Does my car really need a brake service

Does My Car Really Need This Service ~ Brake Job

Does my car really need a brake service

My wife found this brake pad in the parking lot of her work, someone waited too long.

We are continuing in our car service series. This week I want to talk about the brake job. There are a lot of variables that go into making a choice on replacing brakes. It is not always a cut and dry choice. Let’s first break down the common types of brake jobs. Then I will give you some advice on deciding if you need to perform a brake job your car.

Types of Brake Jobs
Saying “I am replacing the brakes” is a very generic term. There are several ways that we can replace brakes.It all depends on the condition of the brakes. Here are the most common types of brake jobs I do

  • Brake pads only
    This is only replacing the brake pads. This is generally the cheapest way to do a brake job. We call this “pad slapping” the car. I do not prefer this type of brake job. It is not a bad thing. I just think you can do a more thorough job. 
  • Replace the brake pads and rotors
    This brake job is where we replace the brake pads and the rotors(duh?). This is a much better brake job than just replacing the pads. Replacing the rotors will give the pads a fresh surface to seat. It can also help reduce brake noise. The only issue here is, rotors can be expensive.
  • Replace the brake pads, resurface the rotors
    This is the way I prefer to do a brake job. With this type of brake job I replace the brake pads. But instead of replacing the rotors, I resurface them. That is where I put the on a machine called a brake lathe. Then we remove a very small amount of metal from the rotor. It makes for a nice clean surface. This is also called turning, or cutting the rotors. There are times where resurfacing the rotors is not an option.

Like I said, resurfacing the rotors and replacing the pads. It is a better overall brake job, and cheaper than replacing the rotors.

What happens if I don’t replace them?
Like most car repairs, the longer you wait, the more it can cost. If you wait to long, the rivets in the pad will impact the rotor. That may mean resurfacing the rotor is not an option. The rotors will have to be replaced.

In extreme cases more damage can occur. I have seen calipers, the part that pushes the pad in to the rotor, be destroyed. The thinner the pad gets, the further the caliper pushes the pad. At some point the caliper will over extend and fail. This is not only very costly, but VERY dangerous. Remember when dealing with brakes, safety is always a big concern.

How do I know if I need the service?
On many modern cars we have a warning system. There are warning lights to tell us when the pads are getting thin and need to be replaced. Some cars have “squealers”, that is a small strip of metal that will hit the rotor when the pad gets thin. It causes a really loud and obnoxious squeal.

While these warning systems are a good thing, I don’t rely on them. Most cars only have warning lights that monitor the front brakes. That leaves the rear brakes unmonitored. The squealer warning works great. That is until the customer says something like “My brakes have been making a noise for about a year now”. Trust me, that stuff happens.

Does my car really need a brake service

This car would need the wheels removed to check the brakes

The right way to check the brakes is to remove the wheels and do an inspection. Some wheels allow you to see the brakes pretty clearly. Taking the wheels off is the best way to check the system. Here are some of the things you want to check.

  1. Thickness of the pads. Be sure to check the outside and the inside pads. Many cars will wear the inside faster than the outside.
  2. Look at the rotor. Check it for grooves like a record would have. Look at the color, if it is turning blue, you may have an issue. Also look at the edges, if there is a big lip on the outer or inner part of the rotor, you may have to replace them. Turning the rotor too thin will cause a brake vibration.
  3. Make sure there is no leaks.

So, do I really need this service?
You may not actually need this service. VW says that the minimum thickness is 2mm for the brake pads. That is really thin. I would not want to let my brakes get that low. If you do your own brake inspections, you have to use your best judgement. If your mechanic is recommending that you get a brake job, here are the things you need to ask.

  • How much pad is left?
    This will give you an idea of how thin the pads really are. Plus it will give you some confidence that he actually measured them.
  • Will them make it to the next service?
    This is the big one. That question should tell you if you need to do it today, or if it can wait.

One other piece of advice. If you are on the fence, get the brakes done. Please don’t mess around with the system keeping you from crashing in to another car.

When I recommend brakes I use the “will they make it to the next service” rule. Either way, I tell the customer. If I don’t think it will make it, I will let them know.

If you are interested in some of the other “Does my car really need this service” posts, you can check them out here.

If there is a service you want to know more about, post it in the comments, or just contact me.

