Brake Pad Replacement Inverness

When it comes to driving your car, there is little that is more important than making sure you can come to a complete stop. While there are a lot of factors that are beyond your control, there is one that you can control. Replacing your brakes are just one of the parts that should be replaced during regular maintenance, along with oil filters, wiper blades, and belts. Like the others, there are several factors that will determine how quickly you need to change your brakes like other parts of your car.

Type of driving
How often you use your brakes
Quality of your brakes
The weight of the car

Auto Shop Inverness

The quality of your brake has a lot of factors. Not only in the quality of material that goes into them but the material that they are made out of. Originally asbestos was used to manufacture brake pads, but obviously, those have been replaced. The most common type of brake pad out there and the cheapest is the Organic brake. These are not called organic because they are made out of organic materials, but because their name is Non-asbestos organic. They are made by combining various materials with a binding agent. These materials often include glass, fiber, rubber, carbon, and Kevlar inside the pad itself. Because of the low production cost, they are often the standard brake pads that are included in the sale of new cars, but that does not mean they are bad. Contact us today to learn more.

Benefits to organic pads than just cost.

Needs less heat to generate good friction
Perfect for everyday vehicles and drivers
Suitable for normal driving/commuting across many environments
Cost effective to Manufacture
Soft, quiet, easy on brake rotors
Produce less dust than metallic pads

Though they are not without their drawbacks

Wear out quickly compared to other types of brake pads
High compressibility – can cause “mushy” brake pedal
Only operate well within a relatively limited temperature range
Not at all suitable for performance driving
Will quickly lose their coefficient of friction when overheated

Ceramic brake pads have only been around since the 1980s and use a dense ceramic material, like those found in pottery. Ceramic Brake Pads are more durable when it comes to friction and heat than the other types of brake pads, but those benefits also give them the drawbacks of having a lower cold bite and heat absorption.

Benefits of Ceramic Brake Pads

Stable under a wide range of temperatures for consistent performance
Longer lifespan than organic or semi-metallic
Produce less noise than semi-metallic pads
Produce finer, lighter-colored brake dust which does not stick to wheels

Though while better than organic and semi-metallic, they do have drawbacks as well.

Good all-around braking characteristics
Less heat absorbent than semi-metallic pads
Less of a cold bite than Semi-metallic
Typically the most-expensive type of brake pad

Semi-metallic brake pad. This is similar to the organic brake pad, but have 30-65% metal in their makeup. The most common types of metals found in these pads are steel, iron, and copper. The metal that is inserted into the pad helps dissipate heat away from the rotor. This reduces the temperature generated from braking reducing the chances of a rotor warping from heat.

Benefits of Semi-Metallic Brakes:

Have a much wider operating range (temperature) Low compressibility
Much more resistant to brake fade than organic pads
Numerous compounds available
Have a higher thermal threshold due to metallic content
Provide good cold bite
Increased braking performance over organic pads

But every positive always comes at a cost

More expensive than organic pads (but generally cheaper than ceramic)
Produce more brake dust than other types
Tend to be noisier than organic or ceramic pads
More abrasive than Ceramic or Organic pads

Brake Shop Inverness

The type of driving you do also have a major impact on how long your brakes last. This often has little to do with personal driving habit, but more are the outside factors. Stop and go expressway traffic, stop lights or signs, or open road highway all have different impacts on your brakes. The longer you can go without using your brakes the longer they last. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them, as a set of brake pads is cheaper than the cost of repairing a fender bender. How often you drive also has a factor in this. Obviously, when your car is parked, your brake pads do not wear down. Though being parked for too long and you might have another problem on your hands with your brakes becoming rusted. If your car has been parked for months without moving, don’t panic if you hear a loud pop and grinding when you drive. This is just the rotors braking the rust and the rust being ground off the rotors. The sound should stop after driving for a while.

Right Brakes for your car Inverness

The heavier your vehicle, the more force that is required to stop. This is just a basic fact of physics. When it comes to brake, they accomplish this by the material and the surface area of the brake. Smaller cars have smaller brake pads, while larger ones have bigger pads.

Brakes Inverness

How often you have a tendency to brake has a major impact on the life expectancy of your brakes. This is mostly driving habit for people; it is not a factor of how quickly you are to press the brakes, but how often. A car moves in front of you on the highway, and you tap the brake to slow down. Trying to find a house or business number and lightly pressing the brake to go slower than idle, or other habits. There is no perfect answer to extending the life of your brakes because replacing brake pads is cheaper than the cost of repairs because of an accident. So keep using your brakes when you need to, just be sure to keep an ear out for the signs that you need new brakes.

Quality Auto Mechanic Inverness

Whenever you need to have your brakes replaced, be sure to come into Kranz Auto. The experts at Kranz Auto the knowledge to safely replace your brake pads and rotors. Having your brakes go out is dangerous and potentially deadly for you and other people on the road. So make sure they are done by a professional. Our professional mechanics are ready to help keep you safe on the road.