New Orleans Auto Repair

   Knowing if your brakes are bad is critical. Your brakes are possibly the most important safety system on your vehicle because brakes need to work properly every time!  Brake Repair or Replacement is needed when: 1) A  brake warning indicator is lit 2) A squeal or grinding noise is heard when stopping  3) A shake is felt when applying brakes  4) Measuring at or below 3 mm of friction material Brake Warning Indicator If your brake warning is illuminated on your instrument cluster we recommend not driving your vehicle until the brake fluid level is checked. The BRAKE warning can come on for several reasons, but a particularly dangerous and common reason for the light is low brake fluid. If your brake fluid is low that is an indication that you either have worn brake components somewhere in the system or you may have a brake fluid leak. After topping off your brake fluid we strongly recommend having your vehicle checked ... read more

    A change in the feeling of your vehicle's brakes can be alarming, and can be an indication of a potentially unsafe problem. Your vehicle's braking system is based on hydraulics. High pressure brake fluid traveling through lines to each wheel creates pressure inside of the brake calipers or wheel cylinders causing your brake pads and shoes to clamp on the rotors or drums causing your vehicle to slow to a stop. Brakes feel soft because of a brake fluid leak, air in your hydraulic brake lines, or a failing brake hose. If your vehicle is low on brake fluid because of a leak or if there is air trapped in your braking system your brakes will feel soft or spongy because the air in the lines will not compress like brake fluid. If you notice spots under where you park your vehicle that is an indication of a leak. If you have a failing brake hose sometimes the rubber hose will inflate with brake fluid like a balloon instead of transferring pressure to the brakes. Tim&rsquo ... read more

Have you ever driven a vehicle that shakes when the brakes are applied? Many times the shake becomes more violent at higher speeds. While every vehicle needs to be inspected to determine the source of the problem, many times the cause for a shake while slowing down is out of true (warped) brake rotors. Brake rotors are the metal disc that you can see behind all four of your wheels. Your brake pads clamp down on the brake rotor to stop your vehicle. Brake rotors can become out of true from being exposed to excessive heat or from being exposed to large amounts of water when they are hot. Many times the fix for your car shaking when stopping is replacing brake pads and rotors and servicing the calipers. Sometimes calipers and brake hoses need to be replaced as well. Fun fact! You can often determine the axle that is causing the vehicle to shake by paying attention to how the vehicle shakes. If the shake is coming from the steering wheel but the rest of the vehicle feels steady the front b ... read more

Does your brake pedal feel hard? Have you noticed that it takes longer to stop your vehicle and sometimes you worry it isn't going to stop in time? There are a couple reasons your brake pedal could feel hard.   A hard brake pedal can be a sign of failure in your brake booster. Your brake booster uses either engine vacuum or power steering pressure to multiply the force put on the brake pedal to stop your vehicle. If there is a problem with the boosters ability to hold pressure or with the pump or engine vacuum supplied to the booster it could create a hard brake pedal and the sensation that your vehicle is not able to stop. Leaking engine vacuum can cause a brake pedal to feel hard. Some vehicles use a Vacuum pump to create vacuum for the booster and a failed pump can cause a hard brake pedal. On brake systems that use power steering fluid to create pressure, a leak or failure in the power steering system can cause a brake pedal to feel hard. Another reason your brake pedal ... read more

There are a couple reasons the brakes on your vehicle could be squeaking.   The first is if your vehicle has been sitting for several days. Sometimes surface rust can develop on the stopping surface of your brake rotors, causing a squeak noise during your first few brake applications. This is not a safety concern and this will normally stop after a few brake applications.   The second reason could be that your brakes are low and in need of replacement. Some vehicles have metal tabs that act as wear indications to let the driver know when the brakes are low by squeaking. But even vehicles without those indicators built in, will often squeak when the brakes are very low and ready for a Brake Repair.   At Tim’s Quality Car Care we are dedicated to keeping our clients in safe and reliable transportation. Brakes are a big part of our safety focus. We try to help our clients plan their vehicle maintenance and repair by inspecting every vehicle before we service. At e ... read more

Hearing a grinding sound could indicate your vehicle’s brake pads are worn down all the way – exposing the metal puck under the pad. If so, when you go to press the brakes, pads with no friction material left are trying to grip on to the metal rotor, resulting in a grind and an increased stopping distance. This is an unpleasant sound, but it could also result in a brake failure when you need it most.It may be time for a Brake Repair. As a safety focused company Tim’s considers your vehicle’s braking system one of our primary concerns. Your brakes are checked, measured and photographed every time we service your vehicle. All brake repairs at Tim’s are done only to the highest standards, with only the best quality parts available and backed by our industry leading 3 year, 36,000-mile warranty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pCRWKoXpk&t=14s Brake pad life is effected by several different factors, the vehicle operator’s driving habits, what your brake pads are made out of, also what percentage of driving is done on the highway vs. city streets. Different vehicles have different brakes, some have ceramic brake pads, some have semi-metallic brake pads and others, few and far between, have organic brake pads. Ceramic pads tend to last the longest and have a higher tolerance to high temperatures. But if ceramic pads are used in an application where semi-metallic brake pads were intend the stopping distance of the vehicle could be effected as well as the vehicles brakes could be more prone to over-heating by not using the proper brake pads. Here at Tim’s Quality Car Care we always use the original equipment brake pad formula. Another aspect that effects the life of brake pads is the percentage ... read more