Inspecting Your Brake Pads and Rotors
Inspecting the brake pads and rotors on your vehicle is essential, and one of the easiest things you can do to make sure your vehicle is safe. I recommend that you check the front end for sure. Front brakes do most of the stopping and tend to wear out about twice as fast as the rear pads. This doesn’t mean you can skip the rear inspection… you want to be sure you are looking at those brakes at least twice a year!
First, inspect your rotors. Remove the tire so that you can easily view all of the parts. I like to combine this with a regular tire rotation, but you can simply chock the wheels, jack up the tire and pull it off. With this done, take a look at the rotor. This is the round disk that the brakes squeeze to stop the car. It should be shiny from the inside to the outer edge. Don’t worry if you can see slight lines in it, this is normal wear. However, if there are any rough spots or pronounced grooves in the disc, you should replace the rotors. This is generally a simple process and rotors are not terribly expensive. It is a better option than having the rotors “turned” (refinished by a machine shop) because turning the rotors removes metal, making the rotor slightly thinner. Brake discs should always be replaced in pairs to ensure even stopping, a huge safety factor.
With the tire still off, take a look at each brake pad. You should see a brake pad on each side of the rotor. If you follow the surface of the disc to the top, you’ll see the outside pad touching the disc. If there is 1/8″ or less remaining on the pad, you need new pads. There are different types of pads you can get, and your budget may determine your choice, but if you are looking for the best combination of braking properties, then you want to go with a ceramic brake pad. They are generally more expensive than a semi-metallic pad, but they perform better in many ways.