Time to come in?
Brakes warn you before they fail. Acting on the first sign is the difference between a pad job and a pad, rotor and caliper job.
The wear indicator is touching the rotor by design — it is telling you the pads are near the end. Book it now and you are still in pad territory.
The friction material is gone and the backing plate is cutting the rotor. Every mile from here adds parts to the bill.
Air or moisture in the fluid, or a leak in a line, hose or the master cylinder. Treat this as urgent rather than annoying.
Usually a sticking caliper or a seized slide pin, so one corner is doing more work than the other. Fixing the sticking part matters more than new pads.
Rotor thickness variation, most often. It is measured, not guessed, and that measurement decides whether they can stay on the car.
Low fluid, a worn-out wear sensor, or a wheel speed sensor fault. On European cars these are frequently the sensor rather than the brake itself, which is worth finding out.
The whole brake system
A brake job that only looks at pad thickness misses the parts that actually make brakes fail. We look at the corners as complete assemblies and tell you what we found before we quote you.
Wear sensors and electronic parking brakes
Most European cars run electronic pad wear sensors that need replacing with the pads, and many use an electronic parking brake whose calipers have to be retracted with a scan tool rather than a C-clamp. Both are routine here — they are just the reason a European brake job is not a generic one.
Brake Repair — asked and answered
How long do brake pads last?
It depends far more on how and where you drive than on mileage — stop-and-go driving and hilly routes wear pads considerably faster. Rather than guess from a number, have them measured when something changes in how the car brakes.
Do rotors have to be replaced with the pads?
Not always. Rotors are measured against the manufacturer's minimum thickness and checked for thickness variation. If they are within spec they stay on the car, and we will tell you the measurement.
Can you do brakes on my BMW, Audi or Mercedes?
Yes — European cars are the shop's specialty, including the wear sensors and electronic parking brakes that come with them. All other makes are welcome too.
Get the brakes looked at
If the pedal, the noise or the dash has changed, call the shop. Monday through Thursday, 8:00am to 5:30pm.
167 Carbide Road, Plattsburgh, NY 12901