They slow you down and always there when you need it. Brake pads are essential to your vehicle’s braking system, and they are the key to your safety. As reliable as they can be, brake pads needs to be replaced from time to time to ensure consistent brake performance and road safety.
What are brake pads?
Brake pads are a component in your braking system designed to bring your car to a stop. It is made with a steel backing plate with friction materials which faces the disc rotor, squeezing the rotors to bring your car to a stop.
Type of brake pads.
There are a few types of brake pads available today in the market depending on your style of driving but we have narrowed it down to 3 types of brake pads most commonly found.
NAO Brake Pads
Ceramic Brake Pads
Semi-Metallic Brake Pads
How to choose the right brake pads?
Type of vehicles
The type of brake pads depends on which vehicle you drive, for example sedan, SUV, 4x4, minivan, truck or sportscar. Each type of vehicle had different need for the brake pads. Not to brag, but we at ik soon do carry brake pads for almost all type vehicles :D
Driving habits
Do you prefer sporty driving? or are your a Sunday driver 24/7? Whatever it is, your driving style determines your choice of brake pads. NAO brake pads are suitable for comfort driving. Ceramic brake pads is cleaner and last longer than NAO brake pads. If breaking 0-60mph time records is your thing, semi-metallic brake pads are the most suitable.
Surroundings
Different surroundings also require different type of brake pads. Do you go offroad often? Wading through flood waters? You would want something that could definitely handle every situation you give it.
Environment friendly
Back in the "good ol days", brake pads are made from asbestos fibre which is known to be detrimental to human's health and is said to be a cause for lung cancer. Therefore, brake manufacturers began manufacturing NAO brake pads, setting the modern standard for brake pads that is better for us and better for the environment.
We at Ik Soon take pride in carrying brake pads from reputable manufacturers that hold a high regard for health and safety standards for their products.
How to know when to replace brake pads
The lifespan of a set of brake pads is highly dependable on your driving style. Naturally, if you are heavy footer when it comes to braking, the brake pads would've worn out faster than usual. However, a typical brake pad do last between 30,000km to 80,000km.
Some brake pads comes with an electronic wear indicator that beeps at the dash when a brake pad is near the end of its life.
A pin wear indicator. This pin is a small strip of metal attached to the pads that will come in contact with the rotor to produce a high pitch noise when a certain amount of friction material has been depleted.
Scraping noise as the metal backings on your pads grind into your rotors when the friction material is gone. Please do not let it get to this stage.
Brake pedal is pulsing, is soft, or travels too far toward the floor.
Our Recommendations
We at Ik Soon only trust the best for our customers, for those looking for brake pads that are suitable for all driving styles, we highly recommend Bendix Metal King Titanium Brake Pads for your vehicle.
With its signature blue titanium strip, these brake pads provide immediate braking performance like no other with no bedding in needed. You can purchase them from our STORE or contact us HERE to find a brake pad that is suitable for your car!
TL;DR
Brake pads are important, don't play play.
This article is prepared by our interns, Ng Loong Joo & Ian Yap Qi Yuan, that are doing remarkable work understanding the needs of drivers when it comes to choosing brake pads.