Brake Repair & Service

Brake wear is something you can generally stay aware of and handle as a routine matter.

For instance, we routinely do an informal brake inspection every time we do an oil change. If needed, a formal brake inspection can be performed to assess braking performance, brake pad and/or shoe state of wear, and the condition of the rotors, drums, and wheel cylinders.

If your brakes are allowed to wear too far, you risk diminished braking ability and increased cost when the brakes get to the point of grinding metal to metal on the drums or rotors. By far, your best course of action is to replace your worn brakes prior to that stage of wear.

Machining Is Part of Every Brake Job

Every disc brake job we do includes machining the rotors on the car, and every drum brake job includes machining the drums. Machining is built into the price, because it reliably gives the best outcome.

Machining the rotors on the car matches them to your car’s own wheel hub. If the hub isn’t perfectly true, machining in place smooths that out, so the rotors run true when you brake.

Freshly machined rotors and drums have a nearly ideal surface for breaking-in the new brakes, and new brakes are less likely to squeal. Machining also removes problems that are easy to miss in the shop, like a shudder that only shows up at highway speeds or when the brakes get hot on a long downhill.

The only exception to the above practice is if the rotors or drums are worn out. Rotors and drums have a legal wear limit, and beyond it they can’t be machined. If yours are already close to or past that limit, we’ll let you know and replace them.

Brake Calipers

At Integrity Auto, we routinely reuse the brake calipers. If the caliper sliders are binding, we routinely clean and lubricate them, free them up, and reuse them.

If the caliper pistons are leaking or frozen we would replace the caliper, but that’s a tiny minority of the time.

Wheel Cylinders

When replacing rear brake shoes, we routinely replace the wheel cylinders along with the shoes, even if there’s no evidence that the wheel cylinders are failing.

We do this because we’ve seen too much of a pattern of the wheel cylinders (that weren’t leaking prior to the brake job) leaking brake fluid after the internal pistons and seals are repositioned due to the new brake shoes putting them back in the center of the wheel
cylinder.

If you know your brakes are nearing the end of their wear, we would love to be the ones to replace them. If you are uncertain as to their wear, we would be happy to do a complimentary inspection to check their status.

Related Brake Articles 

• Brake Hydraulic Fluid Flush
• Brake Master Cylinder
• Emergency Brake/Parking Brake