An Overview of Important Brake Parts you need to Know

The braking system in your car is a combination of several brake parts each of which plays an important role in ensuring your safety. Knowing these basic brake parts is quite essential since you will be able to tell what needs to be changed just by examination. You will also be able to determine what type of break difficulty that your car is experiencing. The first brake part that we can start with is the brake pedal. You use the brake pedal to transfer force to a master cylinder. Closely associated with this break part are the braking lights. They switch on upon brakes application thus warning tailing drivers of your intentions.

The other brake parts that you don’t see too often

After the pedal the largely invisible brake parts include the master cylinder. The master cylinder is forced into action courtesy of the push rod. The master cylinder is an integral brake part that holds both the fluid reservoir and a piston. The force from the push rod causes the piston to move. When it does brake fluid is pushed into brake lines and then into either a wheel cylinder or caliper.

Brake parts differ depending on the braking system used

There are two main braking systems that are used in cars i.e. disc brakes and drum brakes. Many cars are fitted with disc brakes at the front and at the rear. Some cars however have disc brakes at the front and drum brakes at the rear. For the drum brake system we have the brake parts known as calipers. These are the ones that apply force on the brake pads thus stopping the motion. The wheel cylinder is the brake part replacing the caliper in a disc braking system.

The last important brake part is the rotor. Rotors and brake pads make contact when brakes are applied. The contact is such that heat and friction occur and with time this leads to wear. Brake pads are arguably the most replaced brake parts in a vehicle’s braking system.

Common problems that afflict brake parts

Some of the most common problems you will experience with your braking system include warped rotors, bent caliper pins, pad fade, green fade, and fluid fade.