Front brake discs / pads question

Anonymous · January 12, 2004, 10:10

Chaps, my 2 failed it's first MOT on Satdee, front discs are knackered.
The thing is the front brake pads are only a few months old, so as far as wear and tear goes they're fine.
I'm ringing round for prices for the front discs, £130 is the best I've got so far, but half the garages I phone say they can't do discs only, they'd have to change the pads too.
Is this because they're not very good, or lazy, or trying to get more money....
Or is this the best/suggested practice and something I should follow?
Please let me know what you think
(also, one garage was crying that my car was a Euro Import "ooh we cant do those mate, had problems with those before", rubbish!)

Slacey · January 12, 2004, 10:13

Quote from: "Stevo"Is this because they're not very good, or lazy, or trying to get more money....

Trying to make more money... Toyota, when changing the discs under warranty don't tell the dealer to change the pads as part of the process (although one or two dealers did), so I'd guess this lot are tring to baffle you with bullsh*t and get more for the job. Don't get me wrong, it's normal practice probably to recommend they both change, but it isn't imperative.

Anonymous · January 12, 2004, 10:17

when changing discs, you should really replace the pads too as the old pads will be worn to the old discs, so when you stick in the new discs they may well ware the new discs unevenly, resulting in funny things happening when you try to stop.

Anonymous · January 12, 2004, 10:22

general rule of thumb is to change pads at the same time, this is due to the fact that if your discs are warped or unduly scored/worn then the pads will probs be miss-shaped acordingly and will not be making full contact on the new disc. Any garage worth its salt will tell you to do this, they wouldnt be doing their job right if they didnt.

On the matter of Mr T exchange discs due to bubbling, then they should also change the pads, if they havnt then you should complain. I had two new sets of discs on the celi and it was a godsend as it meant new pads each year gratis.

If you are confident that your pads are fine and not many miles on them (age isnt really relevant) , then why not just fit the discs yourself? not a big job. (weather permitting)

Anonymous · January 12, 2004, 10:23

And as kris said s;-) ;-) s;-)

Anonymous · January 12, 2004, 10:36

cheers chaps, just found out it's only another £30 to have the pads done too, so might as well get em all done now together.

ta for't input

Anonymous · January 12, 2004, 10:43

Going to Mr T at 2pm for the first service, will be asking for the disks to be replaced as they are looking crap, will also ask about the pads too!. Going to play hell with them also about the calipers that look rubbish too!

Anonymous · January 12, 2004, 10:55

Stevo:
As others have said, you really should fit new pads with disks.

However, disk condition is not an MOT issue, only braking performance. A colleage at work had his car failed on worn disks recently, I advised him that they were not an MOT item, he appealed to the garage and they changed their mind. It turned out that the disks were not even worn down to the manufacturer's limits - he was nearly ripped off.

If your braking performance is not up to scratch then your car should rightly fail the test, but not just because the disks are a bit thin!

Andy
ps. If anyone gets "Which" magazine, they publish a survey checking out MOT stations's performance in the latest issue and this is mentioned in the article

SimonC_Here · January 12, 2004, 11:15

Quote from: "cstevens"Going to Mr T at 2pm for the first service, will be asking for the disks to be replaced as they are looking crap, will also ask about the pads too!. Going to play hell with them also about the calipers that look rubbish too!

I was told that although they will paint the disk hubs, they won't change/paint the calipers. s:(

s:(
So I have some disks with rusty edges and nicely painted hubs and really tatty looking calipers.

I think I will paint them myself in the nicer weather.

Simon

Anonymous · January 12, 2004, 11:44

after my second set of free replacement hubs I immediately painted them with hammerite, they still showed signs of rust within 6 months!

I know that for the celi they are now doing an even newer and impoved version with some sort of special coating, so it may be the same for the 'two' even tho they wont be the same discs etc.

Slacey · January 12, 2004, 11:49

Quote from: "perry190"I know that for the celi they are now doing an even newer and impoved version with some sort of special coating, so it may be the same for the 'two' even tho they wont be the same discs etc.

When mine were changed 6 months ago, they told me they were a new type with a different coating, and true to thier word the hubs haven't rusted since, so I reckon they were the new ones Perry mentioned.

Anonymous · January 12, 2004, 12:06

The new discs are coated, but not enough. The centre hub is fine, but just above that (but below where the pad touches) these is now a nice line of rust along the disc. Think when im in for the rest of my warranty fixes i might bring that up.