Reducing Brake Fade: Tapping Brakes, Driving in a Low Gear and Other Tips

How often have you been driving - towing a trailer or the like - and you begin noticing that it takes more and more of your brake pedal to bring you to a stop? A condition known as "brake fade," this is a common experience among anyone who's ever had to haul anything with their car.

In an ideal world, there would be proven five-step methods on how to stop brake fade completely. However we do not live in such a place. The next best thing is finding out how to reduce it as much as possible, and this simple three step process will show you exactly how to do so.

Required Tools:

· There are no tools required to perform this process

Step 1

Too often people think that it's only possible to slow their car down by using the brakes. Shifting to a lower gear, however, is an extremely useful and simple way on slowing your car down without causing too much "wear and tear" to your brakes.

In a manual transmission, shifting gears is pretty much straight forward. For those driving an automatic, it can be a little more complicated; however it is still fairly simple. While driving down the road make sure to use your brakes during the shifting process, otherwise you may feel a big lurch forward from the sudden engine rev.

Step 2

A long, constant application of the brakes will cause them to heat up much faster than it would be if you were to tap your brakes instead. This tapping allows your brakes to cool off between the applications, which will drastically reduce the brake fade that you will experience during your trip.

Also, along these lines, braking over a longer distance will reduce brake fade a whole lot more than over a short length. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to stop your truck as well.

Step 3

If you have just recently replaced your brakes, try not to put too much strain on the brakes during the first 150 miles driving on them. Brake fade seems to be worse with new brakes that haven't been in broken in yet, and it can even be dangerous because of the new coating on the brakes.