How many people slam of their brakes everyday? How many people have a squeak get noise from brakes every time you go to stop? How lets there brakes get all the way down to the bare metal and complain of a grinding noise when stopping. Along with another complaint of " My brake pedal is longer than usual?" Well that grinding noise is metal from your pads you have worn down with your heavy foot or your thrill of stopping right on top of the person in front of you thats not in a rush. Long pedal however could be a lot of things. From a bad master cylinder, to a blown and leaking brake line, seized caliper, low pads, and or bad driving.
Well here is how we can figure out which is which. The very common and everyday complaint is why do my brakes squeak in the morning or after I'm driving for a while? 2 very common cause that create noise are moisture build up on your rotors. As well as cheap materials from after market companies. At lease once a week I get a customer complain that their brakes make noise only in the mornings. I also hear the complain of " after I took my brakes to my uncle's garage where he replaced them with the parts store special buy one get one free deal. They make noise all the time". Well just like everything else you get what you pay for. You save the money on cheap parts you get cheap quality. Most aftermarket pads are made of a very low end ceramic material that breaks down and creates excessive brake dust. You have to keep in mind for the after market companies to compete with the big automotive industry quantity is chosen over quality. So yea the parts are 50% cheaper than the dealer but you will be replacing them much sooner than OEM equipment. Don't be surprised if you end up replacing them twice as fast as the original set the vehicle came with. Another substandard issue with the after market brake parts are the rotors you get from these companies are often warped and make your brake pedal pulsate when braking at highway speeds and not so much when doing traffic stops at 20 MPH. Warped rotors can also create noise while driving due to the fact that the rotor starts to rub the wear indicator tap attached to most brake pads. Save yourself the headaches and spend the extra money and get the OEM parts just have your uncle throw the parts on.
If your local mechanics tells you that your brakes are low and should be replaced ASAP. It;s because you really do need them. So don't act surprised when you tell him you'll do them another time and you go to slam on your brakes one morning and all of a sudden you start to hear and metal to metal meeting between your what used to have ceramic pad material is know just the metal that held the pads in place. Now those rotors your local tech was telling you he could resurface and replace your pads for $200.00 dollars is now going to run you $800.00 because the rotors are damaged your calipers are shot because you rode them to the breaking point and now have to be replaced. Due to the piston popping from the caliper. You might think Im making this up but I see it all the time.
Why is my pedal so long? Why does my RED brake light come on every morning? Well start by looking under your car for any obvious leaks of brake fluid or oil build up on any brake calipers or wheels. Another is to check the Brake master cylinder, and brake booster. These are the most vital parts of all brake systems. The Master cylinder and brake booster and rubber seals inside them which help your brake pedal push brake fluid to all calipers to stop the car. When you have a leak your brake light will light up to inform you that you are low on fluid and being the brake system is a closed system it is not supposed to leak at all. If your losing fluid and have to refill all the time take your car in ASAP. If you cant find any leaks but intermittently you have trouble with your brake pedal going all the way down to the floor. You most likely have a Master cylinder that is going bad. Tip of the day: If you want to check if you have a bad master or leaking master pull the vacuum hose that is connected to the brake booster which is attached to the master cylinder from behind it and put something flexible that will get to the bottom of the booster and check to see if you have any fluid at the bottom of the booster. Now you know you need to replace the MAster cylinder and brake booster. Always replace both at the same time. If one fails the other is failing right behind it. Don't pay double for something you can save on.
Hope this is helpful...
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