Used Car Nearly Killed Me! Any Advice Please..

Keith

who drives that far to buy a mondeo?

prowla

It's a good idea to get a fresh MOT when buying from a dealer.
I did that on my last car purchase and they had to replace the front disks.

gmbunn

Keith wrote: »

who drives that far to buy a mondeo?

I work away and was stationed in the midlands at the time of buying the car. It was from Stoke.

Jon_Tiffany

The danger with worn pads is not that braking reduces with wear, its about a disc breaking or cracking because its worn too thin, or if the friction material has worn away from the pads then metal to metal doesnt brake very well. If your pads were worn so low that they were on the metal you would have known.

There is one other possible cause, worn pads transfer more heat to the backing plate, its is possible that if the brake fluid was very old it may have boiled - although to be honest this is very, very unlikely for the circumstances you describe.

At this stage I think you have very little comeback with the dealer. I would just be thankful that no one was hurt, put it down to experience and get on with life safe in the knowledge that your nice new car now has a full set of new pads and discs.

gmbunn

Hammyman wrote: »

Sorry but I have an issue with the drama queen thread title. Brakes worn to the point you claim would actually stop you FASTER than normal ones.

Well clearly not according to the technicians at AMS. Yes it was the first time I had driven THIS particular car fully laden, but not the first time I have driven Mondeos fully laden (my previous car was a mondeo diesel). You're quite correct the noise (and a rumbling/grind was pretty surprising. However lets see you and yours fail to stop before a crossroads with oncoming traffic and then come back and tell me its a 'drama queen' title!

Strider590

Brake pads/disc's aren't a requirement for MOT, they simply have to work!
Any brake wear warning on the dash?

Could your brakes have overheated? had you been travelling at speed for a while or down a hill or doing any heavy braking?

When you went to the 2nd garage did you tell them what you'd been told at KF? or did you just say "there's something wrong with the brakes"?

Because oddly enough the later would have been best, because the former is like a free license to make money......

I have to be honest, I really doubt that worn pads/discs would have caused such an issue and it's more likely to be air in the brake lines which expands with heat and causes the brakes to go really spongy...

prowla wrote: »

It's a good idea to get a fresh MOT when buying from a dealer.
I did that on my last car purchase and they had to replace the front disks.

Yes but most just magic up a cert out of thin air if it means selling the car.

gmbunn

Strider590 wrote: »

Brake pads/disc's aren't a requirement for MOT, they simply have to work!
Any brake wear warning on the dash?

Could your brakes have overheated? had you been travelling at speed for a while or down a hill or doing any heavy braking?

When you went to the 2nd garage did you tell them what you'd been told at KF? or did you just say "there's something wrong with the brakes"?

Because oddly enough the later would have been best, because the former is like a free license to make money......

I have to be honest, I really doubt that worn pads/discs would have caused such an issue and it's more likely to be air in the brake lines which expands with heat and causes the brakes to go really spongy...

Yes but most just magic up a cert out of thin air if it means selling the car.

Hi Strider, I just said that I had problems the previous evening and would they look at them as I didnt want to drive on them until its looked at. One other point I forgot to mention was that they said there was rust on the discs and they dont 'skim' them anymore. I have no idea what skimming is but I assume its to remove the rust. Maybe its good they were replaced after all!

anewman

The cost of new discs versus skimming, new discs makes most sense.

As mentioned above your discs and pads could be long gone and still pass the MOT. The MOT isn't an excuse for poor maintenance.

Stigy

gmbunn wrote: »

Well clearly not according to the technicians at AMS. Yes it was the first time I had driven THIS particular car fully laden, but not the first time I have driven Mondeos fully laden (my previous car was a mondeo diesel). You're quite correct the noise (and a rumbling/grind was pretty surprising. However lets see you and yours fail to stop before a crossroads with oncoming traffic and then come back and tell me its a 'drama queen' title!

The rumbling/grinding you describe was probably the ABS cutting in due to the heavy braking. I recon as has been said, it's something to do with the brake fluid, because if it's boiled up previously, boiling point is dramatically reduced, thus causing the brakes to fade under seemingly normal braking. All garages have a device that tests the boiling point of brake fluid, and I'd like to think this was tested when the bad news was given surrounding the discs & pads.

The brakes would only have failed the MoT if they were inefficient when put on the rolling road, or if the pads were 3mm or less in thickness I believe, and this could be seen without removing any of the wheels. Although discs have set minimum thicknesses, this would be irrelevant for the MoT as they would need to be measured using a micrometre. How thick were the discs and pads, more importantly the pads? (I seem to recal reading you have them now?)

gmbunn

Stigy wrote: »

The rumbling/grinding you describe was probably the ABS cutting in due to the heavy braking. I recon as has been said, it's something to do with the brake fluid, because if it's boiled up previously, boiling point is dramatically reduced, thus causing the brakes to fade under seemingly normal braking. All garages have a device that tests the boiling point of brake fluid, and I'd like to think this was tested when the bad news was given surrounding the discs & pads.

The brakes would only have failed the MoT if they were inefficient when put on the rolling road, or if the pads were 3mm or less in thickness I believe, and this could be seen without removing any of the wheels. Although discs have set minimum thicknesses, this would be irrelevant for the MoT as they would need to be measured using a micrometre. How thick were the discs and pads, more importantly the pads? (I seem to recal reading you have them now?)

Yes I do have them now, i havent measured them though I will now. The front are worn at a slope and although I dont know much about cars, I think I can see metal just showing through on one.