. The same goes for when you are on snow or even when there is a lot of rain.

If you downshift into a gear that is too low for the weather conditions then you could end up skidding. Downshifting is advisable when weather conditions do not present an issue. This is because the work of stopping the vehicle is done by the engine which takes some of the pressure off of the brakes.

Brake repair is something that is best left up to the work of a qualified mechanic. If you have a family member or friend who is a mechanic then perhaps this individual would charge you a fraction of what you would pay if you were to take your car into a service shop.

When your brakes are fixed ask the mechanic to apply an anti-squeak compound to the back portion of the pads. What this does is it prevents the brake pads from vibrating as they begin to wear out. This can be extremely frustrating to hear when you are driving. There are anti-squeak compounds that are pastes and ones that are sprays. In most cases the paste tends to be superior to the spray.

Tell the mechanic that you want to see the old brake pads that he takes out of your automobile. In that way you will know that he has done the work that you are paying him to do. This does not mean that you automatically assume he is dishonest. Rather you are looking out for your own best interests. Bear all of these items in mind when it comes to brake repair.