MOT and brakes

glasgowgirly

Hi

I took my car in for it's first MOT last Monday. At the time of booking I explained that my brakes were making a 'squeaking' sound and could they investigate the noise. My car passed the MOT and the mechanic said that the brakes were dirty hence the 'squeaking' noise. He said he got rid of the dirt and the 'squeaking' noise has now gone.

I'm driving home from work on Saturday evening when my brakes make this constant grinding noise and the car takes a while too brake. I'm guessing it's the brake pads and/or discs?? I'm taking it back to the garage who carried out the MOT but what I'm wondering is should the problem with my brakes have been picked up during the MOT and the MOT passed if my brakes are faulty??

Also, do you know roughly how much brake pads/discs cost to replace?

Strider590

First MOT?
Was it a new car?
From a dealership?
Did the dealership do the MOT?

glasgowgirly

Thanks for your reply Yes this was the first MOT. I bought the car from Motorpoint when it was 1 year old. The MOT was carried out at my local independent garage.

Strider590

It's possible that the dirt scored the discs and once removed it left behind a burr, which is now digging at the pad material.

On the MOT, the tester should not carry out any work on the car, in the case of brakes, he merely tests that they work..... But they don't know that you know this

Id be inclined to head back over and play it shrewdly, by explaining that they passed it for it's MOT and since then the brakes have been squealing (say from the moment you got in the car to drive home). They probably won't try to sell you new brakes unless it needs them, because they know that they could end up in hot water if you complained about them for passing a car with faulty brakes (even though they're not actually faulty for MOT purposes).

I know it sounds complicated, but do you see what im getting at?

alastairq

it is entirely possible the mechanic 'eased' the pads back to squirt an airline in.[dodgy practice, mind yer eyes]....and the piston haven't' reset properly.....or he's even removed the pads to clean?

Take the car out onto a [very] quiet stretch of road, build up a bit of speed [nothing dramatic please] and brake quite hard, several times....you are trying to 'bed' things in again....

see if the grinding noise disappears?

Lum

Does the car still stop reasonably quickly, and in a straight line, when you press the brake pedal.

That's pretty much all that's needed to pass an MOT. It doesn't matter if the pads have worn down to the metal, so long as they still stop the car properly.

glasgowgirly

Thanks for all the replies.

Just back from dropping my car off. I explained my brakes were now making 'grinding' noises rather than the squeaking noises they were making at the time of the MOT. He said the car was sent to an independent VOSA MOT centre and the brakes were 'fine' and he wouldn't be allowed to fail the brakes if they measured 1.6 (think mm) and that he thought the noise was due to dirt and he himself "blew the dirt away". This does make sense as the car doesn't make the squeaking noise, although that could be because the grinding noise is so loud lol.

When the car brakes it takes a couple of seconds to completely stop which I know isn't right (the car stops in a straight line) and it makes this awful metal on mental grinding sound.

I've been quoted £40/45 if only the pads need replacing or £120 is the discs need replacing. He did say though that I could get the pads changed and then two weeks later they could go again??

Strider590

glasgowgirly wrote: »

He did say though that I could get the pads changed and then two weeks later they could go again??

I think in all fairness you may have misheard, pads won't go in 2 weeks and I don't think he'd be stupid enough to say that.

What he probably meant was that if you do the pads without the discs, the old discs could score the new pads and cause the same sort of noise.

glasgowgirly

Strider590 wrote: »

I think in all fairness you may have misheard, pads won't go in 2 weeks and I don't think he'd be stupid enough to say that.

What he probably meant was that if you do the pads without the discs, the old discs could score the new pads and cause the same sort of noise.

Yeah you're right that is probably what he meant.

I'm probably best getting the discs and pads replaced together.

grizzly1911

Depends on mileage and driving style, amongst other things.

Front pads shouyld last around 30K average and the discs should normally need doing at the second change providing they haven't been damaged, (driving on the pad rivets for instance).

Hintza

The Panda passed its MOT in January. I have just replaced the front pads/discs for the first time after 48k miles on an 04 plate.

I did get full value out the pads as they were metal on metal for the last week until the parts arrive and I got a chance to do them.

OP if in doubt gret the discs done too or as Strider says you will just start eating pads.