Drive Different

My brakes have been squeaking for the past six months or so. When I took my car in for service soon after it started, they looked at my brake pads, said they were fine, and told me not to worry about it (thinking about it now, I probably should have pressed them on this issue). The squeaks continued and I got worried, so I had them replace the brake pads last week when my car was in for a regular oil change, just to be safe.

As it turns out, my brakes were NOT fine. Evidently my brakes had worn all the way through and I was doing damage to my rotors, so I ended up paying _a_bit_ more than I would have for a simple oil change.

But now that I think about it, this has happened before. Back when I was driving my parents Ford Explorer the local service shop once told us the same thing - the brake pads were worn through and the rotors had damage. Since I was basically the only person driving the car at that time, it had to be because of my driving.

So it seems that my driving style somehow differs from your average driver. I try to brake as little as possible actually - I let my car coast whenever possible, and I leave enough space that I rarely need to slam on the brakes. I probably spend more time using my brakes at really slow speeds - trying to make the ride as smooth as possible, and I think that causes a different wear pattern than what service centers normally check.

On the up-side, I now know what a rotor is :) ... and I know more about my braking system than I did a few days ago. And I guess I'm helping the economy...