The most common cause of shortened brake pad life comes from sticking brakes. See when the brake pedal is depressed it acts upon the master cylinder which distributes this force in the form of compressed fluid to the brake caliper which clamps the brake pads down on the rotors. When the brake pedal is released everything works backwards and the brake pads go back to their original position. But what happens if the brake pads don’t move back when the brakes are released? The brake pads and rotors would still be touching each other and the friction will wear them both down. This is what is known as sticking brakes.  It happens quite often and most of the time you won’t notice it until your car is in for service and the technician tells you one or more of your brake pads are wearing down faster than the rest. There are a couple of ways this can happen.

Partially seized brake calipers are one. The brake calipers have an internal piston that clamps on the pads when the vehicle is braking. Overtime the caliper piston can seize causing the brakes to not fully retract.

Brakes could also stick if the caliper slide pins aren’t lubricated with grease. The slide pins connect the brake caliper to the caliper bracket which is how the caliper is mounted on over the rotor. The pins allow the caliper to slide when the brakes are applied which helps the pads retract when released.

Worn suspension can also shorten the life of your brakes. The springs and shocks help support the vehicle weight. There are many different types of body motion when the car is rolling down the road but the one we will concentrate on here is dive. When the car comes to a stop all the weight slides forward causing the car to dive. Worn springs and shocks will put more weight and stress on the brakes causing them to work harder and wear faster. It also increases the stopping distance when you brake.

Although there are other causes, these the main culprits of shortened brake pad life. So now you can understand the forces at play every time you step on the brake pedal. A good service technician will not only service your brakes, but also figure out if your brakes are wearing down faster than they should and why. So feel free to stop by MR Auto SD to have your brakes checked out. Until next time be safe out there.

There are many variables in play when it comes to squeezing every last bit of life from your brake pads. And although technology has come a long way to aid us in this task, a lot of it comes down to lifestyle and driving habits. So here’s what you can do as a driver to make sure you paying your mechanic a visit all the time.

Speed is one of the top reasons brakes don’t last. The faster you drive, the more kinetic energy there is for the brakes to dissipate. When the brakes pads clamp down on the rotors it produces thermal energy. When they work harder they also get hotter leading to more wear.  Slowing down saves lives, and brakes too!

Keeping your brakes applied unnecessarily also shortens the life of your brakes. So wherever possible keep your foot off the brake if you don’t need to slow down. Coasting along with as little acceleration as possible helps save gas and brake life. That’s a win win. Also if you’re traveling up a hill toward a red light, let gravity help you out and let off the gas pedal a little earlier. Paying attention to the road will help you avoid accidents as well as sudden stops.

Besides driving habits, you might just be carrying around a lot of extra weight. No I don’t mean the kind we all have left over from Thanksgiving. But many of us keep too much junk in our cars that we don’t need and probably can live without on a regular basis. Every bit of extra weight works against you when you are speeding up and slowing down a car or any vehicle for that matter.

Next time we will dive into the mechanical aspects of break wear. So stay tuned for the next installment. And if ever you’re in need of a brake check, call or stop by MR Auto SD.

The anti-lock brake system works exactly like it sounds. It prevents the brakes from locking up during heavy braking. Let’s say you’re traveling down the road at about 50 MPH, your vehicle doesn’t have ABS or it isn’t functioning and take your eyes off the road for a slit second. Now when you look up all of the sudden there’s a traffic light, it’s red and there are cars in front of you at a complete stop. Your first instinct is to slam on the brakes,but for some reason your car just keeps skidding forward violently lunging you into the car in front of you.

ABS would be useful because when your brakes lock up the tires stop spinning and you lose control over steering the car. ABS will pulse the brakes correctly under heavy braking so the wheels will keep spinning, while at the same time the brakes will also work to stop the vehicle. This allows the vehicle to make emergency stops at shorter distances while also giving the driver more control to prevent them from spinning out. It does this by utilizing a series of sensors which feed information to the electronic control unit which controls hydraulic valves that can vary brake pressure to each individual wheel. So if the computer detects one wheel is moving slower than the others under heavy braking, indicating a lock up, it will relieve the brake pressure to that wheel allowing it to turn freely giving you more control.

So in short, your car is probably not going to blow up if the ABS light is on and you don’t get it checked out. However it’s one of those things you would rather have working and not need it, than need it and not have it working.