When do you know when to replace your brake discs ?

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,483
Location
West Yorks
With previous cars, the discs have been cheap enough not to worry about if they need doing or not, but on the vectra a set of disks is £300 plus £90 for the pads.

the pads need doing, and im just wondering if the discs need doing as well ? the garage didnt mention anything about it, and quoted me just for pads, so i assume they dont need doing

but you can never trust dealers so thought id ask on her for a 2nd oppininion.

Car has done 35k miles and would appear to be on original discs / pads
 
You need to measure how much lip is on the outside edge of the disc, if the disc is thinner than min spec then you need to change them.
 
At least 75% of the contact area should be nice and clean. If its not, or if they are pitted excessively, or indeed if they are getting pretty thin, then change em. Also if there is a lot of scoring on the discs, this would also be a good reason to get em changed. If they are visibly ok, and you still feel like you have a good middle pedel under you, then they should be fine. You should get 2 sets of pads to 1 set of discs if the calipers are in good nick, unless your a real heavy braker. Of course a Vectra is a big heavy lump of a thing, gotta be a couple hundred k's heavier than say a 3 series beemer.
 
[TW]Fox;14680823 said:
When the man at BMW says 'Sir, we think you need new discs'
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Fox out of interest, do you always go to BMW dealer to get your work done? I always worried about buying a BMW after hearing of some of your bills, but once i looked into it, i'm fairly confident I could get genuine BMW parts sourced at trade price and fit em myself after i'm done testing.
E.g. Oil filter from bmw for a 330i e46 is £11 quid odd at trade, so some engine flush about £6 quid (forte) and some good oil £40-50 so under £70. What would the main dealer charge for a basic oil change?
 
realscot said:
What would the main dealer charge for a basic oil change?
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from what ive read from fox before, this varies a lot as some dealers try and rip you off more than others

Think fox keeps the cost of the oil service down by supplying his own oil, which then with their labour only worked at like £150 or something. No doubt he'll be along to clarify however :)
 
I had the front discs and pads replaced yesterday. The pads were on their last legs and the discs too were showing signs of cracking, so I had both pads and discs done by MRC Tuning who are well respected in Audi circles (I read) and £300 less than a dealer too!
 
i had a play with an MRC tuning Bi Turbo S4. Stock mine is faster.

I decided to have a play to see if he put the MRC tuning sticker in the window for fun .. turns out he hadnt lol.

on the subject of my discs, no sign of cracking, pitting etc. and presumably VX measured the thickness when they warned me the pads had 30% left on them so i think its safe to say they're fine.
 
Well I know how fast that car is after VMax, I was standing on the finish line when it crossed at 198mph when running 600bhp. It was on the ramp yesterday with engine out having it's latest updates and it is now over 800bhp!
 
I think garages in general are a total rip off. Today for example, it was quiet today, only had 5 mot's booked in for me to do, so I took it upon myself to put 2 new rear indicator bulbs in a mercedes A class (the orange paint had come off)
I did it while I was testing it, so it was no real inconvenience, stuck a stickit note on the pass ticket saying to add a quid for the 2 blubs, and put it in the shop for the customer to pay on collection. The boss saw this and made me write out a job card and charge them £15 labour for "mot repairs" no mention of blubs etc.
I challenged this saying it took me literally 2 minutes while i was testing the car, and he just said "i'm trying to run a business... blah blah"
So i'd imagine they are all at it, main dealers are probably just as bad.

On an even more side note, saw a van in inverness at the weekend and the local guy with me said "that's the indian plumber bloke, check out the slogan on his van"

* You've had the cowboys round, now try the indians"

Brilliant.
 
Housey said:
Well I know how fast that car is after VMax, I was standing on the finish line when it crossed at 198mph when running 600bhp. It was on the ramp yesterday with engine out having it's latest updates and it is now over 800bhp!
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the blue one from wakefield ?

plate is S4 <somethingorother>
 
MrLOL said:
when they warned me the pads had 30% left on them so i think its safe to say they're fine.
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You only need 1.5mm left on your pads to be "road legal" or to pass an mot.. they told us when I did the course, if you can fit a 5p coin between the pad backing and the disc it's legal.
 
what i mean to say is, if there was an oppertunity there to recommend i buy new discs as well, surely the dealer would have taken it ? especially since they were clutching at straws telling me the pads had 30 % left on them (yet it took them 35k miles to get to 60 % lol)
 
Before
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After
IMG_0332.jpg


£1000 please.
 
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