Today, I had a customer who came in complaining about ‘weird noises’ since she replaced her brake pads. I took her wheels off and examined her brake pads, and the pads were made out of wood! Evidently, she bought these pads from some place off the internet. They looked like brake pads, but were just painted pieces of wood.
Pics please. That is too funny!
I mean, I’m glad the customer wasn’t hurt, but still funny. I’m kinda worried about whomever installed them though.
Wood…why didn’t I think of that! Sure, you’d have to replace them more often–but I got tons of scrap wood laying around. But I could save me $20 a year in brake pads!
Definitely pics. That’s just so…strange.
Hmm, I give it 4 months and a sweeps period until there’s a news expose on fraudulent websites selling brake pads made out of wood, among other things.
Remember, you read it here first!
Oh, and who installed these “pads” anyway? I’d think they would have noticed this oddity before.
I once tried to build a car with wooden brake pads, wooden wheels, and a wooden engine. It wooden go…
First reaction: Wow. Just wow.
Secod reaction: Who was the asshole that sold these things?
Third reaction: Wait, who was the idiot who bought them? I assume that if they were purchashed on the internet, the buyer wou;d have to install them him/her-self.
Final reaction: wtf. just wtf.
You would think it would be more time and trouble to make them than to spend $20 on a pair (for the guy selling them). Also, would they not put out a copious amount of smoke?
And where are the pics? 
Were they made of softwood or hardwood? The last time I ordered those off of the internet, they sent me pads made of pine even though I had ordered oak. I sent them back and gave them a good chewing out for trying to rip me off. They not only sent me the oak pads but included a free set of cherry struts. It pays to stand up for your rights.
ISTR that the brake shoes on the Montréal Metro are made of wood, so its not an inherently senseless idea. But getting the details right would be critical, and I doubt that you could introduce wooden brake shoes or pads into a system designed for metal (or whatever cars’ shoes/pads are now made of)…
Paging matt_mcl! Paging matt_mcl!
Wooden’t someone have noticed how light the pads were compared to…oh I dunno, REAL BRAKEPADS!!!
I wood.
San Fran’s cable cars also rely on wooden brakes. Always have.
- snort *
When they slam on the brakes, they get sawdust instead of sparks?
Nah, they get smoke and a lovely wiff of smouldering mesquite, making all the riders hungry for barbecue.
Wooden brake shoes off the internet?
They should have known something like this would happen when the seller’s listed location was “Holland.”
Just the chip of the iceberg…
“…the U.S. automobile industry, which has estimated sales of counterfeit and imitation replacement parts to be in excess of $1 billion a year, has reported a number of incidences of brake failure caused by brake pads manufactured from wood chips.” from here.
Not just wood, but wood chips?! Sheesh.