Beartracker

If you learn how to drive right it can make a big difference on long your pads and rotors will last. We all know that where you live can make a big difference too. If you live in Kansas and the other guy lives in the middle of the rockies it's not hard to figure who's brakes are going to last the longest.
But what is the best habits or methods of driving to save on the life of your brakes for both types of terrain? What are the bad habits? Around here I'm always driving up and down the mountains and speeding up and slowing down on all these curves. Hard on brakes but what can I do to help save the pads and brakes? Mike

Tylercs

I read in a Road & Track a whle back that hard fast stops are much worse than longer softer stops. The article also said that to stop a car from 60 mph enough energy is giving off to bring a quart of water to a boil. Also I was alway under the impresion that when going down a hill to not just hold the brakes to slow you but to go on and off them and give them time to cool.

navyredneck

I have a 2000 Sienna with 96k miles on the original pads.

Things I do:
Drive lots of interstate miles where I stay > 2 car lengths from guy in front of me. I only use brakes on the interstate in an emergency. People who routinely use brakes on the interstate or highway are usually following entirely too close to the guy in front of them.

In town I stay far back, too. I hate alternating between the gas and brake pedal. A straight shift makes it even easier to save the brakes because you can use the engine to brake for you.

If the redlight is red I coast to it. I always grimace when I see someone accelerate towards a red light and then slam on their brakes to stop in time.

Beartracker

Good info guy's , keep it coming!

seanz0rz

i downshift, especially in my honda, when coming off the freeway or the like. 70 to 0 really takes its toll on your brake pads.

when downshifting, just watch where your tach is and dont redline the engine. thats bad...

deserttoy84

When going down hills turn off overdrive or downshift a gear. also hold constant very light pressure on brakes if you have to use your brakes. pulsing on and off will heat up and cool down causing warping. keep distance and dont watch the car right in front of you, watch 10 cars down the road to know when to let off the accelerator.

turboale

Don't drive fast, more momentum=more heat when you come from a long or hard stop, say to a light, don't stay in one place (especially if you have an auto!) Think about how hot the caliper is, having it clamp down on one spot of the disk will make it much more likely to warp. What I do is slowly let the car inch forward tapping even. Just to keep he caliper moving at least a little around the rotor. If that doesn't help I would get some slotted rotors and CM or Ceramic brake pads. If you STILL need better cooling I would find some way to get some extra air in there to cool things down.

As far as using the gears to slow the vehicle down...
I wouldn't highly recommend it, unless you are good at double clutching and rev matching. Even then, I look at it as brakes are much easier and cheaper to replace than a tranny.

jagger_snitt

I use a lot of engine braking,It does put more wear on my clutch. The best thing I think ist to look further ahead and see traffic situations before they occur. This avoids most emergency or abruppt braking situations. The less you use the brake the less you'll need to work on them. Gradual use of them in combonation with limited engine braking and you'll save them alot.

5-spd for life!

One thing that is an adverse choice when thinking about brake pad and rotor savings is when buying a car to just buy a manual version. An automatic transmission will always provid a constant pressure on the vehicle when driving which all leads to ecsessive pad wear. But in your case I would do the tundra brake upgrade and enjoy super lond pad life and no rotor warping! When you have a lot of braking at a time you get brake fade and when this happenes you actually lose friction forces and fluid boiling and that is a very dangerous liability. With the tundra setup my braking actually improves as the rush hour and moutain driving heat my brakes up more than normal. I would suggest starting over at the next pad change and either compltely upgrading to the tundra setup or get ceramic pads which can take the heat of abnormally hard braking conditions.

gilby4runner

I just take it nice and easy with the brakes. My brother in law has a 4runner and is on his 4th set of pads at 115,000. Ive still got the originals at 86,000. He is very hard on the brakes. not a stop and go... more like floor it and slam it

surf4runner

brakes are a lot cheaper to replace than a clutch...

WFO

I just sold my GMC with over 90,000 miles on the original pads that passed inspection. This is with probably over 1/4 of those miles towing. I just never ride them and if I can, hit the brakes harder for a sec then give 'em a sec to cool then hit 'em again. You just have to keep them from getting hot.

X-AWDriver

I 2nd the brakes are cheaper than a clutch. I drive hard on mine which means frequent gbraking and I see 50k out of my front brakes and about 100k out of the rears so I don't think replacing front pads every 5 years is too big a deal to me.

91_4x4runner

I've got an original clutch in my truck (242K miles) and I still engine brake. It makes keeping my speed under control on inclines alot easier..

