Does Your Car Need a Brake Repair?

When you’re driving, you want to be as safe as possible. Good brakes are vital, as they allow you to control your speed. An accident could happen at any time, but well-serviced and maintained brakes can prevent an accident from happening to you. These are some of the signs that you’re going to need a brake repair.

Signs That Your Car Needs a Brake Repair

Screeching Brakes

A loud screeching sound from the brakes is entertaining in the movies, but not in real life. The screeching sound is a warning that your brake pads need to be changed ASAP. The brake pads fit into the calipers that are attached above each of your wheel rotors. When you apply the brakes, these calipers are forced against the wheel rotors, and the friction they generate stops your wheels.

New brake pads have a 1/2″ thick friction material covering, but this covering slowly wears as you use your brakes. When the material has worn down and needs to be replaced, the pads reveal a sharp metal spike. This spike will scratch against the metal wheel rotors. This provides a loud and noisy reminder that you need to change your pads.

Soft Brake Pedal

When you apply pressure to your brake pedal, you’ll feel resistance. This resistance is provided by the pressurized brake fluid in the system. The harder you press the pedal, the more resistance you would feel. If you encounter almost no resistance, your braking system has a problem. The lack of resistance means that your brake fluid is low.

Brake fluid isn’t used up as your brakes work, so a lack of brake fluid means that there must be a fluid leak. Brake fluid can leak from several different places, including the rubber hoses and the metal brake lines. As fluid is lost, your brake pedal will become softer, and your brakes will become more difficult to engage. Our technicians can trace and fix the leak, and then refill your brake fluid.

Vibrations When You Brake

If you start feeling vibrations when you brake, the most likely cause is an irregular surface on the brake rotors. Brake rotors are the metal disks that fit behind your wheels, and pressure on the rotors causes your wheels to stop. The surface of a rotor should be smooth and flat.

When you use your brakes, the pads and rotors can get hot. The adhesive that attaches the friction material to the brake pad can liquify and smear across the wheel rotor. This adhesive will dry, but it makes the rotor surface uneven. When a caliper grabs an uneven rotor, your brake pedal will vibrate.

If you have any problem with your brakes, call us right away at Dahl Auto.