Brake Caliper

By: Your One and Only Online Auto Expert, Mr. Efrain E. Silva!

Brake calipers? What can you learn today? What can I teach? Hmm…. let us see, let us see, let us see…..

Well, first of all, a brake caliper is a unique and distinct overall part of your car’s braking system that helps to allow your brakes to even work the way that they ought to, to begin with. So they must hold an important role as such, right? You betcha. You will see calipers on every single wheel of your car, in most normal instances. And what they do is basically squeeze your brake pads nice and tight…. together against those rotors. And they squeeze them even tighter together than your grandma squeezes you during family photo time, to give you an idea…. and that is pretty tight indeed! At least, when the caliper is doing its job the right way, things get nice and tight, and secured. A secure squeeze, you could call it.

The goal here, of the caliper, along with the brake pads and rotors that it works with, is to get the slow the wheel’s spins, in a sense, and thus help the car to be able to drop its speeds and when needed, even come to its full stop in a timely fashion.

You see, as a matter of fact ( and this may be news to you, just as it was to me when I first learned of this…. and we all learn something new every day, he he he he heh…. so let us keep on learning some facts ) , there is a whole lot more than you know that goes into play when you step on that brake pedal while in your car. You may not see this all in motion, but what happens is this —- when you press the pedal, it makes the hydraulic pressure happen as the caliper’s pistons then move the brake pad’s up against those rotors…. and voila, your car has slowed down or come to a stop. Very nice, no?

But if the brake caliper happens to not be working or needs a look at, then you can be at risk for one of several things here, including issues like having brake light troubles or burning smells, just to name a couple here. You might also sense your car tugging or pulling to one side as you drive in it, or in other cases, notice some annoying vibrations as you hit those brakes every time. All these are issues that need to be addressed right off the cuff, as I like say. You can not let these linger, for the safety of your own life and for the health of the auto you are driving. See a pro right away when any of these things start to happen on ya…. the sooner, the better! Do not wait.

I hope this has helped. Now you know what the brake caliper does. Thanks!