Bad Driving Habits That Shorten Brake Pad Life
Brake pads are a crucial safety component in any vehicle. They provide the friction necessary to slow and stop your car, helping avoid collisions and traffic accidents. However, aggressive driving habits and lack of maintenance can lead to premature brake pad wear, reducing braking performance and vehicle control.
Replacing brake pads is an expensive repair, so it’s important to understand driving habits that negatively impact brake life. Avoiding these poor practices will extend the lifespan of your brake pads, saving you money on maintenance costs. Properly bedding new brake pads and keeping your brakes clean are also key to maximizing pad life.
This article will examine bad driving habits that cause premature brake wear and how you can adjust your driving style to promote longer brake pad life. Extending the lifespan of your brake pads through proper driving and care will improve safety and reduce ownership costs.
Riding the Brakes
Riding the brakes refers to resting your foot on the brake pedal while driving without actually engaging the brakes. This causes constant light pressure on the brake pads, resulting in excess heat and accelerated wear (source). The brake pads are designed to withstand high temperatures from hard braking, but not prolonged moderate heat from riding the brakes.
When riding the brakes, the brake pads stay in constant contact with the rotor, creating friction and heat buildup. This gradually reduces the thickness of the brake pads through uneven and premature wear. It also causes glazing, which is the hardening of the brake pad material from overheating (source). Glazed brake pads have reduced stopping power and require replacement sooner.
Resting Foot on Brake Pedal
Resting your foot on the brake pedal, also known as “riding the brakes,” means keeping gentle pressure on the brake pedal when not actively braking. This causes the brake pads to constantly rub against the rotors at a low level.
According to drivers on Reddit, resting your foot on the brake pedal can wear out brakes faster. The constant pressure causes the calipers to slightly engage, leading to premature wear. Experts recommend keeping your foot off the brake pedal completely when not braking to maximize brake pad life (source).
“Covering the brake” is often confused with resting your foot on the pedal, but simply means positioning your foot above the pedal, ready to brake when needed.
Hard Braking
Hard braking refers to slamming on the brakes suddenly and with great force, often in an emergency situation. This causes the brake pads to grip aggressively against the brake rotors in order to decelerate the vehicle as quickly as possible. The immense friction generated between the pads and rotors produces a large amount of heat and wear. Over time, hard braking significantly decreases the lifespan of the brakes and wears out the pads, requiring them to be replaced more often.
One study found that hard braking can increase brake wear particle emissions by up to 55% in urban environments (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4315878/). Hard braking essentially grinds away the brake pad material at a faster rate. It is recommended to avoid situations that require slamming on the brakes when possible, and to brake early and gradually instead. This allows time for the brakes to work efficiently without excessive heat and friction wearing components prematurely.
Not Changing Brake Pads
One of the most important brake maintenance tasks is replacing worn brake pads. Brake pads have a finite lifespan and will wear down over time and mileage. Most brake pads will last between 25,000-65,000 miles before needing replacement (source). Driving on worn brake pads well past their service life can lead to damage of rotors, calipers, brake fluid and other brake components.
As brake pads wear down, they become thinner and thinner. This causes them to spread the braking force over a larger area of the rotor. Thinner pads lead to reduced braking power and longer stopping distances. Extremely worn pads can lose braking effectiveness almost completely.
In addition to poor braking performance, waiting too long to replace brake pads causes them to scrape against the rotor instead of making clean contact. This scores and grooves the rotor, requiring more expensive brake service. Metal rubbing on metal also produces that high-pitched squealing or grinding noise of worn-out brakes.
To avoid accelerated wear, unsafe braking and costly repairs, brake pads should be inspected regularly and replaced at the first sign of thinning. Most mechanics recommend brake pad replacement between 10,000-20,000 miles (source). With proper maintenance, your brake pads will last longer while providing safe, optimum braking performance.
