Bmr4life

Just trying to figure out which form of braking would cause your brakes to last the longest during daily driving situations. Say your coming up to a red light, which would be best?

1) Start breaking early pressing the brake softly and slowly come to a stop.

2) Waiting till almost the last second and slamming the brakes, just below being hard enough to skid or cause abs to activate.

I was thinking that the 2nd may make the brakes last longer due to them being used for a shorter amount of time, but this is just a guess. Maybe the 1st is better because the brakes aren't used as hard.

Would there even be a difference between these to forms of braking? Just curious, thanks

Also, i know there are some levels of braking inbetween these 2, but I'm just considering the extremes for this scenario.

Cal0205

I always tend to slow down ahead of time and i do this also when i have passenger on board so they dont have to feel the kick.

skiboarder72

I do variation 1) just because i think it wears your brakes less and is less harsh on any passengers. My theory is that the calipers won't grip as hard thus not putting as much stress on your rotors.

MadChef

iTrader: (1)

I'm gonna say #1....because, oh I dunno, I don't want to get in an accident.

You never know if the surface is gonna be a little slicker than you think. Are you sure slamming on the brakes last second is a good idea?
I guess if it's worth it to ya, but brakes really aren't *that* expensive.

Ant96GLE

iTrader: (4)

I drive 80% in the city everyday and I always brake early. I dont really care about my brakes wearing out, they're going to eventually anyway. I like to test out the brakes and make sure they're still there.

lefty

Safety should be the concern rather than trying to preserve some cheap brake pads.

If you can slow down earlier...you should....if you wait till the last miniute and slam on the brakes, what if you needed to stop faster or there is slippery ground, gravel...etc..

Common sense says to brake early and gently and possilby if needed just release the brake until you slow down and then stop.

lefty

Safety should be the concern rather than trying to preserve some cheap brake pads.

If you can slow down earlier...you should....if you wait till the last miniute and slam on the brakes, what if you needed to stop faster or there is slippery ground, gravel...etc..

Common sense says to brake early and gently and possilby if needed just release the brake until you slow down and then stop.

sadice

iTrader: (1)

slamming on brakes hard causes u to skid for a good period of time if u got a car in front u'll defenetaly be smelling that a$$ and it'll cost u more than brake pads in the long run....

SteVTEC

Rev-matched and/or double-clutch downshifts and engine braking. I hardly need to use my brakes, rev-matching means very little wear on the clutch, double clutching means I'm going easier on the synchronizers. And the engine is always spinning anyways, so if you're not revving it to accelerate you might as well put it to good use and rev it to help you decelerate also.

lilgrebbie

just wait till the last second and hit the E-brake
might go throught tires alot but ur breaks will last forever...

Torgus

iTrader: (10)

#1

10charssucks

sryth

I prefer #3: When you're ~10ft from where you want to stop: jam it in 1st gear, drop the clutch, pull the ebrake and floor the brakes. This will stop you quickly and by incorporating the engine/clutch/ebrake, you'll notice less wear on the front pads (you change those more often, anyhow)

Seriously, though...brake soft and brake early. This is both safe, and will wear down your pads the least. If you misjudge, you can always apply more pressure to the brake pedal and shorten up your stop.

Bmr4life

lol, so many replies. Okay, i wasn't considering safety because I always do my own variation of the two. I slow down pretty strong, but not enough to jerk the car, then use really soft pressure to bring the car to a gentle stop.


I'm just trying to find a theory for it. I always say safety first.

sryth

Ok...here's my answer to 'why?':

Slamming on the brakes is much harder on the pads/rotors in general. They will heat up faster and get hotter. Also, you're applying massive friction to a limited part of the disk instead of evenly spreading it out by gently applying the brakes. This will lead to hot-spots and warping of the disks.

ptatohed

iTrader: (12)

I actually do option 0).

I'm even more of a grandma then what you said in option 1) bmr.

If I see a red light, even in the distance, I let off the gas and start coasting. This has multi-fold benis. It saves gas, it saves brakes, it saves the transmission - and 50% of the time, the light turns green while you are coasting so you never even have to come to a complete stop (thus saving brakes, gas, transmission and time).

But to answer your original question, option 1 saves brakes over option 2. It's all about heat.

MrDicks95SE

iTrader: (23)

Exactly. i do the same. saves your entire car mechanically. no point in throwing it all away in one stop light.

1. obviously...

wariow

iTrader: (3)

same here, people are stupid when I see em flooring it to a stop sign or a red light and I see the red brake lights go on and they end up at a full stop while I'm sitting back and the foot is off the gas, light turns green and I pass through it going 15mph while the guy next to me has to start up again.

Saves gas, transmission and brakes too.

sryth

Yeah, yeah...good for your car, but you don't get to practice your launches that way!