Five brake failures that only the driver can prevent
Useful tips for motorists

Five brake failures that only the driver can prevent

Seasonal tire change is a good reason to pay attention to the condition of the brake system and understand whether you need to immediately go to a car service, or the problem does not require immediate “treatment”. Any driver can find out by reading our tips.

Even if the car does not yet give clear "signals" of problems in the suspension and brakes, the driver can detect them himself. But only if he knows what to pay attention to in the process, for example, of a seasonal tire change, when the elements of the brake system are not covered by the wheels.

First, you need to pay attention to the uniformity of wear of the brake disc. Grooves, scoring on its surface may be the result of extreme wear of the pads or the ingress of dirt particles. If the car owner did not change the pads in time, then in this case, after the friction surface is erased, the metal substrate of the pads becomes the working surface during braking and rubs against the disc. All this leads to its deformation. If the disc is worn unevenly or its thickness is small, then with frequent intensive braking, its plane may “lead” due to heating, which will lead to vibrations. And the “cyanotic” color of the disk simply cries out that it was overheated and needs to be urgently replaced. After all, cast iron, of which it consists, could change its properties, deform, cracks could appear on its surface.

You also need to pay attention to the uniformity of pad wear. One of the possible reasons for this is their incorrect installation. In this case, you need to check the direction - on some pads there are marks "left", "right" or arrows in the direction of rotation of the wheel.

Five brake failures that only the driver can prevent

Corrosion should not be ignored, as well as impaired mobility of components, jamming of the brake caliper or cylinders, lack of lubrication on the caliper guides. Problems with these brake components can block pad movement and lead to uneven pad wear, noise, vibration, and even caliper sticking.

It is necessary to control the serviceability of the parking brake. Due to a violation of its performance, the main braking system may also suffer - the efficiency of the rear mechanisms decreases. A common malfunction is the stretching of the handbrake cables. To fix the problem, it is likely that it will be enough to adjust the tension of the cables.

The unexpected occurrence of creaking, noise and vibration immediately after installing new pads can also be considered a clear reason to contact a car service. This is a clear sign of problems and wear not on the brakes, but on the suspension elements of the car. When wear gradually accumulates in its various nodes, they receive additional degrees of freedom and the possibility of abnormal vibrations. And the appearance of new pads simply provokes their more pronounced manifestation. After changing the pads, the brake disc, tie rods, silent blocks, ball bearings and levers, stabilizer struts, and so on can “speak” in full force.

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