Disc brakes: How do they work?

In 1917, a mechanic invented a new type of brakes that were operated hydraulically. A couple of years later he improved its design and introduced the first modern hydraulic brake system. Although it was not reliable from all due to problems with the manufacturing process, it was adopted in the automotive industry with some changes.

Nowadays, due to advances in materials and improved manufacturing, disc brakes are much more effective and reliable. Most modern vehicles have four-wheel brakes, operated by a hydraulic system. These can be disk or drum, but since the front where the brakes play a more important role, weird is the car that does not have a game of discs in front. Why? Because during a detention, all the weight of the car falls forward and, therefore, on the previous wheels.

Like most of the pieces of which a car is formed, a braking system is a mechanism made of multiple components so that the set works properly. The main ones in a disk brake are:

Pills: They are located inside the clamp on both sides of the disc so that they can slide laterally, towards the disc and moving away from it. A brake pad consists of a pill of molded friction material to a metallic backup plate. In many brake pads, noise reducing shoes are attached to the plate. If any of them is worn or close to that limit, or have some damage, all axis pills must be replaced.

Tweezers: inside it contains the piston pressing the pills. There are two: fixed and floating. The first, often are installed in sports and luxury cars. Most vehicles that circulate today have floating brake tongs, and almost all have one or two pistons on the inside. The compacts and SUV usually have a piston tweezers, while SUVs and larger trucks have double piston tweezers in front and a piston behind.

Discs: They are mounted on the bushing and revolve in a solidarity to the wheel. During braking, the kinetic energy of the vehicle becomes heat due to friction between pills and disc. To dispel it better, most vehicles have ventilated discs on the front wheels. The rear discs are also made ventilated in the heaviest, while the smallest have solid disks (not ventilated).