Customer tried to argue his brake pads weren't worn down...

Guy pulled into my shop last month, told me his brakes were "fine" and just needed a quick bleed. I showed him the pad was down to 2mm of material left and he still said I was trying to upsell him. Has anyone else had a customer literally ignore visual proof right in front of them?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliver_torres43d ago

2mm is plenty of pad left for normal driving. You guys act like every car needs new brakes at 3mm. I've run pads down to metal and still stopped fine. Maybe if the customer drives like a grandpa he's got another 10k miles easy. The real rip-off is shops changing pads at half life then charging $400. Customers aren't stupid they know when their brakes feel grabby still. You probably showed him a measurement with your own caliper, who calibrated it right?

elliot_king3d ago

Man that's rough. I had a guy last year with a rear pad so thin the backing plate was actually grooving his rotor and he was like "it just started making noise yesterday". Showed him the metal on metal contact with the flashlight and everything and he still swore up and down it was fine the way it was. Some people just have that mindset where they think every mechanic is out to get them and no amount of proof will change it.