Honda servicing trying to rip me off - brake discs question

nh101

I had my Honda Accord CTDi in for service last week and was told it needed new brake pads and discs front and back - £430. It is three years old and has done 30k miles.

The front pads were worn 70% and back 80%. I thought that was a bit steep so rang a local garage who said they could do the work for £300.

So I took the car to the local garage yesterday and the mechanic said the discs at the back are damaged but it is due to corrosion rather than wear and tear, and he said it should be covered on the warranty. He said it was a fault prob due to faulty caliper (sp?). He said the front discs don't need replacing at all and that there is 2-3k miles left in the front pads.

I rang Honda to ask whether the corrosion should be covered on the warranty and they said no way, no brakes covered on warranty.

But I argued that corrosion shouldn't happen after three years and that is a fault.

Honda are taking another look at the car tomorrow. They keep saying that all cars have this problem with brake discs and that pads and discs wear at the same rate (I asked why the discs need replacing if the pads are not fully worn - surely the pads protect the discs?). They also say all cars suffer corrosion on discs, but I have never had this problem before, and everyone I speak to about this has never heard of this either.

Are Honda trying to have me on here? And even if it should be covered on warranty how can I convince them of that if they keep refusing?

iB1

Just a couple of points/queries

I'm assuming that your bought your car new, and do roughly 10K miles per year?

If the mechanic from the local garage thinks that the front pads have 2K - 3K miles left on them, then surely they need to be changed now, as they would be completely shot by the next service interval?

Back in the days, brake discs used to be made out of asbestos, which was a very hard wearing material, so brake discs would last for eons compared to the pads. However, obviously asbestos is a no-no nowadays, so brake discs are made of material that wears more rapidly, so it's quite possible that your pads and discs may need changed simultaneously.

I'm honestly not sure about the warranty. I'm sure that I've heard of other people having corroded discs changed under warranty, but maybe Honda have a different philosophy? It might be worth posing the question on a Honda owner's forum to get some feedback from other Honda drivers

AdrianHi

Surface rust on brake disks on most cars is normal.
Disks do wear faster these days as said above but my last car, sold at 122K miles was still on the original disks and they had been skimmed 3 times in their life.
Seems odd that you would need disks replacing after only 30K miles, pads I can understand.

hewhoisnotintheknow

when i had my 106 gti i did 64k on motorways in one year, the vented discs were originals and the car had 130k on the clock, they were rotting from the inside out as they were so old and had not been replaced (due to the motorway miles and reading the road properly and very rarely braking)

A lot of it depends on your driving style my mum has a car with 40k she has owned from new (y reg) and has been through several sets as she is an idiot when it comes to braking and reading the road ahead

Hintza

Certainly not warranty work. Brakes have changed with the banning of asbestos.

Lower mileage cars will suffer from corrosion more than well used cars. The only way to stop it is to use your back brakes more and that will require you to use the hard (very hard). Most of the work is done ny the front brakes.

So to stop it happening drive more and brake harder.

My old Mercedes I replaced back discs and they were pretty bad again with 12 months just one of those things.

HonestJohn had a letter in the Telegraph about it last Saturday. For some reason I can't find the link just now.

Hintza

Grate escape


My wife has a Toyota Corolla Verso, purchased new in December 2005 and so far it has done only 11,600 miles. The rear brakes started grating and our Toyota dealer reported that excessive wear of the pads has damaged the discs. My wife is a very steady, safe driver and never brakes excessively outside of an emergency. The car was last serviced in December 2007 at 8,300 miles and no warning was given on pads at that time, yet 3,300 miles later they are shot? How should I tackle the dealer about this?
P.L., via email


I’m afraid that’s normal, since the discs corrode whenever the car is left standing, especially in winter. Heavy braking (and it takes very heavy braking to employ the back brakes) cleans off the surface corrosion. Light use and light braking don’t. If the corrosion is not cleaned off by braking it eats into the discs, while rust particles catch in the pads and create grooves in the discs.

hewhoisnotintheknow

load up your boot with bricks to adjust the brake bias valve on the rear

goldspanners

its your car,do what you like with it,if you only want to change the pads then just change the pads.
personally i will change pads and discs together nowadays as others have said brake pads are now made of harder material as asbestos isnt used in manufacturing them and they wear harder on the discs (which might be made of a softer metal these days?)
get them done at your independant dont use the dealer.
the price wont differ too much if you change the discs as they dont cost too much to buy.

jeannieblue

goldspanners wrote: »

its your car,do what you like with it,if you only want to change the pads then just change the pads.
personally i will change pads and discs together nowadays as others have said brake pads are now made of harder material as asbestos isnt used in manufacturing them and they wear harder on the discs (which might be made of a softer metal these days?)
get them done at your independant dont use the dealer.
the price wont differ too much if you change the discs as they dont cost too much to buy.

Just do the pads for now?? Stop making him spend too much money Goldspangles - just because you have money to throw around, doesn't mean others can too....

They only said 2-3k on the pads - no mention of the discs..

I thought it was the pads that used to have the asbestos in, not the discs...??

harveybobbles

I've just done my brother in law's Accord front and rear pads for erm, 31 quid. Plus a beer token for fitting them.

so in answer to your question, yes you're being ripped off... Tho most dealers do. Unless it's a VW dealer of course.. (awaits The TitMans response...)

jeannieblue

harveybobbles wrote: »

I've just done my brother in law's Accord front and rear pads for erm, 31 quid. Plus a beer token for fitting them.

so in answer to your question, yes you're being ripped off... Tho most dealers do. Unless it's a VW dealer of course.. (awaits The TitMans response...)

I'm probably being a bit dense (:o ) harveybobbles - but I haven't worked out who TitMan is yet. I've not been on here that much lately. Give us a clue..

Although I know that Goldspangles is a bit partial to jugs..