Lugging the Engine
Lugging the engine occurs when driving at low rpm in a high gear. This forces the engine to work harder to accelerate the vehicle. The engine may misfire or stall when lugged, which can damage the catalytic converter over time. Engine lugging also causes premature brake wear for two reasons:
First, lugging puts more strain on the engine, requiring the driver to brake more frequently to avoid stalling (Source). Second, lugging necessitates more engine braking. Engine braking utilizes the compression of engine cylinders to slow the vehicle down. This compression creates forces that cause extra wear on pistons, rings, cylinders, and bearings (Source). More engine braking equals more brake wear over time.
To reduce lugging and engine braking, drivers should shift to a lower gear rather than heavily braking at low rpms. This will put less strain on the engine and brakes.
Aggressive Driving
Aggressive driving involves behaviors like speeding, rapid acceleration, tailgating, unsafe lane changes, failure to signal turns or lane changes, running red lights, and improper passing. It is characterized by making progress on the road a concern over safety.
Aggressive driving habits lead to faster brake wear for several reasons:
- Frequent hard braking – Aggressive drivers brake much harder and more often to make quick stops or slow down from high speeds. This puts a lot of heat and friction into the brake pads, wearing them down faster.
- More use of anti-lock brakes – The anti-lock braking system is engaged more often with aggressive driving, which wears brake pads faster compared to gentle braking.
- Higher speeds – The faster you drive, the more brake pressure and friction is needed to slow the vehicle. High speeds wear brake pads quicker.
Studies show aggressive driving increases accident risk substantially. Drivers who frequently speed, tailgate, and violate traffic laws are more likely to be involved in collisions that damage vehicles and injure or kill people (https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding).
Not Bedding Brakes Properly
Bedding in new brake pads and rotors is the process of wearing them in properly to ensure maximum braking performance. When new brake pads and rotors are installed, the surfaces are completely smooth with no roughness or texture. This can cause the brakes to be noisy or not grip as well. Bedding the brakes through a series of hard stops creates some roughness on the surfaces so they can grip better. This transfers a thin layer of material from the pads onto the rotors which helps the two components mate together properly.
According to this AutoZone article, bedding brakes is crucial because it “wears off the top layer of friction material and deposits an even layer of pad material on the rotor surface.” Without doing this, drivers may experience reduced braking power, squealing noises, vibration, and uneven or premature wear of pads and rotors.
Overall, not properly bedding in new brake pads and rotors can significantly impact braking performance and component life. Taking the time to follow the proper bedding procedure after a brake job helps ensure the brake system works as designed.
Driving on Dirty Roads
Driving on dirt or gravel roads can significantly shorten the life of your brake pads (https://community.cartalk.com/t/brakes-last-longer-if-used-more/169287). The sand, dirt and mud that gets kicked up while driving can coat the brake rotors, calipers and pads. This abrasive coating causes accelerated wear each time you apply the brakes. Over time, it can warp rotors and damage caliper pistons and brake lines. The grit also reduces the friction between the pads and rotors, decreasing braking power. For these reasons, brake components like pads and rotors may need to be replaced twice as often if routinely driving on dirt or gravel roads (https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/comments/165g0iv/can_driving_on_dirt_roads_destroy_brake_calipers/).
To minimize wear, avoid resting your foot on the brake pedal when driving on dirt roads. Staying off the brakes allows them to stay cleaner. It’s also a good idea to wash your vehicle’s undercarriage after driving on muddy or dirty roads to prevent premature brake wear. Consider upgrading to high performance brake pads and rotors designed for durability if driving on dirt roads is unavoidable.
Conclusion
In summary, there are several key bad driving habits that can shorten the life of your brake pads:
- Riding the brakes instead of fully releasing them
- Resting your foot on the brake pedal when not braking
- Hard braking instead of gradual braking
- Not changing brake pads at recommended intervals
- Lugging the engine and not downshifting properly
- Aggressive driving with rapid acceleration and braking
- Not properly bedding new brake pads
- Driving on dirty or debris-filled roads
Being mindful to avoid these habits can help your brake pads last longer, saving you money on maintenance costs while also promoting safer driving.