Junkyard brake swaps used to scare me, now it's my go to fix

Back in 2019 I paid a shop $480 to put new rotors and pads on my old Civic because I was too nervous about messing with the calipers. Last month I did the same job on my Subaru using a full set pulled from a 2018 Impreza at Pick-n-Pull for $60 total. The difference was I finally watched a few YouTube videos and bought a $15 brake caliper wind-back tool instead of fighting with pliers. It took me about 2 hours in my driveway with basic hand tools, and they stop perfectly with zero vibration. Now I check the junkyard first for any brake part before I even look at new prices. Has anyone else had a part they always paid for until one cheap tool changed their whole approach?