Healthy brakes are vital for your driving safety as they allow you to control your speed at a moment’s notice. The braking system in your Chevy contains numerous components, and these components can suffer wear or damage over time. Fortunately, your Chevy dealer in Cheraw, SC, can fix any braking problem for you. These are signs that you may need a brake repair very soon.
Signs You Need a Brake Repair at Your Chevy Dealer
Screeching and Grinding
Noises from your car can make driving very stressful, especially if they happen each time you brake. Screeching and grinding noises are usually caused by brake pads in two stages of wear. Brake pads produce the friction that brings your wheels to a stop. They fit into the calipers positioned above the wheel rotors, and the calipers clamp against the rotors when you hit the brakes.
Screeching noises mean the friction material on the pads has worn down to 1/4″ thickness, and they need to be replaced. This high-pitched sound is a warning that you need to change the pads. Grinding noises, on the other hand, are more serious. They occur once the friction material has worn off. The metal pads will grind against the rotors and damage them. We can quickly replace your pads to solve this problem.
Leaking Brake Fluid
Brake fluid provides the hydraulic power that allows brakes to work. This fluid is highly pressurized to exert the necessary hydraulic pressure. Any damage to the brake hoses, brake lines, or brake fluid reservoir can rapidly cause response problems with the brakes.
As fluid is lost from the braking system, the pressure inside the system drops too. The reduced pressure slows down the response from the braking system and can even cause your brakes to fail. A fluid leak isn’t easy to spot, but you’ll notice signs that there’s a problem. One of the first signs of leaking fluid is reduced resistance from the brake pedal when you step on it. We’ll examine your braking system to identify the site of the leak and then seal it.
Brake Pedal Vibration
If you experience a vibration when you step on the pedal, you have a brake problem. As we’ve seen, the calipers grab both sides of the rotors to force them to stop moving. The rotors are smooth and flat to ensure the best and fastest grip. Barking generates large amounts of heat, and the rotors heat up dramatically when you’re driving.
As time passes, the extreme heat can warp the rotors slightly. If a caliper grabs a warped section of a rotor, this generates vibrations you’ll feel through the pedal. We’ll examine the affected rotor, and we can resurface it to fix this problem.
Driving with worn or damaged brakes is dangerous. Call us today at Cheraw Chevrolet.
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