Beartracker

Some of you talk about hitting the brakes and then backing off. That's what we used to call "pumping" the brakes but it was always my understanding that with today's brakes you are not supposed to do that . Just apply steady pressure until you stop. Also slowing down and not coming to a complete hard stop is supposed to be good but isn't that just as bad as riding the brakes? If you drive really slow around here so you don't have to brake at the curves someone is going to run over you, Lol.Can't win it seems like.

surf4runner

engine braking down an inlcine is not the same as down shifting into second to slow down. its the high speed downshift that wears more on the clutch.

'pumping' is not necessary on cars with ABS.
what it seems being described is to: generate alot of heat initially, then cool, then slowly apply steady pressure while slowing.

breknraj

Also remember that merely taking your foot off the throttle will generally slow our trucks down considerably. No brake needed at all, in most traffic situations.

Keeping a good eye on the conditions well ahead of you will make it possible to avoid brake use, by just slowing down, when needed.

I always get a kick out of watching other people driving along the I-70 corridor. Curve in the road - brakes; lane change - brakes; follow too close - brakes. I seldom use mine between Summit County and Denver - I just let up on the accelerator when I need to slow down (like setting up on a new curve). To watch some folks, it appears, to me, that they just HAVE to have a foot on a pedal, somewhere! (accelerating, or braking) lol!

deserttoy84

clutch isnt nessicarily cheaper then brakes. new rotors and pads is like 150 bucks which is about what you can pickup a clutch kit for. The labor is pretty equal to do both on a lot of 4wd since the rotors require dissassembly of the hubs in order to get them apart. my clutch is fairly new. I down shift all the time, Im very good at rev matching and i usually dont ever use the clutch to down and up shift. guess you just gotta have skills . the whole on and off if what warps rotors. releasing brakes for 10 seconds is not gonna cool anything before you "tap" on them again.

bigredj87

When I'm slowing down I use the engine 90% of the time. I don't for see any problems with the clutch because I hardly use the thing. I only ever use the clutch when starting from a stop and from 1st to 2nd then I speed shift the rest of the gears. When I down shift I just bump the gas, pull the shifter out of the gear its in bump the gas again so the rpms jump up, then put it into the next gear down. It takes a couple weeks to learn all the right rpms so you don't jerk, but once you learn it, its smoother than shifting with the clutch. So I don't worry about wearing out my clutch or brakes.

olharleyman

LEARN TO KEEP AN EVEN AMOUNT OF PRESSURE ON THE SKINNY PEDAL AT A SET(I.E. HOLD THE RPM STEEDY AT 2500 RPM FOR A SET AMOUNT OF TIME WITH NO FLUCATION 45-60 SECONDS THEN REPEAT TILL ITS SECOND NATURE AT ANY TIME OR SPEED BUT START IN THE DRIVEWAY TILL YOU CAN DO IT ANY TIME YOU CHOSE TO) RPM AND WHEN YOU CAN DO IT LIKE ITS A EVERYDAY THING HERES THE SECRET TO SHIFTING WITH OUT THE CLUTCH

Up Shift
Let The Rpms Drop About 5-700 Slide It Into Gear

Down Shift
Rev Rpms Up About 5-700 Ease It Into Lower Gear

I Don't Use My Clutch Much Either But It Comes From Many Years Of Driving An 18 Speed And Learning The Way To Shift Without The Clutch Last Clutch On My Pete Went 530,000 Miles.

As For Braking When On A Downgrade
Steady Light Pressure With At Least A One Gear Drop Will Do Wonders 2 Gears Even Better I Was Thought That When Going Down A Long Grade Down Shift 2 Gears From What It Took To Get Up The Hill And Yes I Know That This Is For A 80000 Lb Truck But It Translates To A Normal Size Car/truck As Well

Keep An eye On The Car/truck 2 Cars Ahead That Will Tell You More About What Is Going To Happen With The Car/truck In Front Of You Better Then You Can Imagine(plus after awhile you will be able to see what that driver in front of you is going to do before they know what their going to do and you can freak your friends out by telling them watch this guy he going to do xxx and when he does it peole kind of look at you and your driveing style a lot differentily almost like a rock star) And Always Keep A 5 Second Space Between You And The Guy In Front Of You( Find a mile marker and count the seconds between the time his rear bumper crosses and your front bumper cross and adjust for it. It takes 1 second for every 10 miles per hour to stop) That Way You Have A Chance To React And Avoid Any Possible Sudden Stops From The Person In Front Of You And Its Also Helpful To Keep An Open Distance On Either Side So You Have An Escape Route In An Emergence.

I Have Longed Over 1,000,000 Documented Accident Free Miles Cross This Great Land Of Ours And Those Are The Rules I Lived By And Have Had Great Luck With Both Brake And Clutch Life Out Of My Rigs.
Not A Sermon Just A Bit Of Advice To Pass On And Hopefully Help Someone Down The Road