by Senad Fetic

Created on: May 20, 2009

When you think of a car the first thing that comes to mind is probably brakes. As you may already know you use the brakes more than anything else on the car that you are driving. With the way the cars are made today they are very heavy and they need all the braking power they can get to stop them and if your brakes are bad good luck stopping. There are many ways of figuring out when you need new brakes. One way is by your instinct if you feel like it takes you longer to stop, or your car is not stopping the same that can be one sign that you need new brakes. Another sign is when you are driving if you let go of your steering wheel and brake if the steering wheel shakes its a pretty good sign that you need to change your brakes. With most cars today you get a sensor on the brakes that will let you know when its time to change them, but in case you dont have that option you can do it the old fashioned way. Another way to find out if you need to replace your breaks is when you are braking you hear grinding sounds coming from your breaks pads.Brakes arent something to play around with, if you feel like something is wrong take it in the shop because it can cause you your life, now think if you die because of a small things like break pads not being changed, wouldnt you look at it and say wow i could have prevented that, your not just putting your own life in danger your are putting other drivers that are on the road in danger also. If you have a manual transmission car and your breaks do happen to fail the best way to stop is by down shifting the car, with most automatic cars today there arent a lot of features that they come with that will help you if our brakes do fail. If you change your brake pads regularly you wont have to change the discs because they wont get worn out and its gonna save you a lot of money if you dont have to change the discs. Brake pads at AutoZone vary from 19.99 to 49.99 and most of them you are able to purchase lifetime warranty meaning after they are worn out take them back and get a new pair for free.Whatever the situation is if you keep up the regular maintanance and follow the book, your car should be fine and the you wont have to worry about when should i service my brakes. Depending on your style of driving you wont need to change your brakes every year, you might be able to get away with changing them every 2 3 years, but if you drive hard and brake real hard you may want to change your brakes every several months because the harder you use them the faster they go.

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