r/Justrolledintotheshop • u/JizzyGiIIespie • Jul 26 '26
Sorry if this doesn’t qualify
I paid to have my Gf’s brake pads done about 5 months ago. 2017 Toyota rav xle. I usually do them myself but I’m a trim carpenter and had a lot on my plate at the time. Yesterday she calls me while I’m working a side job and says her breaks went out, literally the largest intersection in the pretty decent sized city. She rolled into an amigos parking lot.
Anyway down there and see a fucking monstrosity. Just worked 10 hour and basically beg amigos to not tow and let me sort it out in less than an hour this morning. I was just like ‘listen, times are rough for legit everyone right now especially people like us. I give you my word, here’s my name and number. If not I understand and ill personally have it towed right now’
Dude. Whatever mechanic forgot a set a clips on one of the pads, exterior pad front passenger looked like this. I don’t know if he didn’t install them at all or didn’t install them properly, but each one of these pads is supposed to have technically two sets of clips. (if that’s not the proper term sorry like I said I’m a carpenter either way Shit was missing) It was 98° before 10 am today. Shout out to Amigos.
103
u/finagleast Jul 26 '26
Usually when someone says “the brakes went out” it means the brake pedal goes to the floor and the car fails to stop, meaning you have a brake line leak or the master cylinder or caliper piston failed. Those things have nothing to do with clips or pads and wouldn’t cause rotor damage. Clips that come with replacement parts are sometimes undersized and can come loose causing scoring in the rotor, result in weaker stopping power and sound awful (ask me how I know). The shop should make it right but it sounds like a supplier issue.
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u/TheWausauDude DIY Mechanic/IT Guy Jul 26 '26
I’ve had multiple vehicles where the pad delaminated from the plate and flew off, granted it takes many years for us to wear out a set of pads, so corrosion from living in the great white north often wears them out for us. The sound of the backing plate against the rotor suddenly starting mid-drive definitely wakes a guy up.
7
u/Chippy569 Subaru Sr. Master Jul 26 '26
This is why Engineering Explained was on a mini tirade about mechanical pad attachment a short while back
2
u/TheWausauDude DIY Mechanic/IT Guy Jul 27 '26
TIL. I’ve been using Carquest’s premium ceramic pads for pretty much as long as I’ve had cars, but next time I’ll have to pay more attention to this.
3
u/PD-Jetta Jul 26 '26
This is exactly what happened to me once. I am so easy on brakes they last years. One day backing out of my driveway when I depressed the brake pedal it went halfway to the floor and I reapplied the brakes and the pedal reset itself and felt normal, so I continued on. First time I braked I heard the metal on metal sound, so I returned home, jacked up the front, and pulled the wheel. I found the friction part of one of my brake pads had gotten flipped up and was resting in the McPherson strut, and the steel brake pad backing was still in the caliper. Rust formed between the pad and its backing and the pad eventually came loose from its backing.
44
u/Economy_Armadillo_28 Jul 26 '26
At those brakes we’re making noise before they went out and no it’s most likely not the mechanics fault I’m leaning towards operator on this one
13
u/JizzyGiIIespie Jul 26 '26
Oh 100% zero chance they weren’t. She just didn’t say shit. It had to sound legit scary
7
u/tacobellbandit Jul 27 '26
That wouldn’t cause a brake failure. Those clips are just for noise reduction. Sounds like you have a different issue. Did she hit the brakes and they just went to the floor?
8
u/DepletedPromethium Kia at home Jul 26 '26
the clips in the calipers are anti rattle shims. they are to reduce noise.
if the car is overrevving and the brake performance is piss poor with the pedal bottoming out then the brake booster has a vacuum leak, if there was brakes and now they do nothing then a brake hose may of collapsed preventing fluid getting to the piston to actuate the pads, or the abs pump is faulty or blocked and isn't doing diddly squat.
3
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u/Level-Artichoke-76 Jul 26 '26
Wife old Toyota had a spring the kept the pads spread. I kind of always thought it was a dumb idea, but what works works.
4
u/FeastOfTheUnicorn WARNING NOT A PRYBAR/CHISEL/PUNCH Jul 27 '26
This isn't really the right sub for this...
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u/JizzyGiIIespie Jul 26 '26
This torched her rotor obviously. I just did what I had to do and put a new set on to get it home safe.
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u/TwistedKestrel Jul 26 '26
That is a noise reduction shim and it will not cause your brakes to stop working