Four brake noises worth listening to

Your brakes rarely fail all at once. They tell you first, and the trick is knowing what to listen for.

Four things worth acting on

• A high squeal that stops when you brake. That is the wear indicator, a small metal tab designed to touch the rotor once the pad is nearly gone. It is a reminder, not an emergency, but the window is weeks rather than months.
• A grinding you can feel in the pedal. The pad is gone and the backing plate is against the rotor. Stop driving it. What was a pad replacement becomes a pad and rotor replacement in about a day of ordinary driving.
• A pedal that sinks slowly under steady pressure. That is hydraulic, not friction, and it points at a master cylinder or a leaking line.
• A pull to one side under braking. Usually a seized caliper slide on the other side, so the car brakes harder on one wheel than the other.

What we actually check

Pad thickness at all four corners, rotor thickness against the manufacturer’s minimum rather than against how it looks, runout on the hub, the condition of the flexible lines, and the moisture content of the fluid. Brake fluid is hygroscopic: it pulls water out of the air, and water boils long before the fluid does. That is why a pedal can feel fine on the way to work and go soft after a long descent.

When to come in

If you hear the squeal, book within the month. If you hear grinding, or the pedal has changed how it feels, call us the same day and we will fit you in.