Brakes: pads, discs and the warning signs

📖 Lesson ──▶ 🎯 Quiz — pick the translation ──▶ ✅ Lesson done

A brake is hydraulics: the pedal pushes fluid → the caliper piston squeezes pads onto the disc → friction eats speed and turns it into heat. Pads last 30–80k km. Wear signs: squealing/grinding, a pedal that sinks, pulling to one side, pedal pulsation (warped disc). ABS does not shorten the distance — it keeps steering: push the pedal to the floor and steer.

●Minimum pad thickness ~3 mm — after that metal on disc
●Brake fluid ages in 2 years: absorbs water, boiling point drops
●After brake service: 300 km bedding in — no hard stops

🛑 At 100 km/h brakes convert ~500 kJ into heat — discs glow at 400+ °C. Coasting downhill on the pedal causes fading: downshift!

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Test yourself!

Practice the topic with the trainer — like after class

Quiz — pick the translation → 🖨 Worksheet

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