Site roads put grit where the pads are
A lot of pickups around Tucson spend part of their working day off the pavement: on a mine access road, a construction site, a ranch track. Brakes are designed to work with road dirt. Fine grit and sand thrown up by unpaved roads are a harder test.
Grit gets between the pad and the rotor. Once there, it acts like sandpaper every time the brakes are applied. The result is rotors with deep grooves cut into them, pads that wear faster than their mileage suggests, and a grinding or scraping noise that drivers often mistake for worn-out pads.
Sometimes it is worn-out pads. Sometimes it is a stone lodged behind the dust shield, which makes an alarming noise and is a quick fix. The noise alone does not tell you which, and that is the reason to have it looked at rather than waiting to see if it stops.
What to watch for on a work pickup
- A scraping noise after a day on dirt roads, especially if it started suddenly.
- Grooves you can see on the rotor through the wheel.
- Pads wearing much faster than they did when the truck ran mainly on pavement.
- A pull or a pulsing pedal after heavy use on rough ground.
When you book, tell the store how much of the truck's driving is off pavement. Two pickups with the same mileage can need completely different brake intervals, and the off-road one is usually the one due first.
While it is on the lift
Rough roads work the rest of the front end too. A truck that pulls after brake work may need car and light truck alignment, and knocks over rough ground are suspension repair, both at this store. The national brake repair page covers the general warning signs.
About this store
The Tucson store runs seventeen services and is managed by Mark Laster.
See the national brake repair page for all 33 locations.