How to Choose the Right Brake Pads

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

Sooner or later you will have to decide what type of maintenance to do on your car or van, especially for those parts subject to regular wear. Brakes are a crucial element of safety and, even more specifically, are the brake pads and drum blocks. The good news is that there are tons of types to choose from, so it's relatively easy to find the ones that best suit your car, your driving style and your wallet.

Steps

Part 1 of 2: Choosing the Right Tablets and Strains

Step 1. Choose the bonded and riveted friction material

All brakes have a softer friction material fixed on a stronger metal base. Brake manufacturers use two techniques to connect these two elements: bonding with an adhesive or riveting with high strength rivets.

• There is no better method than the other to secure the friction material to the base, but bonding allows a longer life of the pads, as the coating wears more slowly, as the rivets come into contact with the disc or drum and they screech slightly when they are nearing the end. When you hear a grinding noise when braking, it means that the rivets are touching the disc / drum and therefore it is time to change the pads.

  

• The glued pads will wear down to the metal base which will damage the disc or drum if not promptly replaced, which you should do as soon as you hear a “metal to metal” noise under braking.

  

Step 2. Evaluate your driving style when choosing your brake pad material

When buying blocks or pads you have to make a choice between the materials they are made of. At this point you need to determine your driving needs. Here are some things to consider:

• Do you drive a lot in the mountains?
• What is the climate in which you live?
• How is the traffic on the streets where you usually drive?
• How tolerant are you of brakes that squeal slightly?
• Do you tow a trailer?
• Do you have to deal with deep puddles in winter, or in any case during the rains?

Step 3. Decide between organic, semi-metallic, sintered and ceramic material

Before choosing the product, you need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each of these.

• Organic: Some vehicles have brakes made from organic material. They ensure long component life but do not offer superior braking power when towing a trailer or mountain travel. Additionally, organic brakes lose much of their efficiency when wet.

  

• Semi-metallic: this is a better material, in fact the friction coating is enriched with soft metals that enhance the stopping capacity. However, they consume both the record and the drums a little faster than organic pads.

  

• Sintered: we still go up in category both in terms of price and quality. This material offers excellent braking action in almost all conditions, but wears the disc / drum very quickly.

  

• Ceramic: These are the most expensive type of brakes and have a long life and a better braking guarantee. Ceramic brakes withstand very high temperatures and at the same time lose very little braking power when wet.

  

Step 4. For normal driving, choose semi-metallic pads

For those who are limited to commuting from home to work, or a little more, this is the most reasonable solution.

• Most modern cars are fitted with semi-metallic pads and pads as they are recommended by the car manufacturer. Even cars with disc brakes made of very hard metals tolerate pads of this type very well.

  

• However, if you use your vehicle for heavy work, such as towing a trailer uphill, then you should think about a better material, such as sintered or ceramic.

  

• Basically you have to carefully consider what your normal driving conditions are and how much pressure you put on the brakes. It is a question of safety.

  

Step 5. When you change the pads, take the opportunity to overhaul the entire braking system

It is always wise to evaluate the brakes as a whole when doing repairs or going to a workshop for a full service.

• The brake pads cannot compensate for the poor quality of the discs with which they come into contact or the malfunctions of the brake master cylinder / brake servo that operate them.

  

• It would also be advisable to completely drain the fluid from the hydraulic system and replace it, if the vehicle is more than eight years old. This is to keep the humidity levels inside the system low and to allow the brakes to always work at maximum efficiency.

  

Part 2 of 2: Understanding the Mechanical Basics

Step 1. Learn the difference between pads and strains

These are two different elements. The former are built for disc brakes and are found on most front wheels in cars and vans. The shoes, on the other hand, are built for drum brakes that are commonly fitted to the rear wheels. The reason for these differences can be understood by examining the action of the brakes:

• When you operate the brakes of your vehicle, the pads or shoes must slow down the discs or drums that are located between the suspension and the wheel rim. The friction that the pads generate by pinching the disc or that of the shoes that push the drums outwards produces the braking force that slows the vehicle. In this phase, both the logs and the tablets become very hot.

  

• When driving downhill, the pressure increases more on the front brakes (and therefore on the pads) than on the rear ones. For this reason, the front wheels should be equipped with better brakes to withstand these stresses.

  

Step 2. Understand why disc brakes are more efficient than drum brakes

As previously mentioned, the discs are mounted on the front of the car and handle a greater workload than the rear ones, for this reason they must be of better quality.

• Disc brakes were developed by engineers for car racing and aircraft, as a very efficient solution was needed to slow the vehicle down without burning the stumps. Later they were also introduced on vehicles on the market to reduce wear on the front brakes.

  

• The rear axle, on the other hand, does not have to generate great braking force and, since drum models are cheaper and easier to build, they are commonly mounted on the rear wheels in most cars and vans.

  

• However, more modern, more powerful cars and heavy-duty vans are equipped with four disc brakes because they need more stopping power. Discs withstand heat better than drums, which means they don't lose efficiency when hot. All braking systems drop in performance when wet or very hot, but disc brakes react much faster to these situations than drum brakes.