When to Change your Brake Pads
It can be a problem to know when tochange your car brake pads. If you leave it too late, the bill for new brakes increases, because one runs the risk of damaging the brake discs. Don’t wait until you hear symptoms of worn out disc pads. The symptoms are crunching noises each time the driver applies the brakes. This is because the brake pads have been worn down to metal and the metal is coming into contact with the brake discs.
If this happens, you’ll need new discs as well as brake pads, because the discs will be scored and lose braking efficiency. It is important to change the brake pads before they wear down to metal. On some cars the brake pads have electric sensors embedded in the brake pad. As the brake pads wear the sensor becomes exposed which completes an electrical circuit. This action illuminates a light on the dashboard warning the driver to change the brake pads before they get worn too low.
However, far from all cars are fitted with brake pads sensors. Therefore it is up to the car owner to keep an eye on brake pad wear. The good news is brake pads are slow wearing and can last up to 50,000 miles before needing to be changed. Nevertheless, the rate of wear is often down to the braking habits of the driver. Automatic cars will need brake pad changes sooner than manual cars. This is because drivers with manual cars can in some circumstances use the gears instead of brake to slow the car down to a safe speed.
If you have your car professionally serviced you shouldn’t need to worry too much about the state of the brake pads. This is because brake pad wear will be monitored each service period and the driver informed if brake pad wear is getting low.
If you intend to service your own car then it is essential to check your brake pads about twice yearly. This can be done by jacking the car up and removing the road wheels. You should be able to see the state of brake wear without having to dismantle the calliper. A tip, the inner brake pads will wear much faster than the outer pads. Therefore it is the inner brake pad you should be looking at to judge overall wear. If the pad is down to less than an 1/8 inch, it is time to renew the pads. You must renew all pads, on all wheels at the same time, and not just the one wheel worn the most.
