Advice needed....Getting different advice with regards my OH cars brakes

gilbert_and_sullivan

I love these threads.

I'll just peer though this gap in the wheel shall i or stick me head underneath for an off angle view of part of the edge of pad that's visible, or shall i peel back the little rubber bung from the inside of a drum brake and pronounce all well from my view of 10mm x 2mm of shoe from a side view with a torch.

You inspect brakes by removing wheels, then removing pads or brake drums and examining pads/shoes properly, you do not know what condition the friction surface is in unless you can see it, you cannot tell if cylinders are seizing or leaking or if caliper sliders are seized unless you do this.

Only Superman with his X ray eyes can pronounce a braking system as good in situ.

Get a mechanic not a fast fit fitter on the job.

MOT tester can tell if discs or pads are excessively worn, that is all he can tell you.

Lum

Did they put the car up on a lift or in some other way look underneath it?

You can see the outside brake pad by looking through the gaps in the wheels, on most alloys, and the inside brake pad you can look from underneath. No need to take the wheel off.

As others have said you can safely ignore CrapFit. I'm surprised they didn't also try to sell you 4 new tyres, an oil change and to top up your headlight fluid.

Hammyman

hilda1 wrote: »

Thanks but he was constantly watching the engineer and is adamant that they didn't remove the tyre when performing the brake check.

If you mean in the MOT, there is no dismantling done. If it is possible to do a visual inspection of the pads they will but if it isn't, they won't. They are not allowed to remove parts in an MOT.

rodenal

Plus to fail an mot your brakes have to be really well behind the point of needing done. What is the actual issue here? Is braking performance reduced or do you hear grinding/feel vibration?

If the car stops straight, quixkly and true what are you actually worrying about? Take the wheel off and have a look at the remaining pad life as suggested &check there isn't a lip on the discs.

Lum

The MOT thing is a good point, so long as they stop the car by a certain amount they will pass rather than condition.

An old shed I bought years ago passed despite having no pad left at all, they were grinding the metal backing plate into the disc which was ruining both but actually quite effective at stopping the car.

Passed with a really good braking effectiveness score. No official advisories given but the tester did pull me aside and point this problem out.

Yet more evidence of how an MOT is not a service, or a complete safety check.

closed

3 mechanics from 2 different garages have told you they are fine (they are unlikely to decline the opportunity to sell you something if they could), and presumably the car stops. Wear depends on driving style, type of driving, and mileage - have a look at the pad and disc thickness yourself.