What are signs that your brakes are bad?

There are a number of signs. If you have disc brakes, there is a metal "wear strip" that begins to squeal as a warning that the discs are close to being worn out. Of couse, if you notice difficulty in bringing the car to a stop, that is a sure sign that it should be looked at by a mechanic. The brakes should not be allowed to get to the point that they make a grinding noise when applied. That will damage either the brake rotor or the brake drum, depending on the make of car, and can add considerable additional cost. The wear parts on disc brakes can be replaced fairly easily and inexpensively, if they are replaced before damage is done to the rotor. The rotoris the round shiney thing you can seeinbehindthe wheel on some cars. Again, depending on the kind of car, the symptoms of brake wear are noise, squeeling, then grinding, and if the wear has gotten excessive, the car will pull to one side with a grinding noise. Hope this helps. The longer you let it go, the more it will cost.