J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Took the wifes car in for MOT as it was due in October (oops) and they failed it on uneven braking performance, the brakes feel fine but the brake pad warnign is on, they have quoted 300 quid ish to replace the disks and pads, just had a look and the disks look ok to me, even wear, not score but with a 1 mm lip round the side, to me these dont need replacing, the car is a Sharan and its done 29,000 miles, the pads need changing and the garage hadn't even looked, I rckon they will either change them regardless or just charge us the 300 quid to replace the pads, normally I would do it myself but I have not got time and the MOT is overdue so she cant use it.

So I was thinking of sending a note with the car and ask them to just change the pads but don't want them to get the huff, is there a wear threshold I can quote as I think the disks have plenty of life in, plus I dont want to pay 300 quid !

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I thought someone might have some ideas !

eldudereno

Have you looked in the owners handbook to see if it lists the max (new) and minimum disc thickness? Failing that I'm almost certain it'll tell you in the Haynes manual.

The reason they probably want to replace the discs is that they cannot be bothered to remove the wear ridge on your discs.

CrisPDuk

Is that at a main dealer, that price seems steep to me for VW pads & discs. I got all for corners of my Benz done for only slightly more than that.

corradoboy

Discs new are 24mm, and they recommend a maximum wear of 2mm down to 22mm. Your best bet is to get your own pads to replace the OE Subaru rubbish. I'd get either Ferodo DSPF (DS2000) or Pagid Blue. Fitting them yourself is a piece of p!$$. Source some discs from somewhere like SAP, and again, easy to DIY.

Alyn at AS Performance - Rally Motorsport Specialists is usually a good bloke for brakes.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

CB, its a VW Sharan, sadly not a Scoob.


The pads and disks for these are quite dear even at Eurocarparts, checked them yesterday I wouldnt say they need changing.

Rioja

Just checked a site I have used for brake parts; good delivery and price on Mintex pads and discs. They quote £78 for a full set of disks and pads for the Sharan, sounds pretty cheap to me!
Volkswagen Sharan Front Brake kit MDK0069

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Just took it to another garage and it passed ?????

The last one said that it had a dangerous brake imbalance, to me a dangerous brake imbalance would manifest itself when I pull up hard, enough for the ABS to kick in, I did and it pulled up straight and true on both a wet road and a dry road.

Either there machinery is up the spout or some **** taking is going on.

Cheers for all the tips !

brickboy

It's a pisstake. I've had my Passat PD130 serviced by the same VW main dealer since new, and it must have magic self-regenerating brake pads.

At the 40K service, the printed invoice said: "Front & Rear brake pads over 80% worn! Replacement recommended -- customer declined" (because they'd rung me up and I'd said no, don't change them)

At the 50K service, the printed invoice said: "Front brake pads 50% worn, rear brake pads 45% worn".

I've NEVER changed the pads. All this info is on their database, AND in the sheaf of invoices in the car's service book

fatherpierre

Sounds like your local dealer is taking tips from Kwick Fit, etc. and trying to get people to pay money for parts that don't need replacing.

CrisPDuk

All main dealers take the p!ss, it's about playing percentages. For every one person that realises it's con, there will be four or five who don't know anything about cars and agree to the the work. That's why it's always the brakes, it plays on peoples safety concerns

Main Dealers have **** all interest in either you or your car, all they want is your money

You're always better off building up a good relationship with a small indepentent garage, spend time looking for a good one and stick with them

Shark Man

As often dealers and garages take the p1ss with pads and discs (technically its bettert to put new pads on bedded in discs, and vica versa otherwise it prolongs the bedding in process, but nobody ever does that though ). I'm trying not to sound like an old granny on this, but have to stress, you can't **** about with brakes....

The braking test for the MOT is VERY relaxed and very easy for a modern car to pass (A series one Land rover can fly though it - and that is unassited drums all round). It will only fail if there is a serious problem. Equipment is regulary calibrated so it "should" be accuarte (unless it has gone faulty in the meantime or the tester was a numpty).

If it passed at the other place, it could have bee due to it being used with a tapley matre instead of rollers, the latter is nowhere near as accurate in terms of testing for brake bias and balance on the same axle, as it only measure overall braking force, unlike rollers which can measure the force applied on each wheel.

Also with certain main dealer who follow manufacturer's servicing policies...some stipulate that the wheels do not need to be removed to inspect the brakes on certain minor serivces. That, IMO is very bad practice, and cannot reliably determine pad or disc condition and wear. But they are a main dealer - so who am I to argue, eh?

As for your discs. Did you inspect the inner surface?

Take a look at this for a prime example (2 year old car, used daily, 18000miles, pads 50% worn, no detected problems with braking performance):

Outer surface at a glance...nothing wrong, or so it seems: http://www.nataz.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/archie/brake1.jpg

Innner surface, hmm a bit of rust, must of been standing at some point (in fact, its used daily since new):
http://www.nataz.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/archie/brake2.jpg

Closer look, alot worse, certainly not normal for a car that is driven daily:
http://www.nataz.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/archie/brake3.jpg

Outer surface, closer look, Ooo, look at that micro-fracture:
http://www.nataz.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/archie/brake4.jpg


I dorve a car with defective brakes (not the above), it passed the MOT. But the pad compound was inferior for road use when cold (CBE - rearrange to suit) despite their advertised claims. So even though I had travelled some distance, due to me not touching the brake pedal in a while they were cold, and consequently I met the rear end of an Audi when he stopped suddenly in traffic (my fault, but I'm certain it would have stopped easily if the pads were doing their job properly). The only point for me mentioning this, is the car passed its brake test for the MOT with flying colours a week beforehand despite it having poor braking performance.. Lesson learnt.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I have to say that at no point have I noticed that the brakes were anything other than good, for a big lump of a car (that isnt a performance vehicle) it stops well, the disks are pretty big, the surfaces were both very smooth, without ridges as you would expect of a low mileage car.

My missus just got the front disks and pads replaced and the rear pads as she just wanted to know they were spot on but it does highlight the differences between testing centres

Worst failure I have seen was on my cousins Magnum 2.3, old car, powerful, solid disks on the front, he did a lot of mileage and got the pads replaced but not the disks which though flat and free of rifges were getting a bit thin, the disk failed one day, the inner hub bit separated from the friction surface so when the braked were applied the brakes grabbed the friction surface and stopped it but not the car !

Shane

iTrader: (6)

Some people don't seem to bother with service intervals and regular checks. As long as the car appears to stop when they push the pedal they're happy.
Look at the disc on the first picture on this page and you'll see wht I mean:
Hall of Shame

Shark Man

I would have given that customer a slap for displaying such ignorance

I've seen pads worn through the metal backing and the piston was the only thing making contact with the disc.

Shane

iTrader: (6)

There's one of those further down from a rear caliper on a suzuki where it's actually started wearing the piston down.

ZIPPY

MOT's are only as good as the inspector.

I have seen cars fail with numerous faults only to pass somewhere else with no reported problems.

Brakes and Catalytic covertors are the biggest scams going at MOT centres.

My wife took a car in for an MOT only to be told it needed a full exhuast due to bad emmisions, £600 please madam. I told her to drive it on the motorway and then take it back for the re-test, 2 hours later it passed with flying colours.

The poor emmisions was due to the car being cold and on auto choke.

Women are easily scammed and can be easily fleeced by dodgy garages

CrisPDuk

Try this one then. I changed the pads & discs on my mate's old fella's transit because he said they were juddering a bit. Took the wheels off, removed the calipers, and the discs fell in half, the vanes between the two friction surfaces had rusted away completely I asked my mate's dad how long it had been juddering and he said 'only a month or so'.