Does Your Car Need a Brake Repair?

Routine servicing visits at your local Chrysler dealer stave off the need for serious brake repair much in the same way that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But even the best-kept brakes can run into occasional trouble. So keep an eye out for the following seven indicators that your brakes need to be inspected.

Spongy Brakes

If you ever press down on the brake pedal and feel less resistance than usual, then you might have air leaking into one of your brake hoses. The spongy sensation means hydraulic pressure is lost in a brake hose, negating its ability to transfer stopping power to the caliper.

It’s unwise to drive with even slightly spongy brakes. Pull over and look under your car for signs of leaking brake fluid. You’ll most likely need a technician to find and fix the leak.

Leaking Brake Fluid

Before you even start your car, you might notice yellow or yellowy-brown fluid puddling under your car or in one of the wheel wells. This means a hose is leaking brake fluid and needs to be repaired at once. Not only will fluid be coming out, but air will be getting in as well.

Your instrument panel will usually warn you of a brake fluid leak with a special light designed for that purpose. You can also check your brake fluid reservoir, which will be suspiciously low in the case of a leak.

Sluggish Brakes

The sensation of sluggish braking is different from spongy brakes. Here, your foot is meeting proper resistance on the pedal, but your car simply isn’t stopping as promptly as it should. This means your brakes have somehow lost frictional force, most likely because of overheating.

Excessive use of brakes in heavy traffic can sometimes cause overheating, which begins to melt the resin in brake pads. A minute amount of gas escapes the melting resin, momentarily coating the pad and reducing its traction. If you pull over and allow your brakes to cool down, they should return to normal. But if your brakes are still sluggish when cool, have a technician take a look.

Squealing Brakes

Brake pads that wear down too thin emit a squealing sound. This unmissable noise is by design. It alerts you to the problem so you can have the worn-out pad replaced.

Grinding Brakes

When a brake pad loses its upper friction layer altogether, you’ll hear it grinding directly on the metal of the rotor disc. At this point, your rotor disc is undergoing serious damage. On top of having your pad replaced, you might need to resurface the rotor.

Trembling Brake Pedal

When a rotor becomes damaged, you’ll often feel it vibrating through the brake pedal when you slow down your car. This rhythmic trembling sensation is a brake pad scraping over the uneven rotor surface. You’ll need to have the damaged rotor repaired or replaced.

Your Chrysler Dealer Finds a Fault

Rather than counting on your own senses to detect a brake problem, it’s better to have a professional examine your vehicle every six months. Just as a doctor can cure a disease more easily when he catches it early, your technician can find and fix brake flaws before those faults cause you any trouble on the road.

Visit Cunningham Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Edinboro today to have your brakes examined and repaired. We’ve been helping the region’s drivers out with brake servicing and much more since 1993.

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