Why It Is Important To Change Your Brake Pads Once In A While

So…I sorta waiting too long to change my brake pads over the winter, and ended up grinding down the sidewall a bit (run out of brake pad and you are grinding metal on metal)…several months ago this happened…

Whoops…I had been telling myself for weeks to get it fixed, but instead it just EXPLODED while I was riding. So loud that I was deaf for a moment, and people rushed out of their homes to see what had happened. A giant cloud of powder erupted from the front wheel, and getting to a full stop was an effort in control.

This sort of thing can happen at any time, I was standing in downtown crossing and heard a loud BANG, everyone else immediately began to look around, thoughts of Marathon Monday, I am sure, in their minds. But I had heard that sound before, a couple tire pinches later and I found the culprit. Someone had a worn down side wall and BLAMO it just exploded when the tire heated up in the sun (expanding air + worn down side wall = bang!).

Moral of this story, always change your brake pads when you can no longer see the groves in them (or slightly before).

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