Beginner roller skating
The Bolt Under Your Brake Pad Is a Deadline
Under the rubber of a heel brake sits a bolt, and the rubber is the only thing holding it off the ground. Wear the pad past its moulded line and the bolt starts touching down: it grabs when you don't want it to, and it can damage the plate. A pad doesn't decline slowly - it has a hard stop, and once you can't see the line you are already late. And if you T-stop instead, a fresh-looking pad isn't good news: the wear has moved onto one wheel.
Under the rubber of a heel brake there is a bolt, and the rubber is the only thing holding it off the ground. That is the fact the whole page turns on, and it is invisible from the outside until it is too late.
Every pad has a moulded wear line. Go past it and the bolt starts touching down: it grabs when you did not ask it to, and it can damage the plate it is mounted on. Unlike a wheel, a pad does not decline gradually — it has a hard stop, and by the time you cannot see the line any more you are already late.
If you stop with a T-stop instead of the heel brake, none of the above is your failure mode, but the pad is still worth a look for the opposite reason. A pad that looks new is not good news: it means your braking wear has moved onto one wheel, and that wheel will flat-spot before any of the others.
Either way the answer is the same and it takes a second: look at the line before you roll, and know which of your two wear points is actually collecting the damage.
Keep going: this is one section of the full Roller Skating for Beginners guide — sizing, gear, stopping, and where to skate, in one page.