GEARWRENCH Disc Brake Lining Wear Gauge - 2116D

Quality Buy

Nice tool to gauge brake shoe wear. It doesn't go large enough for a new shoe or extended service shoes but I use it in addition to the plastic gauges.

Best tool for checking drum brakes on semi's.

works well

This is an okay deal since it's about 75% off the original price... which was absurd. No matter how you slice it, this tool is made from stamped sheet metal and stamp-embossed. It comes to us via Taiwan, which is not a criticism. The tool is easy enough to read, but some may have difficulty. It's also riveted together, and the reading comes through a piece of clear plastic, which is rather thin. That is the Achilles' heel in this product, and I can't see it lasting. Using the tool is simple, as well. Squeeze one end together, place on top of the pad (in situ), and you get the reading. It's handy to have, and allows you to check without having to remove the caliper.... sweet. I do like that the scale is both metric, as well as SAE. Overall, I think it's fine for a home user, or shade tree mechanic. I don't believe a pro would bother with it.

This gauge is just weird, in the way it's scale is marked. I was used to an exact style of this, made by KD Tools, that had a millimeter and thirty-seconds scale on it, and easy to understand. I thought this was to be the same. This new one, by Gearwrench, is marked with a millimeter scale that doesn't make sense. Every third line has a label, but not even millimeters. One will say, 3.1mm, the three lines over, 6.3mm. What are the two lines between those? 4.2 and 5mm? It's not clear what the increments are, and I find myself flubbing the numbers. Old times like myself aren't metric savvy, and it would have been helpful if the at least set up even numbers, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.

Love the design and simplicity of this tool. Numbers are SAE and Metric. Stamped in the steel, so they won’t wear off.

state inspection approved