Old brake shop off Route 9 taught me something my $600 kit couldn't

Stopped by a little garage near Hudson, NY last month to grab a bleeder screw and the old guy running it had a coffee can full of worn pads sorted by year. He pointed at a set from a '95 F-150 and said those lasted 80k because people actually braked like humans, not like they're testing ABS. Do you think modern brake feel went soft, or did we just get lazy about pad bedding and fluid flushes?

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reese_patel14d ago

That bit about people braking like humans, not testing ABS, made me rethink my whole view on old vs new.

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jason75214d ago

@reese_patel see I gotta disagree there. The ABS thing cuts the other way for me. If most drivers never push the brakes hard enough to kick in ABS, then having it doesnt make you safer in daily driving, it just sits there. Same with all the new tech, lane keep and auto braking and all that. People start leaning on it and stop paying attention, which is how you end up in the ditch anyway. Old cars make you feel every bump and slide so you actually learn what the road is doing under you. New cars kinda hide all that from you until its too late. So yeah the human braking point is real but it makes me trust the old stuff more, not less.

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