Avoiding Problems With Your Commercial Vehicle Brakes

21 November 2018
 Categories: Automotive, Blog

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Commercial vehicles will often have very different needs than standard personal automobiles due to the intense weight and wear that they will experience. In particular, these changes will have sizable impacts on the brakes of the vehicle. When it concerns meeting the maintenance needs of your commercial vehicles, there are some steps that can be used to reduce the risk of brake problems occurring to your company's vehicles.

Record Any Brake Work In The Vehicle's Service Log

Performing all of the routine maintenance that brakes need is one of the most important ways of keeping the brakes effective. Yet, it can be exceedingly difficult to keep track of the maintenance history for the brakes of all of your company's vehicles. One way to make this easier is to record all of the brake work that each of your vehicles has undergone. These records should include both routine maintenance as well as any major repairs that are done to the brakes. Without this information, diagnosing serious brake problems or identifying trends in the problems that they encounter would be far more difficult to effectively do.

Appreciate The Impact Winter Weather Can Have On Your Brakes

The winter months can have severe impacts on the performance of the brakes in your vehicles. This is due to the cold temperatures, snow and ice. Additionally, deicing chemicals can accumulate on the brakes, and this may interfere with the brake's performance along with corroding the metal in the brakes. Prior to the arrival of winter weather, the brakes for all of your vehicles should be professionally serviced. Those that live in areas with particularly harsh winter weather may need to have the brakes inspected midway during the winter to ensure that they are free of damage or other complications.

Train Drivers To Report Any Potential Brake Issues

Your company drivers will be the individuals that are the most informed when it comes to the performance and behavior of the brakes on the company vehicles. For this reason, you will need to train all of your drivers to promptly report any sudden changes or problems with the brakes of their vehicles. Once these reports are received, the vehicle should be inspected and repaired as quickly as possible. Otherwise, your drivers may be at a much greater risk of being involved in accidents or otherwise having difficulty controlling the vehicle. If you retain an onsite commercial vehicle service provider, they will likely be able to provide emergency servicing for vehicles that have developed brake issues.

Contact a shop, like Godfrey Brake Service & Supply, for more help.