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Had a moment this morning that changed how I think about brake jobs
I was reading a thread on another forum where a guy said he always replaces caliper brackets on older cars even if they look fine. That stuck with me because last month I did a brake job on a 2004 F-150 and two weeks later the customer came back with a pulsation issue. I had just thrown new pads and rotors on the old brackets. Turns out the bracket was slightly warped from heat cycles and it caused the new pads to wear uneven. I wasted my time and the customer's money because I was too lazy to spend the extra 30 bucks on brackets. Now I'm making it a rule to check brackets with a straight edge every time. Do you guys swap brackets as a matter of habit or only when they're obviously bad?
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ray21025d ago
Yeah but how do you even tell if the bracket is slightly warped without a straight edge or a surface plate? I'm guessing most guys just eyeball it and hope for the best. Have you had any luck catching them early with like a dial indicator on the rotor?
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Ray from the forum is dead on about the straight edge. That's the only way I've found to catch it without pulling the caliper off and trying to wiggle it. Dial indicator on the rotor will show runout but not always tell you if it's the bracket or the hub. That F-150 probably had a high spot on the bracket where the pad rides. Once it gets heat cycled enough times it starts to bend. I've seen it happen on Fords more than anything else, especially the older trucks with the big single piston calipers. Were you able to feel that bracket when you had it off? Or did you just look at it and assume it was okay?
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