Brakes are a component of a vehicle with a lifespan that can vary greatly for most drivers. Some people will only make it about 25,000 miles before their brakes start to give out, while others can use the same set for over 60,000 miles.
This vast difference can occur due to a variety of reasons. However, long-lasting brakes are something that most people can achieve. In this post, we’ll go into depth on some things you can do to extend the life of your brake system. The following tips may even save you money on having to repeatedly replace your brakes.
Improve Your Braking Habits
While all of the things in this list will contribute to the quality of your brakes, your driving habits are the main factor, and the main thing standing between you and a long-lasting set of brakes are your braking habits.
However, the arguments about how you should slow down your vehicle can often differ. On one hand, people say that hard braking ruins your brakes faster, while others claim braking too slowly can make them worse. Let’s see why people believe both sides.
The reasoning behind the hard-braking argument is quite simple. When you slam on your brakes, they will have to work much harder to bring your vehicle to a complete stop. Because of this, your brake pads will wear out faster than usual.
On the other side of things, we have slow braking. Slowing down over a longer stretch of road will put less stress on your brakes, but you’ll also be braking for longer than most other drivers. That means your brakes will take on more wear and tear than ones that aren’t used for as long.
While this might make it seem like you’re in a lose-lose scenario, this isn’t the case. In order to get the most out of your brakes, you need to find a happy medium. Always avoid slamming on the brakes, but don’t be so light on them that it takes you a quarter mile to come to a complete stop. While it’s not an exact science, shooting for something in between these two extremes will net you the best results.
Be a More Conscientious Driver
Even though the speed at which you start to slow your vehicle down is crucial, we have to remember that there are other cars on the road and potential hazards that can cause you to slam on the brake pedal or ride the brakes more often than you would normally. While it’s impossible to foresee everything that can possibly go wrong, if you make an effort to be a more careful driver, you can slow your car down at a more ideal rate.
We know that driving is second nature to many of us, but that doesn’t mean we should be complacent when behind the wheel. We should always be vigilant of our surroundings, paying attention to the car getting ready to turn in front of us or the kids playing a little too close to the road. The best part of making this change is that it’ll do more than just save your brakes—it’ll help prevent more avoidable accidents.
Reduce Your Vehicle’s Weight
While not a common suggestion for improving your brakes’ lifespan, something else you could try doing is reducing the weight of your vehicle. The heavier your vehicle is, the longer it’ll take to slow it down completely, which means your brake pads will go through more excessive wear and tear.
While there are ways to reduce vehicle weight, such as removing redundant parts and shaving off excess metal, these methods are overkill for the average driver and can make everyday driving more dangerous.
A better alternative is to remove personal items that don’t need to be in your car. For example, some people use their trunks as a place to store extra items. While some of these things might be worth having, it’s unlikely all of them are. The garage might be a better place for some of them so that your car doesn’t have to work overtime to bring itself to a halt.
Properly Maintain Your Brakes
Vehicle maintenance is important, but that involves more than a regular cleaning and oil change. There will be times when you’ll need to maintain your brakes as well. While this won’t repair any damage already caused to your brake pads and rotors, it will help them last longer than they would have if you’d done nothing with them.
Fortunately, this is a simple task that requires no tools. All you really have to do is check your brakes and rotors every so often. If you notice any debris stuck in your brakes, remove it and make sure your pads aren’t too damaged from it. If the damage is more severe than simply removing a couple of stuck pebbles, take your vehicle to a professional.
Be sure to top off your brake fluid every so often to ensure the proper functioning of your brakes throughout the rest of their lifetime. Brake fluid is important to braking by converting hydraulic force into pedal pressure. Most importantly, though, make sure you still have enough padding on your brake pads during your self-inspections. If the padding is too thin, take the time to replace it.
Purchase Higher-Quality Brakes
While the goal of this post is to tell you how to extend the life of your brake system, if it’s too late for your current brakes, it might be time to start from scratch. However, you can extend the life of your next set of brakes by purchasing higher-quality brakes.
When shopping for brakes, it can be tempting to buy the cheaper options to save some cash. While it might be cheaper to buy the lower-quality option, you’ll end up needing to replace them more often, which will cost you more in the long run. This doesn’t even take into consideration the costs associated with potential accidents caused by faulty brakes.
That’s why you should always choose to purchase upgraded brakes when possible. By purchasing high-quality aftermarket brake pads, like our WheelerShip high-performance ceramic brake pads, you’ll be able to go much longer on the same set, even if you don’t have the best driving habits. Still, if you combine these brake pads with improved braking techniques and careful driving, you should easily be able to make your brakes last for 60,000 miles.