Brake pads are an important part of braking systems for all types of vehicles that uses disc brakes. It is a steel plate with friction material which causes the friction and therefore causes the stop.

As defined by physics, brake pads convert the kinetic energy of the car to thermal energy by friction.

It is important to change your brake pads to maintain the maximum performance of the cars breaking system. It is easy to check the brake pads and anyone can do it by themselves. All you need to do is to look through the outside of the wheel rims where the pads are very visible. Then check if it’s worn. (On some vehicles, it may be necessary to remove the wheel to be able to see the pads)

Worn brake pads can badly affect the ability to bring your car to a stop. So awareness to the problem is certainly necessary.

Some signs of a bad braking pads are, squealing sounds, pulling force of the car from side to side, spongy brake pedals and grinding of the brakes.  The occurrence of these symptoms must necessitate you to replace with new brake pads.

When replacing brake pads, most technicians rather go with OEM brake pads or premium grade aftermarket linings because most of these brake pads often meet all the standards of a good braking system.

Replacing worn out brake pads may take few easy steps which any inexperienced person can do. http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/howto/articles/43787/article.html - the steps are provided here.