Question: How do I know when my car really needs a brake job?
Answer: You need a "brake job" when your brake
linings are worn down to the minimum acceptable thickness specified
by the vehicle manufacturer or the applicable state agency in
areas that set their own requirements. The only way to determine
if new linings are required, therefore, is to inspect the brakes.
You may also need a brake job if you're having brake problems
such as grabbing, pulling, low or soft pedal, pedal vibration,
noise, etc., or if some component in your brake system has failed.
But if the problem is isolated to only one component, there's
no need to replace other parts that are still in perfectly good
working order.
There is no specific mileage interval at which the brakes need
to be relined because brake wear varies depending on how the vehicle
is driven, the braking habits of the driver, the weight of the
vehicle, the design of the brake system and a dozen other variables.
A set of brake linings that last 70,000 miles or more on a car
driven mostly on the highway may last only 30,000 or 40,000 miles
on the same vehicle that is driven mostly in stop-and-go city
traffic.
As a rule, the front brakes wear out before the ones on the rear
because the front brakes handle a higher percentage of the braking
load -- especially in front-wheel drive cars and minivans. So
many service facilities advertise .95 brake job "specials"
that replace the linings on the front brakes only. Doing the front
brakes only is okay and can save you money as long as the rear
brakes are in good condition. But if the rear brakes need attention,
they should be relined too.
One of the problems with the brake specials you see advertised
in the newspaper is that the price is very misleading. A person
typically goes in expecting to spend .95 for a brake job, but
usually ends up spending considerably more because the brakes
need more than the minimum amount of work to restore them to like-new
condition. The price of a brake job depends entirely on the work
that needs to be performed. So any advertised special is not a
firm price, but only an estimate of the least amount of money it
might cost you to get your brakes fixed. A price should not be
quoted until after the brakes have been inspected. Then and only
then can an accurate determination be made of the parts that actually
need to be replaced.
