We lost our brakes! Learn from our experience....

[ShrimpBurrito]

Since we were planning on going on a trip this weekend with the TM, I peeked at the brake pads on my TV and decided they were too thin for my comfort level for our trip. I usually do most of the work on our cars, including brake jobs, but since I had never changed the pads on this vehicle before (it was on the original pads) and we were leaving early the next morning, I spontaneously decided to go to a local shop. I didn't want to risk having everything apart and I needed a new tool or part.

I watched the tech do the entire job, as best I could from a distance, which took about 2 hours. A bit long for a garage I thought, but he was jumping from one bay to the other, working on multiple cars at once. That was the first warning sign. I also expect professional shops to have a wide array of tools, neatly organized and easily accessible. Theirs were tossed in a small toolbox, one typical of what a homeowner would have. Another warning sign. Then I saw a c-clamp come out with the name "Great Neck" on it, a cheap Chinese brand along the likes of Harbor Freight. It didn't belong in a professional shop, but I couldn't back out at this point -- both of the wheels were off and calipers removed. The brake calipers on my TV have 4 pistons each, whereas many have only 1. They had difficulty figuring out how to push the pistons back in to install the new pads. Another warning sign.

The final warning sign came at the final part of the job when he was tightening up the lug nuts on the wheel. I told him, "You're going to hand-torque them, right?" "Yes, to 35 ft lbs.", he responded. I told him I thought that was pretty low and I thought the correct torque was more like 85 ft lbs. He said no, definitely not, my car was 35, the 4-Runner and Tacoma are 65. He was positive. Not knowing for sure, I accepted his answer. Then I saw him use a regular ratchet to torque the bolts -- I asked how he was going to know he was at the right torque. "I know the feel", he said. Ugh, yea, right. I planned on re-torquing them with my torque wrench at home.

He finished up, went for a test ride, and then I headed home. I immediately heard a racket from the right front wheel, and went back to the shop and took him for a ride. He said he could hear the noise, and I pulled back in the garage where he proceeded to remove the wheel to look around.

He could find nothing making the noise, and attributed the noise to a suspension part. I was skeptical, but figured, hey, brake jobs are simple. He's already checked it twice, it brakes fine, so I'll keep an ear to the noise. In the meantime, I pulled out my owners manual where it said in black and white that wheel lugs were to be torqued to 83 ft lbs. I insisted that he produce a torque wrench and do it the right way. After about 10 minutes, including a trip to the basement, he finally found one.

The next morning, we hooked up the TM and departed on our trip, immediately getting on the freeway. We decided to stop at In-N-Out for an early lunch, and it was a good thing we did. By the time we got to the end of the off ramp, the right wheel was making an ungodly harsh loud grinding noise, braking capacity was significantly diminished, and the TV was pulling badly to the left. Fortunately, In-N-Out was just around the corner, and being 10:30am, the parking lot was virtually empty. Good thing as we needed PLENTY of stopping distance even at 5-10 MPH.

I got out, and quickly discovered that 1 of the 2 bolts (the top one) attaching the caliper to the backing plate fell off. As a result, when the caliper compressed as the wheel was rotating clockwise, it forced the caliper towards the inside of the rim, making a deep gouge. There were metal shavings of all sizes everywhere. Since there was no rotor in between more than half the caliper, the pistons compressed unequally, and we lost virtually all the braking power on that wheel....since about 80% of the braking is done on the front, that resulted in a 40% loss in total braking power.

I pulled the wheel off, and I could remove the other bolt, on the bottom, with my hand.....easily. This guy didn't tighten either bolt. After calling around to numerous auto parts stores, a NAPA store ended up calling the Toyota dealer himself and hand delivered the correct bolt to me at no charge -- for the bolt or delivery.

Had we needed our brakes just minutes earlier when we had to do a hard brake at 60 MPH on the freeway, we could have easily been killed, as well as any number of other people. Tomorrow, I'm going to pay that shop a visit, and give them a bill. And I'm going to send Joe at the NAPA auto parts store in Camarillo, CA an In-N-Out gift card.

Just another reminder that you should either do the work yourself (if you know what you're doing) or go to garages that come specifically recommended to you. The shop I went to was not a backyard mom & pop place, which was probably my mistake. No, it was a large brand name, national garage, with a virtual house hold name.

Dave