Dear Tom, I just bought a used 2003 Ford Taurus from a local dealer. The first time I hit the brakes on wet pavement it scared the devil out of me! The pedal bounced back and there was a loud noise coming from the front of the vehicle that sounded like a motorboat. What is wrong with my vehicle? It doesn't do it on dry pavement. Should I take it back to the dealer? Sharon from Dallas, TXShar
Your vehicle carries some pretty valuable cargo. Let's talk about a major safety aspect of your car, the braking system. The braking system on most people's cars goes unnoticed since it is "out of sight, out of mind." That is, until a problem crops up, which is usually in the form of the proverbial grinding when you push the brake pedal. What are the most common signs of brake failure? Common Warn
When wheels are covered with brake dust, the entire car looks dirty and in many cases, a basic wash will do little to rectify the problem. Most associate brake dust as a mere nuisance, but others actually see the sight of pad particles as a fundamental problem with the functionality of a vehicle's brakes. That may sound a bit strange to some, but J.D. Power seems to agree that brake dust is indeed a quality problem.
New technologies always cost the early adopters big bucks. But higher demand leads to increased supply, and costs eventually go down to the level accessibly by the common man. So while carbon-ceramic brakes might be a big ticket item right now – often dipping into five figures as optional equipment on European exotica – Brembo has formed a new joint venture with carbon-fiber supplier SGL Group with the specific goal of mass-producing the brake technology for widespread application.
Dear Tom, Every time I hit the brake pedal, my brakes make this awful high-pitched squeal. When I stop at a light I get stares from people. It's embarrassing! I just had the brakes done last month, so why are they squealing? Help! Melissa from Manhasset, NY Melissa, Take your car back to the shop. Sounds to me like the pad insulators, anti rattle clips, or calipers are loose. The squeal you hear i
Ah, fire. One of humanity's oldest ways to generate energy. Technically, you could generate energy by burning brake pads, as seen in the picture above (thanks, Flickr!), but automotive engineers have managed to come up with a way to use brakes to generate energy without going up in flames. The technology is called regenerative braking and it's the subject of this week's Greenlings.
Your vehicle carries some pretty valuable cargo. Let's talk about a major safety aspect of your car, the braking system. Being "out of sight, out of mind," the braking systems on most people's cars go unnoticed, until a problem crops up. What are the most common signs of brake failure?Poor braking performance, (hard to stop the car)Squealing or grinding noises during brakingPulling to one side, or
Most passenger vehicles are coming out with ABS, otherwise known as Antilock brakes. Let's take a look at their design and function. ABS uses wheel speed sensors, a hydraulic control unit, and a computerized electronic control module, which is the "brain" of the system. When the brake pedal is applied, the electronic control module monitors the speed of the wheels through the wheel speed sensors.
The recent spate of negative press hampering the Caparo T1 hasn't stopped the makers of the clichéd "road-going racecar" from releasing a host of details outlining the finer points of the T1's safety systems.
Consolidation of aftermarket brake manufacturers seems to be all the rage recently, with Centric consuming both PowerSlot and Stoptech, and now, Brembo has bought out all of Hayes Lemmerz's North American brake-components division. The Italian parts manufacturer dolled out a cool $58 million for both the Homer, Michigan and Apodaca, Mexico facilities, and in the process acquired the company's 250 employees
After dedicating the last several years to the pursuit of power and handling, we're finally putting forth an effort to slow down our car. Consider this to be an indicaton of hard-earned maturity (as opposed to our receding hairlines, which are just signs of getting old).
In 2006, we spent a lot of time spinning wrenches here in the Autoblog Garage in the process of taking on common maintenance tasks and a few performance upgrades. For your convenience, we've compiled links to each of the posts after the jump.
(Ed. - The views expressed in this post are those of Dan Roth and not Autoblog in general. Dan asked if he could channel the grumpy old man inside of him, and for better or worse, we took off his leash.)
Why Upgrade?If the time has come for you to R&R the brakes on your car, stop and think. How much can you improve the performance of the original setup? Will substituting high-performance aftermarket parts for the factory-replacement pieces make a big difference?Conversely, for all the cash you can throw at performance parts, it makes sense to keep the OEM hardware if it's up to the task. Think abo
One of the goals of the Autoblog Project Garage posts is to give our readers some insight into the scope of various projects, including a sense of the amount of time it might take to complete a job given our usual variety of distractions. As a case in point, the first post concerning a rear-disc conversion on a 1996 Buick Roadmaster (don't laugh - it's much faster than it appears) took place nearly two an
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