Have you have ever been driving your car and noticed a burning smell? Many people automatically assume a burning smell will come from under their hood, from the engine or radiator. However, there is another cause of a burning smell coming from your car – your car brakes.
Why do car brakes get hot? The friction between your brake pads touching the rotors causes your brakes to heat up. The more you use your brakes, the warmer your brakes can get.
Brakes play an essential role not only in your safety but in the safety of others around you while you are driving. In this article, you will learn why your car brakes get hot, what can happen if they get too hot, and how to cool them off.
Why Do Car Brakes Get Hot?
Every driver knows that you need brakes to slow your vehicle down and completely stop. The way brakes are designed has much to do with why they tend to get hot when they are used. The more you use your brakes, the hotter they will get.
“How Brakes Work” explains that the way brakes are made contributes to their tendency to heat up.
- Your vehicle uses brake pads that push against the rotor when you press the brake pedal.
- As the brake pad pushes against the rotor, friction happens, causing heat between them.
- The more often you brake, the more friction occurs, and in return, more heat is applied to the area.
Is it Normal for Brakes to get Hot?
Typical daily travels shouldn’t cause your brakes to get hot enough to cause any issues. This doesn’t mean you should go home after driving your car and try to touch your rim or any part of your braking system. They will be hot to the touch regardless of how many times you hit the brakes on the way home.
How Hot Should Your Brakes Get?
If you are driving your vehicle around town, your braking system will climb to temperatures around 200 degrees Celsius or 392 degrees Fahrenheit. It may seem like that is extremely hot, but that is the standard temperature that your brakes will heat to.
How to Tell When Your Brakes Are Overheating
If you are paying attention to what your car is telling you, it might just give you the heads up you need to keep yourself from getting into a serious problem down the road. Your brakes are no different. “Can Brakes Overheat” discusses a few signs that you should be aware of that will let you know that your brakes could be overheating.
Here are few signs that your brakes are overheating:
- Sound
You can learn plenty about your brakes just based on how they sound when you are trying to slow down or stop. If they are making a squealing sound, that can lead to overheating. The squealing noise doesn’t always have to mean your brake pads are shot; it could also mean that you have been hitting the brakes a little too much, resulting in the annoying squealing that alerts everyone around you that you are hitting the brakes.
- Smoking
Do you see smoke coming from your tires? If so, that is an indication that you have been hitting your brakes too aggressively, and your brakes are now so hot that they are starting to smoke.
- Smell
Is there a burning smell coming from your car when you hit the brakes? The odds are that awful smell is coming from overusing your brakes.
You can avoid all these things if you don’t hit your brakes aggressively. It will save you some worry and money in the long run, especially if your brakes catch on fire.
Can Your Brakes Catch on Fire?
Yes, your brakes can catch on fire. If you are hitting your brakes frequently in a short time, you can cause too much friction between the brake pads and rotor, causing the brakes to get so hot that, in some cases, they catch fire. If this happens, you have an entirely new set of worries on your plate. Stop the car immediately and exit the vehicle.
How Do You Cool down Your Brakes?
If you feel like your brakes are getting too hot, and you want to be safe and let them cool down, Popular Mechanics says the best thing to do is pull over. If you are in a safe location that you can pull your car into a parking lot or a rest area on the highway, do it. Letting the brakes completely cool down could keep your brakes from overheating to the point where they could catch fire.
If you can’t find somewhere that is safe to pull over and sit for a little bit while you wait on your brakes to cool, drive slowly. Driving slowly where you don’t need to use your brakes at all is another way to cool down your brakes to a safer level. It may take only five minutes to completely cool down to where you won’t have to worry anymore.
Can You Pour Cold Water on Hot Brakes?
If you are thinking about whether it would be okay to pour cold water on your hot brakes to cool them down, think again. This method to cool down brakes is a terrible choice. If you pour cold water on scalding hot metal, the metal could warp, and that would cause an even more serious issue for you and your car.
The warped metal could cause your steering wheel to vibrate while you are driving or using your brakes. It’s best to let the brakes cool on their own. You don’t want to cause yourself more mechanic bills. It can be extremely costly to have your car serviced for small repairs, let alone repairs that are more difficult to fix.
Why Do Brand New Brakes Smell?
When you install brand new brake pads onto your vehicle, they have the potential to smell. You are using something that is brand new, and there is a smell that they release as they are first being used. This smell is normal, though, so you should not worry that anything is wrong with your new brakes.
The smell can last anywhere between 1-2 hours of use. If the odor does not go away in a reasonable amount of time, there could be an underlying issue with the brake calipers, and you will want to have someone look at it.
In Conclusion
Your brakes are always hot to some degree while you are using them. The friction that occurs when the brake pad rubs with the rotor will cause them to heat up. That is the way the braking system is designed to make sure you can stop accurately.
If you notice your brakes are giving signs that they are overheating to a more dangerous degree, try to stop the car in a safe place and allow them to cool completely before continuing with your trip.
Always remember to treat your brakes with care. If you are braking aggressively and continuously, your brakes can and will overheat. You can avoid this by putting distance between you and the car in front of you to avoid slamming on the brakes. You can also avoid overheating your brakes by driving at safe speeds while you are in town. There are many traffic lights inside the city limits, and you will have to stop at those and stop signs quite a bit.