Automobile Brakes: Slowing Your Way To Safety

Just imagine speeding down the highway in your Chevrolet Silverado. Just imagine the sun on your face and the wind on your hair. Just imagine the feeling of being one with your car and the road as well. Feels great, doesn’t it? This time, imagine trying to slow down your descent however finding out that your brakes do not work. Now that would be a great misfortune and possibly an expensive brake job.

An automobile’s brake system has been continually refined and redefined for over a century. Automobiles without brakes would not a great thing for drivers and passengers would be very much prone to accidents, collisions, and crashes. The modern automotive brakes system has now become extremely independent, dependable, indispensable, and very efficient. All these are due to the experiences of drivers and innovations of automobile experts.

The brake system of an automobile generally consists of disk brakes. They are mounted and installed in the front and rear ends of the automobile. The disk brakes, or also known as drum brakes, installed in the rear is connected by a system of tubes and hoses. These then link the brake at each wheel and connect them to the master cylinder. If a person looks more closely into an automobile’s brake system, he would be able to discover that there are other systems that are connected to this system. These other systems include the parking brakes, the power brake booster, and the anti-lock system.

If a person steps on the brake pedal what actually happens is that he is actually pushing against the plunger found in the master cylinder. By doing such action, it forces the hydraulic oil or brake fluid to go through a series of tubes and hoses to the braking unit at each wheel. The concept behind this is that hydraulic fluid, or any other kind of fluid, cannot be compressed. By pushing the fluid through the pipe, this produces the same action and reaction of like pushing a steel bar through a pipe.

However, the main difference between the hydraulic fluid and a steel bar is that the hydraulic fluid has the capacity to be directed through many twists and turns on its way to its destination while a steel bar has no capacity to do so. Upon going through its own maze, it arrives back to its original location and state so that it could be used once again. What is essential, though, is to keep the liquid free from air bubbles. If there are air bubbles in the liquid this actually slows down and reduces the vehicle’s braking system’s efficiency. If this actually happens, the entire braking system must undergo a bleeding where the air can be removed. Each wheel cylinder and caliper has “bleeder screws” that facilitate the release of any air in the fluid.

A great place to get any auto repair work carried out on your car is Dallas Auto Repair part of the larger RepairPal company. RepairPal gives you independent and unbiased repair estimates, userratings and reviews, plus advice you can't get anywhere else.