How To quickly Check Your Brake Pads and Rotors - Don't Waste $$ Changing them Too Soon!!

Did your mechanic say your brake pads need replacing? Are they making noise? Before you pull the trigger and spend lots of $$$ you can check them on your own and sometimes you don't even have to remove your wheels!
In this video Josh shows you how to check the shape of your brake pads no matter what vehicle you have. He also covers how to know when it is indeed time to get a new set of pads.

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Mahalo!

[budcmour]

Being from the rust belt of Michigan, it's important to check wear between the inside and outside pad. If there is a big difference, check your slide pins. I found that my pins had seized due to rust. The inside pad was getting all the wear while the outside looked ok. Due to the pin being rust "welded", I replaced the caliper also.

[elizabethcountryman]

Thank you so much for your video. I’m a 66 year old widow and this was great information for me

[rjcolombe]

Safety note: ALWAYS use jack stands to support a vehicle after raising it with a jack (in case the jack fails).

[mostmost]

I was just told I'm at 4mm and a little rust on the rotors. They showed a picture of the pads and they said I could wait but recommended the rotors as soon as possible. $1200 for the front and back before taxes. They nuts!!!

[coreykohlmeyer]

your video was a huge huge huuugggee help. I thought hearing the grinding noise would mean I have to spend hundreds on calipers, pads, and rotors. Aaaannnddd seeing how easily you took out the brake pad I am 100% confident I can do it myself and save hundreds. Thank you so much. What a relief.

[jackmiller]

Such an honest, professional explanation. Thanks for this most useful content, cars are crucial and expensive to maintain if the owners don't know about mechanics. Also it is easy to be scammed or tricked into buying new parts when some of the parts are still useful .

[philipnoonan]

Thank you. I'd been recommended to change all four rotors and pads, and this would have been okay, as I knew the job must be pending but I did further research and ended up just taking the whole wheel off for a good look, as you showed. And this gave me a much better view. A neighbour helped me check first, as you showed. I've just done fronts for now and I'm more confident in checking periodically. Your editing skills raised the quality and value for me. You've affirmed belief that I can monitor pads more closely and finesse those last few mm. I noticed the fore part of the pad can be thinner than the aft (rear) part. Thanks again.

[tunakpreston]

In New England I find that pads and rotors go bad quicker due to the rust. Slide pins get stuck, the pads get stuck in the brackets, the calipers seize, the rotors get nice big rust rings/lips, etc! Customers sometimes complain about having just replaced their brakes the previous year and only did 10k miles and not their brakes are bad again?! This can happen! The best kept cars are garaged, people who are easy on their brakes, people who don't let their cars sit too long, etc.


Didn't think I would like this video, but you literally said everything I tell customers! Liked!

[akudimensional]

I had a couple thoughts to add, first and foremost don't rely on those brake wear indicators because they can rot off even in non-salted areas. Secondly, don't go to the dealer at all unless you absolutely have a need to because after 2020 and probably for the next five years, most dealers are running this scam where a brake problem comes in, quote $1500 for parts and labor, and offer to buy your vehicle and give you money down on a new lease after the job is declined. The dealers don't even work on cars either, just slap on new parts and attempt to dupe folk who don't know any better into fearing a false repair bill. It's not like dealers haven't done it before but seems to be more widespread currently.

Anyways great video, nice to see Youtube recommending channels like yours. They never seem to feature mine.

[clarinevermore]

Thank you for this! I'm trying to learn to service my own vehicle because service shop prices are INSANE. Plus it's just interesting!

I love this video. Covers the important material with detail and context, no condescending attitude or acting like we should already know this stuff!

And its explained very simply too so even people who aren't in the trade can understand. 10/10. Love it. You have a new fan!

[mukeshsinghal]

Great video! Showed relevant parts in detail and fast forwarded usual steps. Please make some more.

[MarcusRefusius]

We live in the Southern Sierra just outside Sequoia National Park (like a half mile outside). It’s a forty mile trip to shopping or doctor appointments. One way. If not for tourists and two traffic lights, I can and have driven all the way without using my brakes at all. And that’s downhill. Coming back is even easier. Drivers from the flats amaze me at how much braking they do. Especially uphill. I often remark to my wife, ‘I’ll bet that driver buys brakes pretty often”. My 2017 Tacoma has 49k on it and is nowhere NEAR ready for pads. Cheers. Good video

[sandracomeau]

Yes thank you so much. Recently widowed and I at least can inspect and make my own decisions about if my brake pads need to be replaced

[thecuss]

I've always done same as what Josh states here, just checked the pads and rotors on my 1988 Mazda truck last week; at 233K miles, still on factory rotors and rear drums. And my 1998 Frontier (275K) and my 2004 Frontier (106K) are still on their original rotors and rear drums as well.

[denysarcuri]

As a rule, I'm highly critical of YouTube presenters as to professional (or entertaining) content, clarity, factual information, etc . . . that said, I rate this video A+. Nice work!

[abrokenthwall]

an accessible, clear, and comprehensive guide. I was hesitant to start looking into this stuff bc I thought I’d never understand it but good educators like you make all the difference!! the visuals, the honesty, the details people need to safely make their own judgements about costs? 10/10 thank you for your hard work sir you got a follow from me

[SKing]

Good video. Saved me a few bucks. I have an Audi performance model and the dealership makes you get new rotors with new pads to ensure the performance. $2k for the complete package. This advice will help me get the most out of my pads before I change them.

[johngalv]

So much for "quickly check" brake pads... I took my suv to 5 diff. repair shops, including a dealership: All gave me the wrong diagnostic, the last one told me: you don't really need any work done! so, one honest mechanic! Hard to find good mechanics and reliable!

[bobe]

Great video! Inspection and finding a reputable mechanic is key for me. Thank you for explaining what this is all about

[gcraig]

Considering what can happen if you let pads go too long, I don't think I'd worry about trying to get the last possible mile out of them. If you aren't trained in this area, find a reputable shop that will put the car up on a lift and then let you inspect the pads and rotors with the technician. You want to inspect both the outer and inner pad thickness on each wheel, they should be very close to the same thickness if the brakes are working correctly. If one pad is significantly thinner than the other, that indicates a problem with the caliper sticking. Just changing pads without fixing the caliper is not a good idea. If you need to change the pads on one side of the vehicle, change the other side as well. Make sure to check the rear brakes as well as the front, often the wear of the rear brakes is less than the front and you will only need to change the fronts. I've owned vehicles in the past that wore out two sets of front pads before the rears needed to be replaced. And lastly, even if the pads weren't allowed to wear so far the metal backing damaged the rotor, you may need to to replace the rotors anyway. Rotors wear even when the pads are in good shape, and you can see and feel a ridge near the edge of the rotor. There is a minimum thickness specification for rotors, and the technician should measure the rotors and check the surface finish. Installing new pads on rough rotors will just make the new pads wear faster, and running rotors that are too thin will cause excessive heat buildup. These days few shops refinish rotors, most are just replaced with new parts.