Got new brakes this weekend. The truck stops a lot more readily and the moderately alarming shrieking metal noises have stopped. Sometimes I wonder if the thing is even turned on.

The car place guy told me several interesting things about my brakes. Another word for that might be, “mechanic.” First, brake pads should be smooth, and not look like this:

He said it wasn’t the most worn out brakes he’d ever seen, but was in the top five.

He also said that a problem with the Toyota 4Runner is that it’s so “sturdy” that you get situations like this one- it will still stop pretty reliably even though you have no brakes, and it will drive pretty reliably even though there’s no oil in it, and stuff like that. So I should pay more attention. I told him I would but I have to say his expression upon hearing this was somewhat skeptical.