@MTraveler -
Now that’s an amusing theory. Yes, locking the brakes would minimize brake wear, but be FAR more expensive as a whole. Of course, you can’t lock the brakes very easily anymore thanks to ABS, nor is it safe to do so. So as long as you’re using the brakes, you still want to minimize the heat. Sure, you get more revolutions, but you also have less normal force and frictional force on the pad and rotor, so you still end up winning… and a brake at a higher temp will wear MUCH faster with the same loading on it as one at a lower temp.
And lets not even get into the problems you can have if you consistently heat your calipers and brake fluid to a high temp…
Anticipating stops, coasting, and gentle application of the brakes works for me. I get about 70k out of a set of front pads with a minimum of highway driving. Plus it keeps the Missus happy, need I say more.
Ed B
I agree with most of the suggestions and opinions: to maximize gas mileage and minimize brake system wear, you should coast as much as you can and apply the brakes gently and steadily. However… After having a bunch of brake work done to my 12-year-old Maxima (which doesn’t get driven daily - or even sometimes, weekly), I was advised by my mechanic to hit them hard every so often. He said it was to minimize rust build-up on the rotors, and make sure the calipers stayed unstuck - and avoid those kinds of repairs.
Anticipate when the light ahead will be changing from red to green or green to red. Time your arrival by adjusting your speed accordingly. If you know the lights been green awhile, anticipate it will be going red soon and coast up to the light, avoiding hard braking. The flashing pedestrian countdown light is useful for this if the signal has one. If you know it’s been red for some time you can adjust your speed to arrive at the light when it’s green and avoid stopping altogether.
Good idea, DfromSD.
I’d add that a lot of intersections have timers displayed for crosswalks now, not just the flashing signal, which sometimes seems to kick on 30 seconds or more from when the light changes. As I drive through downtown of my little hometown suburb, I use the timers all the time to gauge braking. If I see that crosswalk showing 5 seconds left before the light changes and I’m 3 (short) blocks off, there’s no way I make it. But the flashing signal alone doesn’t tell me this, as it kicks on long before the timer reaches 0…
Drive conservatively and leave lots of room around you to plan ahead and have time to make decisions and your brakes will last longer than if you drive aggressively. That’s the bottom line.