This is going to sound like a really dumb question.....but I just got new brakes and I want to know if there's anything I need to know. I have owned several vehicles but never had to replace the brakes.

 

nope. whoever did the brakes should have burnished them before they gave it back to you. there's nothing else you need to know other then to just use your brakes when needed. what brakes did you go with?

 

What does burnished mean?

 

refinished... thats what it means. they turn the rotors on a machine to achieve a smooth, perfect surface for the new pad.

and you have never had brakes put on a car? haha wow that doesnt mean that they didnt need it. Bo you were prolly rollin' metal on metal for a while. Its a maintenance thing and you want them checked fairly regularly, like while the tires are being rotated. Ever had oil changed, either? =-P

 

actually "turning" is the term used when the rotors are refinished. burnishing is going from a high speed and doing a fairly hard brake. doing this a couple of times gets rid of the glossy coating on the brakes when they were shipped and more or less sets the brakes.

 

Ok.....thanks. The only reason I'm asking is that I was in crawling traffic for awhile and then I smelled something and possibly saw smoke coming from the rear passenger side of the car. Should I be worried? or can I just chalk it up to just not being broken in yet?

 

umm i would probably check into that. the smoke could have just been exhaust. and what kind of smell did you notice. and like i said when you got them back that should have already been done for you, so you shouldn't have any smell from the brakes.

 

I only needed front rotors, and pads all around.

I don't know what kind of smell. I know that the engine was very hot from the traffic, as well. But no warning lights came on, and manual said that it's normal.

 

If they still are consistently smelling bad tomorrow, then bring it back. Sometimes it is just the new pads but other times, something could be wrong

 

well regardless if you put new pads on your rear brakes they should have turned the rear rotors as its not really good to put new pads on rotors that haven't been turned.

 

Do they ever smoke??

 

they shouldn't. i've never seen new brakes smoke.

 

sometimes new ceramic pads may smell a little at first but if any of this persists.. its a bad thing. And no.. should not be smoking.. =/ Just bring it back in, explain your problem, and be pleasant, it should be warrantied.

 

Only time I have ever seen brakes smoke is when they are overheated, and I mean rotors glowing red overheated. See it on heavy trucks in the mountains sometimes, 50+ tons going down a pass at 50 mph generates a lot of brake heat.

Might be a wee bit of grease on the pads (shouldn't happen but does) in which case it will burn off very quickly.

As pointed out above, a few good firm (not full out panic) stops from highway speed will help the pads bed in.