Had a moment this morning that changed how I think about brake jobs

I was reading a thread on another forum where a guy said he always replaces caliper brackets on older cars even if they look fine. That stuck with me because last month I did a brake job on a 2004 F-150 and two weeks later the customer came back with a pulsation issue. I had just thrown new pads and rotors on the old brackets. Turns out the bracket was slightly warped from heat cycles and it caused the new pads to wear uneven. I wasted my time and the customer's money because I was too lazy to spend the extra 30 bucks on brackets. Now I'm making it a rule to check brackets with a straight edge every time. Do you guys swap brackets as a matter of habit or only when they're obviously bad?

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1 Comment

ray2101h ago

Yeah but how do you even tell if the bracket is slightly warped without a straight edge or a surface plate? I'm guessing most guys just eyeball it and hope for the best. Have you had any luck catching them early with like a dial indicator on the rotor?