You’d think that one of the easiest concepts to understand, in this technology-filled automotive world, would be the brakes. In my head, using the brake pedal is pretty straightforward: you press it and then the car stops. Well, it looks like BMW wants to go deeper than that and, focusing on high-performance brakes, the folks in Munich have put together a short video about how to properly use them. Admittedly, on some cars, the stopping bits are slightly different, especially in the way you need to maintain them.
Take, for example, Carbon Ceramic Brakes from BMW, available for some M models. They are lighter than your average steel alternative and yet, they are a lot more fade resistant and withstand higher temperatures. As a matter of fact, that’s one of the systems the video refers to, as we’re introduced to the man in charge of all the brakes on all the M models on sale today, Klaus Dullinger.
One interesting tidbit Dullinger shares is the ‘wet honking’ as he calls it. Basically, the weird noise coming from your car’s brakes after some water protruded between the disc and the pads. It’s the same noise you hear when coming out of the car wash and it usually goes away after using the brakes 2 or 3 times, no big deal. After that, things get interesting. According to Dullinger, driving your car too slow, can have adverse consequences.
Basically, on an M car, they recommend to regularly apply moderate braking. At the same time, braking hard on the track can lead to a phenomenon called ‘brake lining’. Basically you get a line on the discs which is of a slightly different profile than the rest of the disc’s surface. That can be fixed though, with a couple moderate or light brakes. There are also a couple of other useful tips in the video below, which is actually quite informative.
