Mark: Hi, it's Mark Bossert. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver. Vancouver's best auto service experience. 25 times voted by their customers as the best auto service company in Vancouver, BC, Canada. And we're talking cars. How you doing Bernie?
Bernie: Doing well.
Mark: So today's victim, 2016 Range Rover Supercharged, sort of a brake issue. What was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: So this vehicle came to our shop actually several months ago, maybe six, had a brake warning light on the dash. We did our normal brake inspection. We found the front brake pads were worn out, causing the light to come on and the rear brakes had about, I think three or four millimetres remaining.
And it could have been a time to do the rear brakes, but the customer chose not to. So fast forward and back to the present the brake warning light came on again. And we basically were quite sure the rear brakes would need to be done. And we did a basic inspection found. Yes, that's true. The rear brakes had now worn out to the point where the warning light was on. So it was time to do the rear brakes.
Mark: All right. So maybe we jump straight into pictures.
Bernie: Let's do it.
Mark: Here we are. Our Range Rover.
Bernie: And we get into the brake picture. So, one thing that was unique about this brake job was that it actually needed the calipers replaced as well.
Only 85,000 kilometres on this vehicle. So pretty low mileage, but for some reason, the caliper piston boot, you can see where the arrow's pointing. This rubber boot is ripped open, dust and dirt can get in there and cause the caliper to seize. So this is definitely something we don't want to do. If we could actually rewind the caliper, which we might be able to, still wouldn't want to do it because you know, the brakes would seize up shortly and cause another brake job needed in a hurry.
So it's important to fix those kind of things. So this was a bit of a surprise. We do a lot of Range Rover brakes, Land Rover, Range Rover brakes. It's the first time we've run into a caliper replacement on a vehicle this new. Although 2016 is now eight years old at this point in time, they tend to last longer than that, but for some reason the boot was blown open and the calipers need to be replaced.
Mark: So, 85,000 kilometres, would this have been the first rear brake job on this vehicle? Do you know?
Bernie: Possibly the second, first or second. I mean, brakes on these, I mean, they used to last only about 30,000 k's. Now I think they last a little longer, so it might have been the original brakes. Could very well have been. I'd say 1st or 2nd set. A lot of these large SUVs that for some reason the brakes don't last very long, even though you can see that the brake rotor is very large. The pads are large considering the size.
So this is this is our rear brake. This is looking at the left rear side. This is the new rotor, pads, caliper, you know, everything looks nice and shiny and new.
This is a view on the right hand side. Now, if you notice that red wire, that's for the brake pad wear sensor. So there's a sensor on the brake pad. And when the pad wears out enough, there's a metal wire that contacts and it causes the light to come on your dash. So there's usually one on the left rear, one on the right. This is on the right rear, sometimes on the left front. Some cars have none, some cars have them on all four wheels. It really depends.
On the Range Rover it has one on the front, one on the back. The one thing that isn't changed, this has an electric parking brake and just to the left of the brake bleeder screw, if you can, it's just the left of that red wire. There's a sort of a darkish coloured object. Yeah, that one right there where you're moving. That's the electric parking brake motor. So when you pull the button or push the button, there's a little motor inside there that activates and moves the brake caliper to lock the parking brake on. So that part is not replaced. It comes off of the caliper.
Mark: So these look like all new parts, sometimes you don't replace the caliper itself or the, I'm not sure what this big grey area is, what it's actually called.
Bernie: That is the brake caliper and then the sort of the area outside of it, above it is, is the caliper bracket. So the caliper bracket is where the caliper bolts up to. It has a slider. If you look down at the bottom of your picture, if you just move that your thing, yeah, down there, that's the pad slider. So the caliper slides on, there's some pins in there and those are lubricated. Again, this is something, if we don't change the caliper, we clean these and service them, make sure they're all lubricated properly.
There's no rust or corrosion. And then the caliper bracket the pads sit in there and, and you know, It's important that there's no corrosion in that area either because over time, you know, moisture, rust builds up and the pads tend to get kind of sticky. So doing brake services is a good thing to do on some cars to keep that area clean.
We actually have a sandblaster. So if we're not replacing the calipers, we actually take the caliper bracket off and we sandblast those parts to make sure that there's no rust. Because there always is enough, usually to make the pads sticky. So it keeps the brake life longer.
So just a review of the parts, the brake rotor and pads are brand new, the calipers are remanufactured, they look brand new, I mean, the factories that do them, they run them through a sandblasting machine to completely clean them like brand new. Some come painted and coated, others are not. But yeah, they look good. All looks brand new.
Mark: It looks good for a couple of days.
Bernie: Yeah, exactly. Until rust starts to develop and then they start to get a little corroded.
Mark: So when you do a brake inspection, do you take all this stuff apart or are you just measuring?
Bernie: We normally measure things. If we have to, I mean, the most important thing is to look at the brake pads and rotors to see what condition they're in. And sometimes to actually look at the brake pads properly, we have to unbolt the caliper, but normally we don't take it apart. The caliper that was worn came as a bit of a surprise with that boot, and sometimes you can see that, but a lot of times it's hidden until you take the brakes fully apart.
So it's usually more of a measurement, and okay, the brakes are worn out at this point, we need to address them, and then when everything's taken fully apart, then we know for sure all of the details.
Mark: So, is there any other points you'd like to share about Range Rover Sports? I know we've talked about, or Supercharged, we've talked about these, they have huge brakes on them to handle all that power. Do they wear out a little bit faster than regular brakes?
Bernie: Yeah, they tend to, yeah. I'd say regular. I mean, I've owned a few GM trucks, which are heavy, probably just as heavy. They can go just as fast. You can probably put more weight in them. I mean, they don't accelerate as fast cause they're not supercharged. They're not the sporty, but you know, they actually have smaller brakes and they last longer. So never quite sure why a lot of these large SUVs have brakes that wear out so fast. Including, it wears hard on the rotors too. But nonetheless, that's just the way they are. They do tend to need to be replaced more frequently than they used to be.
If you go back to like the two thousands decade, 2000 to 2010, a lot of those, you'd get like maybe 30,000 outta the brakes, 40 if you're lucky. Now they definitely go longer, 50 to 70.
Mark: And you do a lot of these. There's probably a Range Rover in there at least two or three times a month in your shop?
Bernie: No, maybe more like a week. Been through a few this week. So yeah, we do a lot of them. Range Rovers and Land Rovers.
Mark: And how are Range Rovers for reliability?
Bernie: Well, they're good. And there's a lot of things that go wrong with them. You can look at some of our other podcasts and their suspension bushings, struts, timing, chains on certain models.
Mark: Supercharger, nose cones.
Bernie: Supercharger, nose cones, brakes, of course, you know, they do wear out and, you know, brake wear is normal. They just wear a little faster than others.
Mark: Well, that supercharger probably prompts a little bit of heavy footedness.
Bernie: Yeah, I will say a lot of the newer Range Rovers we're seeing are V6 supercharged models, which is really a smart idea because you've got so much power out of a V6 supercharged. It is a big vehicle, but it still moves it along quite nicely and definitely saves a bit on fuel, not having to feed a big V8.
Mark: If you're looking for service for your Range Rover in Vancouver, BC, Canada, the guys to see are Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them on their website and book right there, pawlikautomotive.com. Or you can call (604) 327-7112 to book your appointment. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. It's always full and they'll look after you. They will do it right the first time. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Thank you so much for watching and listening. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thank you Mark. Thanks for watching.
