Brake pipe corroded and Front Suspension arm brush worn cost

vikashkumar23

Hi,

I gave my chevrolet spark 2012, 33k run for MOT,

I got below advisories

Nearside Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material front to rear (1.1.11 (c))
Offside Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material front to rear (1.1.11 (c))
Offside Front Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement (5.3.4 (a) (i))

Our mechanic gave a quote of £80 (labour + parts) for the brake pipe corrosion and £80 (parts alone) for the front suspension.

Are these prices true ? Will it cost so much ?

AdrianC

Pair of brake pipes for £80 doesn't seem too bad. He'll make the new pipes up from a roll of pipe and a couple of unions, so it's just labour to fit, then a few quid's worth of new fluid (when was it last changed?) and bleed through.

Quick look at a random parts site suggests £40-50 for the arm, so £80 isn't the cheapest, but isn't ridiculous. Then maybe an hour's labour for that and then do the tracking.

[Deleted User]

Sounds very reasonable.
Main dealership will charge you that just to read fault codes!

EssexExile

My old Astravan got advisories for corroded brake pipes for most of the 20 years I had it.

lesalanos

Are the pipes corroded? Covered in grease ? Covered in other material?

EdGasketTheSecond

I'd wait until it fails. Usually those brake pipe advisories mean a bit of surface rust or even just that the pipe has been protected with underseal or paint so the condition cannot be determined. The suspension arm  can wait.

RobM99

I'd say it sounds reasonable.

Scrapit

vikashkumar23 said:

Hi,

I gave my chevrolet spark 2012, 33k run for MOT,

I got below advisories

Nearside Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material front to rear (1.1.11 (c))
Offside Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material front to rear (1.1.11 (c))
Offside Front Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement (5.3.4 (a) (i))

Our mechanic gave a quote of £80 (labour + parts) for the brake pipe corrosion and £80 (parts alone) for the front suspension.

Are these prices true ? Will it cost so much ?

Why would you need to "repair" the brake lines? The mot tester is just advising they are covered in something. It could be rust, road dirt or an anti rust treatment like waxoyl. If it aint broke dont fix it be MSE. Have a look your self and see what is covering them. You might choose to remove it with a wire brush or similar or even leave it until next year when you may get the same advice.

molerat

One of my cars had corroded brake pipe advisories in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 eventually failing in 2016 after I had sold it.

AdrianC

Meanwhile, a friend had a brake pipe burst on the MOT ramp... having never had an advisory on it before.

The MOT fail criteria is for a pipe to be corroded to two-thirds of its original wall thickness, having lost about 0.25mm. That's obviously impossible to measure in-situ with any degree of accuracy.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/1-brakes#section-1-1-11
So most testers will flag up anything that raises their eyebrows as grotty, reserving a fail for pipes that they really don't like the look of one bit.

I think we can assume the mechanic that's quoted has seen the pipes in question.

Lomast

Ever since I painted my steel brake pipes  I have had that advisory