Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Tips & Warnings:
- Get a four-wheel brake check every six months, regardless of whether you hear noise or experience brake problems.
- The brake light will not come on to tell you the brakes need replacing. By the time you hear brake noise, the pads or shoes are usually completely worn down, and you are damaging the rotors or drums.
- Describe the car's performance to the mechanic in as much detail as you can.
- Check brake fluid regularly.
- If you have determined that your brakes are bad, avoid driving the car until they are fixed.
- Don't drive around with the brake light on.
Step1
Check the brake fluid if the brake light is on (see "How to Check Brake Fluid" in the Related eHows).
Step2
Understand that a high-pitched scraping or squealing noise that goes away when you step on the brake tells you that the brake pads are worn - but only with brake pads that have wear sensors attached.
Step3
Note that a grinding, metal-against-metal sound when braking indicates that it's too late: Your brake pads or shoes are completely worn away, and you are now ruining the rotors or drums. You should have gotten the brakes checked earlier!
Step4
Feel the brake pedal. If it is soft or mushy or gets harder and higher when you pump it, you might need to bleed the brakes (which gets air bubbles out of the brake lines).
Step5
Note that if the brake pedal slowly sinks to the floor when you step on it (or intermittently), you might be in need of a new brake master cylinder.
Step6
Drive the car at low speed, braking as needed. If the brakes squeal, you might need new brake pads, or the brake rotors might need to be resurfaced or machined.
Step7
Understand that if the car pulls to one side when braking, you might have insufficient hydraulic pressure in one part of the brake system, or one brake might be sticking. Front-end problems can also cause this symptom.
Step8
Consider your rotors if you feel a pulsation when stepping on the brake pedal, particularly when braking at higher speeds. This symptom may indicate warped brake rotors. The rotors will need to be either machined or replaced.
Step9
Remember that smoking brakes, usually accompanied by a very bad smell, indicate a stuck brake caliper or wheel cylinder. This symptom may also be caused by driving with the hand brake on or by a stuck hand-brake cable.
Comments
rodney1 said
on 3/10/2008 I JUST BOUGHT A CAR THE PERSON I BOUGHT THE CAR FROM SAID THAT THEY JUST CHANGED THE FRONT BRAKES ON THE CAR. I DROVE THE CAR AROUND FOR AWHILE THEN I STARTED HEARING SQUEAKING, AND GRINDING FROM THE FRONT OF THE CAR IS THERE A CHANCE THAT THEY PUT SOMETHING IN WRONG OR PUT SOMETHING IN BACKWARDS?
handoi said
on 2/25/2008 I have a honda civic, when I brake the steering wheel shakes. Just got the rear rotors machined (told the front was still ok) but it still didn't fix the problem. Also told the rear right wheel bearing needed changing, could this cause the shakes or something else?
handoi said
on 2/25/2008 I have a honda civic, when I brake the steering wheel shakes. Just got the rear rotors machined (told the front was still ok) but it still didn't fix the problem. Also told the rear right wheel bearing needed changing, could this cause the shakes or something else?
nsh32277 said
on 11/9/2007 I hear a loud high pitch sort of like metal rubbing metal (or just screeching)sound when I drive my van. It stops immediately when I apply the brakes. I do not know what the noise could be. Any suggestions. It only happens when the car is in drive.
mturnmm said
on 8/21/2007 My truck brakes locked up last weekend, since then I have replaced the Calipers, and pads. It is still locking up on the driver side. Does anybody know what the problem could be or a web site that I could use to diagnose the problem? Here are the possibilities I have been told. The new caliper is bad; the brake line is deteriorating or kinked. I have checked that and I know it is not kinked; it could be deteriorating. I have been told it could be the boost cylinder or the master cylinder has gone bad. This truck has 247,000 + miles on it.