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How To Extend The Lifespan Of Your Brakes

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Your vehicle's brakes are an extremely important, albeit small, part of your car. Damaged or worn brakes will be unable to properly slow down your vehicle, which can make an accident much more likely while driving. Thankfully, there are a couple of things that you can do to alter your driving habits in order to improve the overall lifespan of your vehicle's brakes, improving performance and cutting down on repair costs.

Moderate Speeds

The easiest and most obvious thing that you can do to reduce the amount of wear on your brakes is to reduce the speed that you travel at. Higher speeds will cause greater friction on your brakes when you try to slow down, which in turn will wear away the brake pads at a faster rate. By traveling at slower speeds, you not only reduce the amount of friction that you create when you brake, but reduce the amount of times that you have to brake in the first place.

Reduce Weight

Another simple way to reduce the amount of wear that your brakes experience (as well as improve your overall fuel efficiency) is to reduce the amount of weight that you carry in your car. This means removing heavy items and luggage that you may have in the back seat or trunk that you do not need to carry around with you.

Coasting

Coasting, or simply letting your car's momentum carry you forward instead of giving the engine any more gas, can help reduce the amount of brake wear that your vehicle experiences by allowing you to get down to lower speeds before you even have to touch the pedal. This means that if you see the off ramp on the freeway straight ahead without traffic, you can let your momentum carry you forward (safely, of course – always keep an eye out for other drivers) before you hit the brakes.

Flushing

Finally, the best way for you to extend the lifespan of your entire brake system is to have it regularly maintained. This means that you should have your brakes inspected at least once a year, and your brake fluid should be bled, flushed, and replaced at that time as well. This is because old and contaminated brake fluid can hold water in it which can cause rust and corrosion to appear on the metal components of your brakes, while air bubbles can increase the amount of pressure and wear on rubber gaskets.

For more information, contact a company such as GSBP Automotive.


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