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Shop Shots loose Bolt VW

Shop Shots Volume 38 Insider Pictures of Automotive Service

Hi everyone. It’s Wednesday so we are rocking and rolling on some Shop Shots. I am also running a little behind to day. I have spent the day hanging a TV over our fireplace. Something that should be fairly simple, but running the wires was kind of a pain. All right, let’s dive in to this weeks automotive pictures.

This one comes from a fellow VW tech. I don’t recall what car it came from. This is a picture of a bolt jammed into an intake valve. If you think that it looks really clean you would be right. This car only had about 150 miles on it. I didn’t get the entire story on how this came about. But really, a freaking bolt laying in the engine? How does that even happen?

This pictures might be a little tricky to see. This car came in for an intermittent no start. The first time around we put a battery in the car. At that time it would start every time. This time it got towed in and would not start. Not only would it not start, but it was totally dead. We even tried t jump start it, and it was still dead.

The mechanic working on the car just happened to smack the fuse block. When he did that, the car switched on. We pulled the fuse block out trying to find the the loose connection. It got to the point where we could get the car to switch off, but could not find the wire. Finally I pealed back the tape in the wiring harness. I gave the big red wire a slight tug and pulled this big wire from the loom(focus on the top left of the pic). A few crimps and the car is good to go. We really got lucky finding that issue. It could have been one of those stories that went the wrong way for a long time.

For some reason this week has been full of weird tire issues. This is a bent piece of steal jammed through a tire. I have never seen a metal rod this size stuck in a tire. It was a little bigger around than a Sharpie marker.

We could not tell if the rod was bent before going into the tire, or because it was in the tire. There were not any witness markings on the rim. This is not a tire that we felt comfortable repairing. We just replaced it. It is funny to see a shop full of techs that have lots of years experience stand around and say, “Wow I have never seen that before”.

The other one I posted to the Facebook page yesterday. Swing by and check it out. 😛 That wraps up this weeks volume of Shop Shots. I am thinking of doing something cool for Volume 40. Throw me some ideas. A recap, best of the best, giveaway? What do you guys got? Post it in the comments, and let’s make #40 awesomer than normal.

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Dubs For A Cause Charity Car Show

Recap From Dubs For A Cause

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of being a sponsor for Dubs For A Cause. A local car show that raises both money and canned goods for charities. This year they were collecting canned good for H2O tuning NC. They will be donating them to a local food back for the holidays. The cash donations were collected and giving to IFOPA (Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva – Stoneman Syndrome). You can read more about them at www.ifopa.org/.

For me it is always a good time to get out to shows. I get some great ideas for the project I am working on at that time. When you pile that on top of being for charity, I am all in. So here are some of the cars that came out for the show. Thanks again to my buddy Stephen for some really great shots.

I hope that you like the shots. Anytime you get a chance to help out some folks in need, please do it. You might not miss the few dollars, but it will mean a lot to the people that need it.

Thanks to all the other sponsors that donated. It was a nice turn out. When I find out the totals I will be sure to post them. Swing by the Humble Mechanic Facebook page today. Give the folks that donated a like, and thank them for being awesome! I will tag them in the post.

 

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Car Flooded in Hurricane Sandy

How To Avoid Buying A Car With Water Damage

As folks clean up and restore or rebuild their lives from Sandy I think this is a very relevant topic. Before I get into talking about cars with water damage, I need some help from you guys. I want to help out the folks in the northeast. How and where are you guys donating? I am several hundred miles away, and I want to be sure that what I donate goes to the victims of Sandy. And thanks to everyone that has helped out those people that truly need it.

I know that you might think donating a little bit doesn’t really help. You can’t donate $500,000 like VW did, or maybe you can’t afford to fly there and put your boots on the ground. Trust me when I say that every bit helps. How do I know? Well I dealt with something similar when I was a kid. The short story is, our house was leveled by a tornado. We had nothing. I mean nothing but the clothes we were all wearing. If it was not for donation from the Salvation Army we would have been in big trouble. Even some old clothes or can goods do more for a family in need than you can imagine.

Well, that took a weird turn. Let’s get into today’s topic. How do you avoid buying a car with water damage? I can’t guarantee that after reading this post you will be an expert in spotting water damage. I can tell you that you will be much better at it. You will be able to spot 90% of cars that have had water damage. If you want to read more just click VW Water Damage. That will give you a few posts about the effects of water in a car.

