Beyond Belief...

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FASTBACK340

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That's all I have to say. Some of my customers at work amaze me beyond belief. I forgot I had this saved on my phone.

A week ago Saturday I got stuck working. Late in the afternoon this car comes in with a complaint of almost no brake pedal. It will go almost all the way to the floor and it barely stops. The car is a `98 G-20 with about 100K on it, and it hasn't been loved for years. I carefully limp into the shop and check: no brake fluid. I put it up in the air and I see the inside of the R/F tire is wet. OK...cracked hose, maybe a leaking caliper. I pull the wheel and this is what I found:

WhatBrakes-vi.jpg


Once the friction material wore away they were riding on the bare metal pad. Once THAT wore away they were stopping with the outer fingers of the caliper where the brake pad USED to live! Then the piston popped out and drained 3/4's of the brake fluid. They were driving on half the brake system.....

My first thought was this: Aside from the ungodly noise that the metal made when grinding away, I wonder why they didn't do anything when they saw SPARKS when they hit the brake!

Amazing.....
 
They were driving. How did they see the sparks?

Seriously, when I worked at a service station in the 90s, a lady stopped in and said that her brakes were making a slight noise, and she wanted to get it checked out. I put it on the lift, and popped off the wheel, and the pads were gone, and the rotors were worn down into the fins. I could actually see through the rotors from the side. I have no idea how they hadn't come apart yet. I had no idea how she hadn't heard any noise, or felt strange jerking sensations when she hit the brakes. EVERYTHING on the front brakes had to be replaced. To this day, I still don't know how she didn't get in an accident with the brakes in that condition.
 
It's hard to believe they drove it like that,always amazes me,but I've seen worse.
 
At my goodyear center here in montreal,this is normal for all people with above averange cars/trucks with some money.Example:2 year old BMW suv comes in with poor braking,and a klunking noise.No front or rear pads left,4 disc finished,needs 4 calipers and sensors.Ant the kicker,they have no money,and need it right away,yah right,its a 1500$job with beemer parts and might be cheaper if we can find aftermarket parts,and a good4-6 hours of work.Bottom line,the more expensive the car/truck,the less they know about maintance&repairs,and still believe the prices have not changed from 1968,mrmopartech
 
Look guys. They are now making stuff with "Lifetime Warranties". Should last till ya die...Right? LMAO. Some people....Good one John.
Small Block
 
damnimcooltom said:
They were driving. How did they see the sparks?

Seriosly, when I worked at a service station in the 90s, a lady stopped in and said that her brakes were making a slight noise, and she wanted to get it checked out. I put it on the lift, and popped off the wheel, and the pads were gone, and the rotors were worn down into the fins. I could actually see through the rotors from the side. I have no idea how they hadn't come apart yet. I had no idea how she hadn't heard any noise, or felt strange jerking sensations when she hit the brakes. EVERYTHING on the front brakes had to be replaced. To this day, I still don't know how she didn't get in an accident with the brakes in that condition.
Click to expand...

I've seen the same thing. One time a Pontiac rolled in with a brother and sister driving it to school. The dad pops in and says he'll pay for the brake job. The car had paper thin rotors on both sides and about the same amount of material left of the pads. Unfrickinbelievable!
 
people like that shouldnt drive. too bad their brakes didnt go out near a cliff. they could have killed someone with their stupidity. at least you can make some money off them, but they are probably going to think you are trying to screw em.
 
So these people do live any where other than Ithaca, NY! I swear, all the educated idiots who attend Cornell drive a car like this. Wanna know why they don't hear the noise? When you get in the freakin' car the freakin' radio is cranked enough to blast you through the seat into the trunk!
FB, you should know the mentallity: rich kids with nothing better to do. I had a kid in a brand new BMW, which Mommy and Daddy bought him so he could go to Cornell, come into the store when I was at Midas in Ithaca, look at us and say: "My oil change light is on. What does that mean?"
 
By the way, I hope you got him for CPR on both sides, and if you did, was he b****in' about the price the whole time?
 
I am going to play the devil's advocate for a minute.

1. Most shops (around here anyhow) advertise 20-30 or 40 point inspection with an oil change. I know they don't do it, but - if you don't know any better and trust the shop to inspect everything why would you look for trouble?
2. We are car guys. We are in the minority today. If a kid or adult has never had any type of car maintainence training, what do you suppose they do?
3. You ever wait to go to the dr. until "the pain" or whatever got so bad that you had to do something? I expect after you left the dr. had pretty much the same reaction - "if the dumb basterd had come in a month ago we could have fixed him up with medication and that would have done it, now..."

That said, I agree with most of what has been written.
C
 
clhyer said:
I am going to play the devil's advocate for a minute.

1. Most shops (around here anyhow) advertise 20-30 or 40 point inspection with an oil change. I know they don't do it, but - if you don't know any better and trust the shop to inspect everything why would you look for trouble?
2. We are car guys. We are in the minority today. If a kid or adult has never had any type of car maintainence training, what do you suppose they do?
3. You ever wait to go to the dr. until "the pain" or whatever got so bad that you had to do something? I expect after you left the dr. had pretty much the same reaction - "if the dumb basterd had come in a month ago we could have fixed him up with medication and that would have done it, now..."

That said, I agree with most of what has been written.
C
Click to expand...

I'm going to play devil's advocate going back the other way, as someone who
has been in dealerships, mom and pop's, independants, and chain stores, even ten minute oil change places: yes, most shops do a courtesy check, even the dealerships nowadays. And most shops will catch something like this well before it gets to this point. I've had to deal with something like this on several occasions and had the customer say to me "well, I've been taking it to Jiffy Lube, Quick Lube, for all my oil changes and they never said anything!"
This puts me, as the service writer, in a situation to 1.) not bad mouth the 10 minute oil change place, as sometimes they have sent me work when they catch it. 2.) explain to the customer that 10 minute oil change places are not in the business of being mechanics. Their primary business is in oil changes, air filters, trans flushes, etc. If they spot something mechanically wrong, the good ones will tell the customer it's there or ignore it because they don't make money in it.
Ultimately, though, no matter what you tell the customer it's their responsibility as the vehicle owner to get it fixed. What I read in FB's initial post was how could they drive it to the point where the pads were gone and only the caliper was pinching the rotor? How could they not hear the noise of the pad backings grinding for how many miles of metal on metal?
 
True....I've seen it into the cooling fins too, but usually those cars are in the junkyard. One thing though, and that is.....once it gets to metal-on-metal, things start wearing fairly fast. You know how people are......wanting to "make it" til payday......and keep driving their cars to work all week.

I remember my wife would mention to me that her Astro van's brakes "sounded funny for the past day or 2".......shoot, in a day or 2, those rotors were smoked!.......I mean done!
 
Wow thats a bit much.

Some people can't be bothered with regular maintenance. They have more important things to be doing. LOL
 
I hear the " But the little red light never came on "
excuse all the time.
I've had people come in with 20k on an oil change and
use the excuse.
You should see some of the tires I've replaced.
 
When I was young & stupid. Driving home in my 51 Chev pickup bone stock except for 235 engine. Got off work & heading for the freeway, at the stoplight the pedal went to the floor, NO stopping at all. Downshifted through the intersection, wheeling through the adjoining gas station dodging gas pumps working the E-brake like crazy. Coasted to a hard stop withour hitting anything, just by the grace of God! Came back later & pulled the front wheels, the wheel cylinder piston went through the end and dropped all brake fluid from the single chamber MC giving me one of the more memorable rushes of my life. Also made me a brake expert in short order!
DR
 
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