When you’re shopping for a used car, you’re probably wondering how often do brakes need to be changed on cars. The good news is that it can be as much as 75,000 miles before you need to change them. The bad news is it could be as little as 25,000.
How Often Do Brakes Need to Be Changed?
The huge factor in the life of brake shoes, discs and rotors is how the driver of the vehicle drives. With good braking habits you can have your brakes for a very long time before you need to replace them. Another factor is keeping an eye on their condition and catching repairs before they become expensive repairs.
If you drive across town to work every day in downtown traffic, your brakes probably won’t last as long as the person that takes the freeway. All that constant stopping due to traffic and traffic lights is a lot of wear on your brakes.
When your transmission is manual then you can downshift more often to slow down first before braking. This can save a lot of wear and tear on the brakes. But if you are driving an automatic then there is no practical way to do this.
Another tip to get more life out of your brakes is to keep the vehicle light. That means you need to take all that stuff out of the car that is in there for no reason. Travel light and it takes a load off of your brakes.
When Car Shopping
When you’re shopping for a used car, you will have no idea if the former driver slammed on the brakes a lot, drove in heavy traffic and used and abused the braking system. You will need to have the brakes inspected. Some brake problems are expensive, so it is an important factor for the sales price.
