intro

so... my wife took her 2008 mazda 3 to the local mechanic to get a new front driver-side tire because it had a bubble in it. presumably from hitting a pothole. during the tire installation the mechanic notices that her brakes are almost completely gone. car has roughly 75k on it. so they replace all 4 rotors and put on new pads. the front driver-side pad was non-existent. however after the fix my wife notices that car makes noise, and to her it felt like it was breaking on its own. she returns the car to the mechanic and after some "tug-of-war" the mechanic agrees to look at the car again. a day later the mechanic calls and says that things are not looking good. he says that either the caliper bracket or the spindle is bent (again front, driver-side) and only part of the pad is pushing against the rotor when breaking. what's worse the edge of the new pad is constantly rubbing against the rotor and that's where the noise is coming from.

i am now left with a dilemma: did the mechanic bend this during the install (he told my wife that the rotor shattered when they were replacing it) or was this bent before (possibly by a pothole which caused a bubble in the tire) and the my wife didn't notice it because the brake pad wore out unevenly?

any input would be welcomed.

thanks