Your brakes are an essential part of your vehicle; you need to know when they are going bad to ensure you can slow to a stop.

These items are required to slow or stop your car so that you can control the speed. The regularly-scheduled maintenance of your vehicle includes checking your brakes or having the brake pads changed out. You don’t want to wait to change your brake pads until it’s so late that you must also replace your rotors. If you want to avoid the highest possible costs of fixing your brakes, you need to pay attention to the following warning signs you might experience while driving.

Is There a Burning Smell Coming from Your Wheels?

If you experience a sharp, chemical odor from your wheels, it could be that your braking system is overheating. This is a severe problem. If it happens, you need to pull over to a safe place along the road and let things cool off. Double-check to make sure the parking brake is off and look at each wheel to see if any of them have smoke coming out of them. If this happens, the calipers might malfunction and be locked in a place that requires immediate repairs.

How Does the Pedal Feel When Pressed?

Another sign that your brakes are going wrong is when the brake pedal feels soft and lacks resistance. Your vehicle’s braking system uses pressurized fluid to connect the pedal to the calipers that grab the rotors and slow the wheels. Without this pressure, the calipers won’t close and slow the vehicle if the brake pedal is spongy or goes to the floor without resistance; it’s time for you to have your brakes checked to see if they need to be fixed.

Does Your Steering Wheel Wobble?

There are several parts to the braking system of your vehicle. If something isn’t right about this system, you’ll want to have it serviced. One warning sign is a wobbly steering wheel which could mean that your rotors are uneven. The rotors are large discs attached to the wheel that works to stop the vehicle when the brake pads are pushed against them. If they are inconsistent, you’ll experience a wobbly steering wheel. If this happens, have your rotors smoothed out or replaced.

Are You Hearing Lout Squealing Noises?

One sign that your brakes are going wrong is built into your brake pads. These pads have wear indicators made of metal and contact the rotor to put out a high-pitched noise when you apply the brakes. This loud noise informs you that it’s time to replace the pads and fix your brakes. Of course, this sound can also happen if a pebble or other debris is lodged into your brakes between the pad and rotors. If you change your brake pads when you hear this loud noise, your rotors will last a lot longer.

Did Your Brake Light Come On?

Even if you’re not very tuned into your vehicle and don’t understand some of the other warning signs, you can pay attention to your brake light and know it’s time to have your brakes serviced when this light begins to shine. Whether it’s time for regular maintenance or this system alerting you to a potential problem, you need to bring your vehicle in for service when the light comes on. This warning light tells you that something needs to be done in this system.

Has the Noise Moved from Squealing to Grinding?

If the squealing noise ends and is replaced with a grinding noise, you’ll likely need to have your brake pads and rotors replaced. This sure indicates that your brakes are going wrong and need service right away. If you happen to have drum brakes, this noise means the show is scraping on metal contact points, and you’ll need to have your braking system serviced. Don’t wait; you’ve got a vehicle that doesn’t have much pad left and might stop working when you need to slow or stop your car.

Do You See Brake Fluid on your Driveway?

Your car’s braking system is a closed system with the fluid trapped in the system to create the pressure needed to slow or stop your vehicle. If brake fluid leaks out of this system, you won’t have as much stopping power as before. When all the fluid leaks out, you won’t have any stopping power. As soon as you see this fluid in your driveway, you need to check the system for leaks and have this fixed to make sure your brakes work correctly and stop safely.

Does your Car Pull to One Side When Braking?

Your car shouldn’t pull to either side when you’re stopping. If this happens, you’ve got a severe problem. This typically means one brake is working and the other isn’t, leading to uncontrolled issues when you’re driving. It would help if you had your system checked right away. When your brakes are going bad, and this happens, you could have a bad brake hose or caliper causing problems. This isn’t as noticeable when it occurs on the rear wheels; it’s almost only apparent in the front brakes.

Keep Your Brakes Working Right; Your Safety Matters

All of the other safety systems of your car can’t replace the brakes and what they do to slow or stop your vehicle. You need to make sure your brakes are always working correctly so that you don’t have some unexpected issues while driving on the road. These eight tips give you some of the warning signs you should pay attention to so that your brakes don’t become a problem for you. If you experience any of these signs, you’ll want to check your brakes or have them serviced to make sure they continue to perform correctly when you drive.