£250-00 to fit new brake pads and discs ?

maleman

Mr Mechanic,
I know enough about cars to repair and service them myself. I have to go to a ‘professional’ when my home workshop facilities (the street) are lacking. That is not to say I am. A local garage/workshop declined to undertake a clutch change on a Rover 75 because they did not have the facilities, says it all. Good, and bad in all things. Are you the type of mechanic who comes into my workshop and knows nothing about guided missile technology? Yes we can service and repair, (in our own fields) and have respect for each other, but an engineer will design and build. Just look at Brunel, what a great man. Can we design and build a railway, bridge or tunnel. Are we Kwik-fit fitters (Kwik-fit advert not mine).
A note to Kwik-fit personnel, I do not underestimate your abilities but your employer is responsible for your reputation. Present employment circumstances put you in such a position for the best part. Some of you however have no shame.

property.advert

hilda1 wrote: »

Please advise why not ?

Would you put on tyres with different diameters ? No, but that is exactly what you are doing if you put a new tyre on one side of an axle and a well used one on the other.

Buy in pairs and for some vehicles, buy 4.

marlot

hilda1 wrote: »

Engineer advised me ...

OT Rant: Please ... Brunel was an Engineer, Stephenson was an Engineer. The 'technician' at a Kwik fit is not. Part of the reason this country has little manufacturing base any more is that real Engineers feel denigrated!

Ford do employ some rather good Engineers - but they mainly work in R&D!

PS. In case you hadn't guessed, I am a Chartered Engineer. If I were to give you duff advice (professionally) I can be fined and/or struck off by my professional institution. When I visit France or Germany, my professional engineering status is held in high regard (comparable to a doctor etc). Only in the UK (ironically the birthplace of the industrial revolution) do we treat our professional engineers so badly.

A recent commons investigation found that English Engineers are respected everywhere around the world ... except England.

marlot

SteveJW wrote: »

... I'm not registered with the Engineering Council, neither are any of the 40 or so technicians I work alongside.

Good though your training is, you're not a Chartered Engineer then!

marlot

mechanic wrote: »

Are you one of the people who when I was in the workshop used to come in and say I'm an engineer, but knew nothing about cars!!!

Ha, ha! A very good point! Chartered Engineers come from all areas of engineering - including civil, mechanical, electronics, software.

Although they've all demonstrated capability in their field, only a very small percentage will know much about cars!

benjus

It's quite sad for those in real engineering professions that the term "engineer" has been hijacked to cover people who come to fix your telephone/cable TV/broadband etc.

I don't think this happens in other languages - I can't imagine anyone in Spain referring to the telephone guy as an ingeniero, as this word is taken to mean a qualified graduate professional.

Quentin

property.advert wrote: »

Would you put on tyres with different diameters ? No, but that is exactly what you are doing if you put a new tyre on one side of an axle and a well used one on the other.

Buy in pairs and for some vehicles, buy 4.

You keep banging on about this.

But this is a moneysaving website.

Are you now saying that we ought to go to the expense of buying up to 4 tyres whenever we get an irrepairable puncture?

Come off it!

fivetide

Ah but there is the element of false economy. Bit like mixing part used and new batteries. The new one will wear down faster than it would if both tyres where the same age surely? So to that end, you might find yourself replacing a decent tyre faster than you'd need to.

On a FWD car, I'd be more tempted to stick a part worn one at the back and then get the two front ones replaced, this is of course assuming the other tyre is well worn. A few mm? Nothing wrong with keeping that on IMHO.

5t.

poppasmurf_bewdley

fivetide wrote: »

Ah but there is the element of false economy. Bit like mixing part used and new batteries. The new one will wear down faster than it would if both tyres where the same age surely? So to that end, you might find yourself replacing a decent tyre faster than you'd need to
5t.

Why on earth would a new tyre wear quicker if the one on the opposite side was worn more? I have never heard such rubbish in my life.

The wheels are completely separate and cannot have any effect on each other. Only if they were connected by a fixed axle would what you say have any truth.

To repeat, there is no problem whatsoever with only replacing one tyre.

fivetide

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Why on earth would a new tyre wear quicker if the one on the opposite side was worn more? I have never heard such rubbish in my life.

The wheels are completely separate and cannot have any effect on each other. Only if they were connected by a fixed axle would what you say have any truth.

To repeat, there is no problem whatsoever with only replacing one tyre.

Well aren't you a helpful and non-condescending person?

See that question mark?

That is in my original post. I didn't make a statement, I posed a question. Congratulations on looking like a true keyboard warrior.

I still would say, do not put a new tyre on the same axle as a well worn one even if it is legal. When you brake the tyres are not independent are they? One side will potentially have more grip than the other, this could be bad on bends in poor weather or screw up your ABS if one wheel is losing traction quicker than the other.

Please note the 'well worn' element of that (as existed in my previous post). and the fact I said you can do one (in fact kick off like that again and you can 'do one' smurfy) if the other tyre is fairly new.

5t.