Disc brakes on your car are a replaceable component of your braking system. Sooner or later they will have to be replaced.
As you know the disc brake pads are pressed against the disc or rotor which causes friction and heat and slows the car down. While the pad may not physically touch the rotor as a layer of gas may be between them, the pads will tend to wear out.
Pads come in different compositions designed for different purposes. A pad that stops a street car may not be effective on a race car. And a race car pad will be so hard that premature wear will occur if it’s used on a street car.
How do you know when your pads should be replaced? Most pads come equipped with some method of alerting the driver when it’s time to replace them. Some have a thin piece of soft metal that causes the brakes to squeal when the pads need replacing. Sometimes the indicator is a soft metal tab embedded in the pad material that lights a warning light when the brake pad gets too thin.
Rotors must also periodically be replaced, but usually less often than the pads. While pads wear out faster, the disc surface is also being worn. The harder the pad, the faster the disc will wear out. Discs start out at some particular thickness. Discs can also be damaged by warping, scarring and cracking. Most of the time you can correct these problems with a brake lathe. This lathe takes off a thin amount of disc material from both sides of the disc.
Every manufacture has determined the minimum thickness for their discs. When this has been reached the disc is no longer safe to use, and it must be replaced. Too thin of a disc will warp and can cause other damage under hard braking.
If you start hearing a squealing or other strange sounds from your wheels, it may be worn brake pads. Get them checked. If you start noticing that the car is pulling to the left or right side of the road when you apply your brakes, it may be warn or warped rotors. So get them checked also and keep safe.
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