Tech 101: Did You Read The Instructions?

By Jeff Smith

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February 22, 2026
This may sound condescending, but it’s not. This references situations that we’ve all faced at some point. You unbox your new parts and immediately dive right into the job instead of reading the instructions. “I know how to do this – I don’t need any instructions.”
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This situation has become troublesome enough for some companies that they now include a brightly colored warning page that is placed on top of the part. Centerforce does this with all its new clutch and pressure plates to warn against using the clutch on a brand-new flywheel. The bright orange sheet of paper informs you to always thoroughly clean the friction surface of a new flywheel to remove the anti-corrosion coating. If this is not done, this will cause clutch chatter or glazing problems.

As for another example, Wilwood deals with daily complaints from customers with spongy brake pedals who don’t follow the instructions to bench bleed their new master cylinder before installing it on the car. They all think they can just skip that step. But if the master is installed on the car at even a slight upward angle no amount of bleeding will eliminate the air trapped in the front of the master cylinder piston bore. This results in a mushy brake pedal that can only be remedied by removing the trapped air through bench bleeding.

The overall point is simple. Take a few moments and read the instructions. With new or innovative parts that we will install for the first time, we sometimes go so far as to read the instructions online before purchasing the parts to see if there are special requirements or steps we need to know before spending money on the parts. This has saved us time, money, and most of all frustration.