A customer came into Bryant Automotive today with a complaint that the brake pedal did not feel right. This complaint, described as a "soft" or "mushy" pedal, sometimes is due to air getting into the brake system, and is usually remedied by what is called Bleeding. To bleed the brakes, the fluid reservoir is filled, and the brake pedal pumped and depressed while a bleed screw is turned to allow air to exit at each wheel. This vehicle however, did not have a soft pedal caused by air in the system.
This is the left front brake caliper. The brakes were worn so significantly that the brake pad had actually fallen out of the caliper.
This was the right front. As you can see, it looks different from the the left front above. This is what the brake caliper and pad should look like.
This shiny surface is what normal wear on a brake rotor looks like. There is some groves formed, but overall the surface is fairly smooth. For a rotor like this we would use a lathe to smooth the surface to provide a clean surface, which translates to better friction against the new brake pads.
This is the left front Brake Rotor. As you can see, the grooves are deep and coarse. There is also a significant lip formed at the edge of the rotor. These are all caused by the excessive wear that occurred once the brake pad had worn through and fallen away. This rotor is not salvageable and must be replaced.
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