Reminds me of how brake jobs went from 30 minutes to an hour plus

Back in the late 90s at my uncle's shop on Elm Street, you could do a full brake job on a Chevy in under 30 minutes. Now every third car has those electronic parking brakes and you gotta hook up a scan tool just to get the calipers off. Does anybody else find themselves spending more time fighting with modules than actually turning wrenches?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_patricia10d ago

Is it just me or do these electronic parking brakes feel like a solution to a problem nobody actually had? My buddy's Audi threw a code last winter when the battery died and we couldn't even get it on the tow truck without jumping through hoops. It's getting to the point where I'd rather work on a 90s Honda than anything built after 2010.

james_kim13d agoMost Upvoted

My uncle's shop had a '97 F-150 that we could do rotors and pads on in 22 minutes flat, I timed it once. Now I spent almost 45 minutes last weekend fighting with a VW Golf's rear calipers because the parking brake motor wouldn't disengage without the dealer scan tool. The thing that gets me is how these electronic systems don't even save you any time in the long run. When the module fails, which it will, you're looking at a $600 repair instead of a $50 cable adjustment. And forget about doing a quick roadside brake job on your buddy's car when the battery is dead and you can't release the electronic brake.

norathomas13d ago

Wait, you mean I need a degree in computer science just to change my brake pads now?