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Update: found out new brake pads ship with 12mm of material, used to be 18mm, and nobody told us
I was flipping through a parts catalog at the counter on Tuesday waiting on a delivery and noticed the spec sheet listed friction material thickness at 12mm for a pad I have been installing for years. Called the rep just to check if it was a typo and he said no, that is the new normal, they cut it down a while back to save on material cost. I went out back and measured three sets we had on the shelf, one old box from a dusty corner and two fresh ones, and sure enough the old ones sat around 18mm and the new ones were all right at 12. That is a third of the pad gone before the car even rolls out of the bay. It changes how I talk to customers now, because when somebody comes in at 4mm and asks if they can wait a while, I know they have way less runway than they would have had five years ago. I started writing the actual number on the ticket so the next guy does not get surprised either. Any of you been tracking pad life changes like this, or am I late to noticing?
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simon_chen21h ago
Bought a torque wrench a while back and the thing showed up a half inch shorter than my old one, same exact model number and everything. Called the company and got some runaround about "updated tooling" like I wouldn't notice my socket not fitting right. Feels like the same playbook, shrink the product, keep the price, hope nobody measures.
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