It would be nice if we could not learn about stuck brake calipers, but that option didn’t come up today.
So here is a spot where a brake goes on a truck –
And here is the damage caused by the caliper failing to retract after the brake pedal was released –
The black brake pad material is all worn off of one side of the pad, and bare metal is visible on the other side. You can see that a huge groove was worn into the rotor by the metal portion of the brake pad. These are ruined.
Here is the problem –
The bolt on the left is not sticking out as far as the bolt on the right. The bolts are screwed into the top of the caliper slider pins, which are supposed to slide in and out, easily, but the one on the left is seized in place. Why is that?
Well, it turns out that the rubber boot split –
Now I get to replace the rubber boots –
Here is the “teachable moment.” Since I’ve got the tools, can do the work, and buy parts through RockAuto.com; this is a $150 repair. If I took it to a mechanic, they’d buy the parts through O’Reilly’s, or a similar store. A single rotor at O’Reilly’s is $100. For a limited time only, they’ll throw in a set of pads if I buy two rotors. Lucky me, my bill is now only $200, but the boots I have to replace are another $16. A mechanic would mark up the parts anywhere from 50% to 100%, so the bill is now $324-$432, but then there’s labor and tax. The average white collar worker who barely knows how to drive a car isn’t getting out of this for less than $500. They’ll have to make three times what the handy man makes to break even with the handy man, if they’re lucky. It might be more.