Posted: February 01, 2011

Your vehicle can weigh between 2,000 to 10,000 pounds  – or possibly more.  And it doesn’t take a physics expert to realize that stopping all that iron is a remarkable feat.  Fortunately for modern drivers, braking systems have come a long way from the cable-pulley systems that Henry Ford turned out in his primetime.

If you’ve owned a car for more than a few years, you’ve probably noticed gradually increased stopping distances, even in normal driving.  Over the course of time, brakes wear down slowly and begin to lose their effectiveness.  Pad lifetimes can vary with driving habits and vehicle size, but it’s always a good rule of thumb to check your brakes’ wear at least once a year. If you have a vehicle that is more that 5 years old there is a good chance that it has drum-style brakes in the rear. This type of brake cannot be visually evaluated without removing the wheel and certain parts – usually a job for a trained professional. Any time you have brakes inspected, the key question for the technician is the estimate how long it will be, before a replacement is needed.