Automotive Q & A

Answer:

Rear disc brakes are basically the same thing as front-wheel disc brakes. Find out about disc brakes before reading on about rear disc brakes.

The only difference between disc brakes and rear disc brakes is that rear disc brakes must include a parking/emergency brake. Parking brakes must be completely separate from your vehicle’s regular hydraulic brakes in case your regular brakes ever completely failed. There are two ways a parking brake is connected to a rear disc brake. First, rear disc brakes contain a corkscrew device that, when the parking brake is applied, pushes a piston into the brake pad to stop the vehicle. Rear disc brakes can also include a separate drum brake system so that when the parking brake is applied, the parking brake cables will pull a lever in the drum brake that compresses the brake shoes to stop the vehicle.