Anatomy of a Braking System
Unless you are restoring an antique from the days of Model Ts, your car probably has a hydraulic braking system. With hydraulic brakes, the brake pedal pushes on a hydraulic cylinder, known as the master cylinder. This forces brake fluid through the brake lines to the brakes themselves, which on normal street cars sit just behind each wheel. A few Jaguars and other European cars use inboard brakes, where the brakes are attached to the differential instead of the wheels to reduce unsprung weight.
Brakes come in two varieties: disc brakes and drum brakes. Almost all cars since the mid-’70s use disc brakes on the front wheels, and high-performance cars often have them at the back too. A disc brake has a spinning metal ...
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