Parts of a Hydraulic Braking System:
Brake Lines
Brake Hoses
Brake Calipers
Brake Caliper Slider Bolts
Brake Caliper Seals/Boots
Brake Cylinders(Drum)
Brake Springs(Drum)
Brake Pads
Brake Rotors
Brake Master Cylinder
Brake Vacuum Booster
Brake Fluid
Ensure all of the above ARE IN GOOD WORKING ORDER.
“It looks ok” or “It’ll do for now” IS NOT THE RIGHT Answer.
Brakes determine you rearend the guy who pulled out in front of you, which then would be your fault, or missing him, and not totalling a nice car
Brake Fluid is probably the most overlooked part of the braking system. Pull your cap off your resouviour. Does it look Black? Brown? FLUSH the system. Your fluid has absorbed air/moisture, and is not performing at its best. If you have air in your system, your car won’t stop worth a damn, and your pedal will have alot of travel.
Brake Master Cylinder is what gets pushed when your press the brake pedal inside the car. If your master cylinder fails, fluid will leak by the seal inside the cylinder, and causes a fluid leak. It will also encourage air to enter the brake system. Your pedal will feel like crap, because the proper fluid pressure is not reaching the brake lines, which goto your calipers. If you have a wet spot dripping under your master cylinder, generally running down your Brake booster, your master cylinder is shot. You need to replace this asap, before you have no brakes at all.
Brake Booster is a critical component to being able to stop fast. Ever turn your car off while going down the road, then attempt to stop? After a couple pumps, your brake booster has lost all of its vacuum, and your are essentially driving your car with old fashioned “Manual Brakes.” Pedal becomes stiff, and you don’t stop very well.
Brake rotors should be smooth, on both sides. Ridges or grooves hinder stopping surface to the brake pads, and can cause shaking, fade, and other things.
Brake Calipers are prone to “seizing.” There are many moving parts on a caliper, and proper maintenance should be followed. Slider bolts, which allows the caliper to slide on and off the rotor, from the mounting bracket are probably the biggest problem to caliper failure. If those slider bolts get moisture and begin to rust inside, the caliper will not move, causing it to basically not be able to push the pad to the rotor. Brake Slider bolt lube is sold at AutoZone in lil packets. Always ensure your bolts have lots of lubrication. Rubber boot/seals around the slider bolts should be in PERFECT condition. One lil tiny rip or tear, will allow moisture to enter the slider housing, and rust will begin to form. Same goes to the rubber boot that fits around the Caliper Piston. A tear in that, can allow rust to form inside the piston wall, causing premature piston seal failure, and possible for moisture to enter the brake fluid system.
Brake pads should have decent amount of material on them. A small bit of lining left means you should goto the store and buy a new set of pads. Metal on metal is Worse! It will stop like shit, and definitely ruin your rotors, in a big hurry. If chunks of brake pad material are missing, then you should defiinitely replace the pads. Also, if your pads have cracks along the material surface, it means your pads have likely been overheated, and they will fall apart…eventually leading to a metal on metal situation.
Cracked and/or Dry-rotted brake hoses can create fade, due to “Ballooning”, and can eventually lead to BUSTING. Which means, your fluid pressure does not reach the caliper, you do not stop, and you have an accident. Always inspect your brake hoses, every other oil change…specially on older vehicles which still have the original hoses still installed. Trust me, you don’t want a hose to fail on you. The outcome is not pretty.
Also, inspect the brake lines, specially when its a “Northern car”. Salt can eat your brake lines in a damn hurry. I’ve seen 2004 model vehicles needing brake lines replaced, because the salt packs up under the vehicle, and stays there. Salt is the biggest enemy to cars in the snowy states.
Did I miss anything? Whew…