Everyone understands how important this system is, because we all rely on it for our safety everyday we drive. With every service we perform, we will measure your brake pad life and give you a percentage of how much brake pad life you have remaining. Typically with normal braking, your pad life can decrease by about 5-10% every oil change (5k miles), this depends on how much & how hard you are braking. So, if your brakes are measured at 15-20%, and you aren’t too heavy on the brake pedal, you can continue drive until your next oil change service.
Some vehicles have brake wear sensors which will light up a dash incubator when the pad life goes below about 30%. This indicator light is set to come on early, so you still have plenty of pad life and can plan ahead to schedule an appointment for pad replacement.
Below are a few braking concerns that you should have checked out:
- Pedal goes down too far before stopping.
- It is very difficult to push the pedal down.
- It doesn’t feel as if it is stopping well enough.
- You hear grinding while braking or dragging sound while driving.
- You hear squeaking with every forward stop.
- You can feel the vehicle pull to a direction while stopping.
- You hear a duck quack while braking– no kidding, this is a real deal!
A couple of issues that a normal:
- If you hear a brake squeal first thing in the morning, usually while backing out of driveway or your initial braking of the day, this is a very common occurrence.
- The rotors (big steel disc that brake pad grab) will develop surface rust from the hot to cooler temps of braking or from the temperature of the day. When you first take off, that slight squeak you hear is the brake pad clearing off the surface rust.
- If the sound goes away quickly after a few times braking, this is normal. However, if the sound continues and you hear it consistently with each stop, this another indication that your brake pad life is getting low.
- Vibration in steering wheel, pedal or the entire vehicle while braking.
- Typically this indicates that the rotors are warped and it causes the brake pad to have an uneven surface to grab.
- Over-torqued lug nuts cn cause premature rotor wear. Make sure you tell any tire shop or service that you want your lug nuts torques to factory spec.
Choose Tulsa’s premiere independent Lexus, Toyota & Scion specialists. Call for maintenance, service and repairs for your brakes on any Toyota, Lexus & Scion in Tulsa, Broken Arrow and surrounding areas in Oklahoma.
