Brake inspection is a good practice because it’s easy to hurry through, and that’s why you should slow down. There’s a tendency to focus on the pad and rotor while ignoring the little things that might help explain a noise or a soft pedal. The goal is to take your time to get used to what the good parts look like. Once you see that every day, you’re able to recognize when something looks wrong. Then, you’re not just looking through the wheel. Start with side to side comparison. If the left front brake doesn’t look like the right front, there’s something going on.
One side might be dustier than the other. One pad might be thicker than the other. One rotor might show more heat. Take a minute and compare the two sides to each other. One good exercise is to get down on your hands and knees at both front wheels and list everything that looks the same. Don’t list what looks different yet. Just list what looks the same. Then list what looks different. That one practice helps more than staring at one front wheel and trying to figure out if it looks good. One thing that will always trip you up is looking only at pad thickness.
Thickness is a big part of brake inspection, but there’s more to it. You can see a thick pad and not look for glazing or a grooved rotor or an unevenly worn pad set. So look at the thickness, but don’t forget to look at the pad face for glazing. Look at the rotor face for excessive wear or unusual wear patterns. Look at the inner and outer pads to see if they’re worn the same. Look at the hardware and bushings to see if they look dry, rusty, or clogged. Brakes don’t give you just one clue at a time. If you’re having trouble, try to narrow it down to one thing at a time. If you’re looking for a noise, determine if it happens when you press the pedal lightly or heavily or if it only happens at certain speeds.
If you have a soft brake pedal, see if it firms up as you press the pedal repeatedly. If you have a pull, compare the two sides before you assume you know what’s wrong. You can get lost in brake work because you’re trying to diagnose the whole brake system at once. Instead, break it down into noise, feel, wear, and movement. Writing down your observations helps. It’s better to write “thicker outer pad than inner pad on the right front wheel” than it is to write “I think the brakes are out of whack.”
You can spend 15 minutes practicing brake inspection without spending a whole day on it. Spend 5 minutes looking at both front wheels and writing down any differences you see. Spend 5 minutes looking at one front wheel and listing everything you see. Spend 5 minutes pressing the brake pedal with the engine off and then again with the engine on, noting any differences in feel and travel. That gets you in the habit of looking, and that’s what brake inspection is all about.
The more you do it, the less mysterious brake inspection becomes. You’ll start to recognize surface conditions and pad wear and pedal feel and side to side differences. And you’ll start to see patterns. Patterns are what improve your repair skills. Not just tearing in and replacing parts, but taking the time to evaluate the conditions before you decide what to replace. Brakes respond to patient inspections.