Auto Repair Weston

Weston Brake Repair

It’s difficult to think of any single vehicle component more important to your safety than your car’s brakes. They’re all that stand between you and a potentially fatal accident. Your vehicle’s brakes are deceptively simple – you press the brake pedal and your car slows and then stops, but how do your brakes actually work? What sort of maintenance do they require?

Most vehicles today use a combination of disc and drum brakes. Disc brakes are found on either the front or the front and rear (all-wheel disc brakes). Drum brakes are used on rear wheels if the vehicle is not equipped with all-wheel disc brakes.

Disc and drum brakes differ in how they work. In a disc brake setup, hydraulic pressure closes the brake caliper. This squeezes the inner and outer brake pad against the surface of the rotor (essentially, nothing more than a metal disc). The friction created slows the wheels and then stops the car. In a drum brake, applying pressure to the brake pedal pushes brake shoes outward, where they make contact with the metal drum.

Over time, your brakes wear out. Pads wear down due to friction, and rotors wear as well. It’s important to replace your brake pads and have your rotors resurfaced when the pads begin to get low. Going too long can cause serious problems. Eventually, the pad will wear down until it’s nothing but metal, and then begin eating into the rotor. It’s far less expensive to replace the pads and turn the rotors than it is to replace the rotors.

Make sure that you take your vehicle to a reputable Weston auto repair shop for brake work. Follow the shop’s recommendation on when to have your pads replaced and your rotors turned, and ask if the shop offers service for drum brakes if you have drums on the rear.