If your brake light is on, double-check that it doesn’t indicate that your parking brake is on. If you’re in motion and see your brake light, that’s a cause for concern. You may still have some time to get to us here at Texan Auto Repair & Collision, but you don’t want to fool around when it comes to your brakes. If you don’t feel safe, pull your vehicle to a safe place and call for a tow truck.
1. Leaking Brake Fluid
Brake fluid is the lifeblood of the braking system. Brakes are a hydraulic system that use fluid to apply pressure to close the calipers and brake pads over the brake rotors and eventually stop the car. If you’ve got a leak, that means that you don’t have all the brake fluid you need to safely operate your brakes. A little bit of fluid might be easy to fix, but a lot of fluid could cause big brake problems.
2. Vibration or Noise During Braking
When you apply the brakes, you should smoothly and quietly come to a stop. If the car is vibrating when you press on the brake pedal, that’s a sign that something is not right, possibly with the brake pads or with the brake rotors. If you’re hearing noise, that can be a sign that your brakes are wearing down and are hitting the audible brake wear indicator. This can also happen with wet brakes, too.
3. Soft or Squishy Brakes
Pressing the pedal should feel firm, but if your brakes are going bad the pedal might feel soft or squishy to you. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but most commonly it can mean that there’s air somewhere in your brake lines, which can indicate a leak. If you press the pedal and the pedal sinks immediately to the floor, you have no brakes at all and may need to stop with the emergency brake.
4. Pulling While Braking
As you apply the brake, the car should stay exactly on the same path that you’ve been taking. If you feel it pulling to one side or the other, this can be caused by a variety of issues. A stuck caliper is just one potential issue. You could also have a leak that affects only one brake, causing you to pull to that side.
5. Overheating Brakes
You might not realize it, but your brakes can absolutely overheat. You’ll most likely smell something that smells like burning rubber, and it can be really unpleasant. If you smell something like burnt chemicals, too, that can mean that brake fluid is overheating.
Need to make sure that your brakes are in great condition? Contact us at Texan Auto Repair & Collision in Sugar Land, TX. We can test your entire brake system for brake problems and make sure you’re safe on the road.
