Mark: Hi, it's Mark Bossert. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and we're talking cars. How are you doing Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
Mark: So today we're talking about a fairly new Volvo, a 2020 XC90. What was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: Yeah. So the owner had a couple of issues with the vehicle and one of them was that the brakes were grinding. So he brought the vehicle in, we did a brake inspection. And found that the front brakes were worn metal on metal, but only one pad was worn severely, badly. The rest were actually still in pretty good shape.
Mark: So 2020, how many kilometres did this vehicle have?
Bernie: It only had about 42 thousand Ks, so still pretty low mileage.
Mark: Is this kind of unusual to have this sort of brake wear at that kilometerage?
Bernie: Kilometerage. It is, I mean, it's not unusual for some vehicles, but the way these brakes wore is kind of unusual. The rear brakes, by the way, still had lots of material on them and didn't require any repairs or service.
Mark: This isn't a Range Rover, in other words.
Bernie: No, in all fairness, some of the Range Rovers, the brakes used to last 30 Ks now last about 60. So they've done something right. I would say that this vehicle should get about 60 Ks. Which is about 40,000 miles out of a set of brakes.
Mark: Yeah, it's still a pretty big vehicle, pretty heavy.
Bernie: Yeah, big and heavy. Yeah, so there's our XC90. It's a rare wintry day in Vancouver with snow on the ground and lots of salty guck on the side of the car. It happens once in a while around here.
Mark: So what do we have here?
Bernie: So this is the brake rotor that were on the side that was worn. So you can see where the red arrow is pointing. It's kind of rough. That's where the brake pad had worn right down and the metal backing plate of the brake pad was rubbing against the rotor. So that causes quite a hideous noise. Something you can't ignore. Although people do, strangely, some people do from time to time and really go for it.
So this does, I think this one shows it better. Yeah, this is the best picture. So these are the brake pads. We're looking down on the brake pads. These are both the inboard pads. So one's, one's from the left, one's from the right. Where the red arrow is pointing, you can see there's, well, let's look at the bottom pad.
You can see the yellow arrows pointing to, you can see a lot of material sticking above the backing plate. It's probably a good six millimetres of pad material there. If you look at the top picture, yeah, there we go. So look at the top and it's even.
Mark: Stops the car in other words.
Bernie: That's the stuff that stops the car.
Mark: And here.
Bernie: Yeah, you look at the top, there's nothing left. And it's also worn on an angle too, because if you look at the opposite side of the pad, you can see there's, you know, maybe one and a half millimetres of material there. So, something was causing this pad to stick and wear out. And the outboard pads, these are the inboard pads, there's two inboard and outboard pad. The outboard pads were pretty much like the one on the bottom. So they were both the same.
Mark: And that's kind of what you would expect at that sort of mileage?
Bernie: Exactly. Yeah. It depends on where you drive and how you drive. And if you're only doing highway driving in a flat area, the brakes will last much longer than if you live in a very hilly area with steep hills that you have to drive up and down.
Here's another view that just sort of shows the good pad.
Mark: It's scraping here.
Yeah. You can see the scraping there on that pad. Yeah. So, yeah, that's where the grinding noise was happening.
Bernie: There's another, little more closeup. You can see where it's grinding.
Mark: So that grinding that we're seeing there is what's causing this difference. This is what you would normally expect it to look like. And this is where it's been ground off.
Bernie: Yeah. If you would look closer, the ground off part is very rough. You wouldn't want to run your hand on it with any pressure and scrape your skin off. But the middle part is very smooth.
Mark: So unexpected, probably sooner than expected to be, what would have prevented this?
Bernie: Well, probably the best by the way, just before we talk about prevention and just say, you know, what are the possible causes of that? And, you know, often a brake caliper will stick and cause that kind of pad to wear prematurely.
But when we did the brake inspection, we took everything apart. We inspected the caliper and there was nothing wrong with it. The piston on the caliper moved just fine. This is a type of design, it's pretty simple. The brake pads hook onto a bracket and they just slide back and forth.
So probably what happened, speculating, is probably that the bracket was dry. No lubrication that probably caused the pad to stick, but it still seems a little unusual. It would wear that much. But what would have prevented this is to do a routine break service. So about every 20 to 25,000 kilometres, it's a good idea to do a service on your brakes.
Where the brakes are taken apart, just partially apart. Things are cleaned, lubricated, make sure the sliding brackets don't have any debris or rust or corrosion. And then some special lubricant we apply on there and that keeps things moving properly without sticking.
Mark: And that way you get the full life of the brakes and the safety of having brakes that operate properly rather than grinding?
Bernie: Exactly. So it's a good thing to do on a routine basis. Put it in your maintenance schedule and do it.
Mark: Cars take maintenance. Who would have thought?
Bernie: They do. And you know with EVs coming out, cars are even more set and forget it. You can hop in. You can just keep driving because you don't need to change the oil. There's many things you don't need to do. So you still need to get your vehicle inspected. I mean, the thing that'll kill the brakes on a car where the brakes would normally last a very long time, is lack of maintenance, not lack of brake services, where just lubricating the brakes, so keep them lasting a very, very long time.
Mark: So if you're looking for service for your Volvo, or your vehicle's got grinding brakes, the guys to see in Vancouver are Pawlik Automotive. You can book online at pawlikautomotive.com. They'll get back to you. They will check to see what's going on with your vehicle. They'll get ready for your appointment. Or you can call them at (604) 327-7112 to book your appointment. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thank you, Mark. Thanks for watching.
