3 Tips That Will Help You Use Your Vehicle's Brakes Better
Do you have a problem with braking too hard, which puts too much wear and tear on your vehicle? It will help to follow these tips that will make you better at braking and avoid unnecessary brake repair.
Pretend That You Are Stepping On Something Fragile
A common problem that people run into when driving is that they do not know how much pressure to put on the brake pedal to do so gently. This often results in hard braking that can cause problems with your vehicle later on. A good tip is to pretend as if you are pressing down on something fragile on your brake pedal that you do not want to break. This will change your mindset to how much pressure you use, helping you apply gentle pressure rather than slam on the brakes. Just make sure that you are imagining something is there and that nothing is between your foot and the pedal.
Overestimate Your Braking Distance
Another reason that people brake too hard is that people are braking too early and too fast to avoid causing an accident. It will help to get into the habit of overestimating your braking distance when you start using those more gentle motions on the brake pedal. Teach yourself to start braking much earlier so that you can get a handle on how long it takes to brake. If you are coming to a complete stop early and leaving a big gap between your vehicle and the one in front of you, that's fine for now. You can work on closing up that gap as you practice over and over again, which will get you used to a more comfortable braking distance that won't put wear and tear on your vehicle.
Watch Your Speed And Distance
People tend to brake too hard because they are traveling too quickly and need to react to a car in front of them. This can all be avoided by paying more attention to how fast you are going and the distance to the car that is in front of you. A good way to do this is to base the distance between you and the car in front of you on how fast you are going. When traveling at 30 mph, you should have about 6 car lengths in front of you. When traveling 60 mph on the freeway, that braking distance can easily extend to 18 car lengths. If you feel like this is way more than the distance you currently give between cars, then you're likely following too closely at high speeds.
Contact a brake mechanic near you to learn more.