Get a vehicle report
You need to do this before you buy ANY car. A vehicle report is a great way to how the basic history of a car. Things like

  • How many owners
  • Where the car was registered
  • If the title has been branded. This means the car was totaled, or the odometer has been tampered. (more about this in a minute)
  • Some reports show maintenance records.
  • Accident damage over 25%

Reports like Carfax can show more information than what I listed above. As much information that you can get from these reports, I find they are not always 100% accurate. I have seen clean reports on cars that have a ton of damage that was repairs. They also don’t show the quality of a repair.

The information that will be accurate is the title information. The who, what, and where of a vehicles title is almost always perfect. The report will also show a title issue or “brand”. That means the car has had a significant issue and it is forever attached to the car. Things like odometer rollback, a total vehicle loss, or flood damage are the most common ones. Granted, the TMU(true mile unknown) can be a clerical error, I would still be cautious of any branded title.

Car Flooded in Hurricane Sandy

There is no repairing a car after this amount of water damage

Visual inspection
This can be a tough thing to find when dealing with water damage. If someone is trying to pull a fast one, most plain sight damage can be cleaned or hidden. Carpets can be cleaned. Door panels can be shined up to not show the water line. But here are a few tricks to find the hidden damage.

  • Look under the seats.
    Most people will not clean really well under the seat. Staining of the carpet can be seen clearly under the seats.
  • Look at the seats
    Most detail companies miss the part of the seat between the seat and the center console. Move the seat back and for to try and see the entire seat.
  • Check the seat tracks.
    Severe rust build up on the metal seat track may indicate water damage. I have seen slight oxidation on a seat track, but if you are not sure, error on the side of caution.
  • Look at the fuse panel
    Water leaking into a car seems to always find its way into the fuse panel. Look for any signs of the plastic turning white, or connections turning green. Also be sure to look here for any rust on metal parts.
  • Look for discoloration.
    Harsh chemicals may discolor carpet or seat fabric. Make sure the color matches. If you see big spots that look “bleached” it may not be water damage, but it may be a car to avoid anyway!

Like I said, SEEING a water damage from a car that has been cleaned really well can be tough. Look in the crack where you normally don’t look at a car.

Get touchy feely
Touch all the lower trim and carpet of the car. Many times water will cause a change in texture of trim or fabric. I have found that long term water exposure makes trim feel sticky. Not like it is covered in candy goo, but a slight stickiness.

Leather(or leatherette) gets a a little saggy when exposed to water.Generally it gets discolored too. Fabric in the carpet or seats gets a strange feel too. Try and compare carpet or seats to another car, and see if you feel a difference.

Also give the carpet a good push with your hand. Try to compress it as much as possible. Generally when people do not completely dry carpet, water will sit in the padding. When you push it down, the water may come to the surface. If you push on carpet and your hand gets wet, you know it has had water in it.

Use your nose
This is the slam dunk way to tell if a car has been Car Flooded in Hurricane Sandyflooded, THE SMELL! I can generally open the car door and immediately tell if a car has had a water leak. The smell is unmistakeable. I think old mildew is the closest I can get to describe it. Even though I have stupid allergies, I have a pretty tuned nose for water leaks. I recommend you not rely on the overall smell of the car.

Put your nose close to several lower surfaces of the interior. Under the seat, the carpet,and under the dash. There is sound dampeners behind that dash that will hold water. I don’t think anyone would take the dash out, just to dry them There are ways that people try and hide water leaks with fog machines, or “enviortreatments” they generally mask the smell. I have yet to see any of the treatments work great. They either poorly mask the funk, or make it smell like harsh cleaners. The harsh cleaner smell does wear off pretty fast. Then the funk comes back.

I hope that no one ever has to use any of these methods when buying a car. I just can’t get the imagine the number of cars that should be recycled that will be resold. The sad part is many folks will think they are getting a great deal. You all know that old saying,

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Well I could not agree more.

If you have any other advice for people please share it below. The more information we all have, the less likely we will make a very costly mistake. Also, please consider sharing this post with people you know. At some point we will all be in the market for a different car.

If you are not signed up for email updates, please consider it. I don’t send spam or sell your email and junk like that. It is strictly used for updates for the site. It eliminates Facebook from the mix. They are making it harder for me to get the information out to everyone. I would hate for you to miss a post because of FB or Twitter. Plus when we do contests and fun stuff like that, the folks on email updates usually get first dibs.

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