brakes
Importance of checking brakes on a used car:
Brakes and
their proper operation are absolutely essential to safety. Brakes are fairly
complex system on the car and if you have absolutely ANY doubts about brakes and
their performing abilities, it would be best to ask advice of a mechanic.
Complete brake failure is not common on modern cars, because brake mechanism in
most cars is split between front and rear wheels, thus if one pair goes out, the
other usually still works. In an extreme case you can use handbrake, which
should be checked for proper operation, too.
Signs of brake wear or
fatigue:
The most
common sign of wear are worn brake pads and shoes. If you're test driving a car
and apply brakes and hear high-pitched squeak, this most likely indicates that
brake shoes are worn and need to be replaced as soon as possible. Checking drums
requires drum removal. Try to get an estimate on when the last brake job was
done. If the car is equipped with alloy wheels, you can peek and see how much
break pad life is remaining.
Another sign
of brakes needing maintenance is mushy, spongy pedal or pedal that goes all the
way down to the floor. All these problems likely indicate problems with fluid or
booster mechanism. If you decide to buy the car with mushy pedal, it is
absolutely essential to get it fixed as soon as possible.
Also it is
quite common for you to feel vibration when applying brakes. This usually
indicated warped rotors. Warped rotors negatively affect braking performance.
If the car
pulls on either side when you apply brakes, this indicates faulty brake caliper
and should be fixed if you decide to buy the car.
Check the
operation of handbrake, preferably on a hill or some other inclined surface.
Handbrake should be able to hold the car on an incline.
Hard pedal
indicates either lack of power brakes or booster mechanism failure and should be
evaluated professionally.
Check the
brake fluid. Find the manual and look at where the brake reservoir is located
and see how much fluid it has. It should be within a normal range. If it's low, it
indicates leakage or excessively worn brake pads/shoes. If it's overfilled, it
might indicate that dealership topped it off before putting the car up for sale.
In either case, it's something to look out for.
Most modern
cars are equipped with ABS system, which is essentially a system that prevents
wheel lockup during emergency braking. When the system is activated during
emergency braking, you are likely to see ABS light blink on the dashboard and
feel pulsating in the pedal. Pulsating when ABS is activated is normal. The only
way to check for proper operation is to do emergency braking. Usually, however,
if the ABS or BRAKES light is not on on the cluster panel, the system is
functioning properly.
Conclusion:
Brakes are essential to safety, don't neglect them and make sure they are in
proper operating condition.
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