Need To Replace Your Brake Pads? Here's What You'll Need To Know
When it comes to bringing your car to a safe and controlled stop, it's your brake pads that are on the front line. Fitted within the brake calipers, the brake pads are designed to grip onto the rotor, using the power of pressure and friction to slow down and eventually stop your vehicle.
Your brake pads are designed to squeeze those rotors with each and every stop for thousands of miles on end. As you can imagine, your brake pads are definitely a wear item. The following explains the warning signs of an impending brake pad replacement, the type of pads your vehicle needs and other helpful pointers for keeping your braking system in great shape.
How to Know When Your Brake Pads Need Replacement?
A brand-new brake pad usually comes with a 1/2-inch of braking material. When the pads wear down to a thickness of 1/8-inch, it's usually time to replace them with a fresh set at an auto shop that offers brake services. Unfortunately, it can be a bit tricky to visually confirm pad thickness. Most wheel and brake caliper designs make it difficult, if not impossible, to gauge pad thickness.
This is where brake pad wear indicators come into play. Attached to one end of the pad, the wear indicator is designed to come into contact with the rotor once the pads wear down to 1/8-inch thickness or less. When that happens, you'll hear a high-pitched squeal as the metal wear indicator meets metal disc. It's definitely not music to your ears, but it will get your attention.
Ignore the tell-tale "singing" long enough and you'll eventually hear and feel a harsh grinding sensation. This means that the metal brake pad backing is making contact with the rotor – at this point, every last scrap of braking material is long gone. This can do a number on your rotors, scoring and warping them to the point at which they'll need either a costly resurfacing or an equally costly replacement.
What Type of Brake Pads Does Your Car Need?
Now that you know you need to replace your brakes, you're probably wondering what type of pads your car needs. While most people leave that decision up to the mechanic, you may have your reasons for adding your own input – perhaps you're looking for better braking performance or longer-lasting material. In most cases, you'll have your choice of these brake pad types:
- Semimetallic Pads – These pads consist mostly of iron powder, graphite, copper and other metals mixed with a small amount of friction modifiers and inorganic filler. Commonly used on most vehicles, these pads are affordable and durable, but they make more noise and offer marginal performance at low temperatures.
- Non-asbestos Organic (NAO) Pads – Asbestos was once considered a great material for handling heat, but it's largely been phased out due to its serious health risks. NAO pads use a combination of resins, carbon, Kevlar and other organic filler materials to create a quieter braking material. Unfortunately, NAO pads tend to wear faster than their semimetallic counterparts.
- Low-metallic NAO Pads – Whereas NAO pads are completely non-metallic, low-metallic NAO pads incorporate a small amount of metal for improved braking performance, at the cost of a slight noise increase.
- Ceramic – These pads use ceramic fibers and non-metal filler, resulting in a brake pad that creates less dust, less noise and offers better performance than other types of pads. However, these pads are usually the most expensive of the bunch.
How Long Should Your Pads Last?
It's actually tough to give a concrete estimate of how long your brakes should last due to the sheer number of far-ranging variables to account for. In most cases, it all depends on your driving style, where you normally drive (city or highway), the type of vehicle you own and the type and quality of the brake pads themselves.
Most brake pads are designed to last anywhere from 30,000 to 70,000 miles, depending on the above factors. Mechanical problems with the braking system can easily shorten that lifespan, while careful, non-aggressive driving can take pads as far as 100,000 miles between changes.
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