Advice on works

CliveOfIndia

Baldytyke88 said:

That disc still looks ok to me

Are you being serious?  That disc is scored to buggery and needs replacing.

Baldytyke88

CliveOfIndia said:

Baldytyke88 said:

That disc still looks ok to me

Are you being serious?  That disc is scored to buggery and needs replacing.

Do you agree that the noise from a brake pad down to the metal would have been heard?

CliveOfIndia

Do you agree that the noise from a brake pad down to the metal would have been heard?

Well, I would have heard it, without a doubt.  But I've known enough people who have not got the first clue about cars to know that some people ... well, have no clue.  The kind of people that rely on the annual MOT to check that their cars are roadworthy.

But that's largely irrelevant - I was simply disputing your comment that the brake disc is fine.  It's not.

Mildly_Miffed

After 9k miles, that disc should be mirror-smooth and flat. It's clearly not.

After 9k miles, those rear pads should be barely touched. Yet one must be down to the metal to have grooved the disc that badly.

We know the caliper's knackered - hence it being replaced. That would indeed cause the pad to wear so rapidly that it would have got down to bare metal and score the disc so badly in just 9k miles...

Baldytyke88

Mildly_Miffed said:

After 9k miles, that disc should be mirror-smooth and flat. It's clearly not.

Brake pads are flat with the braking material on top. If it was down to the metal, there would be no rust on the outer edge.

facade

Without getting into an argument, it looked perfectly serviceable to me in that photo, no significant lip not discoloured or rusty. (You should come and look at the tramlines in the discs on my cars, one only has 4000 miles on them too...)

Plus, it only failed on parking brake, not service brake efficiency (or worn discs), so I doubt if the calliper slides & piston were seized or it would have failed on service brake.

Most likely something to do with the parking brake mechanism, nowadays probably one of those stupid electric servos rather than a simple cable that rusts up and you just swap out for a few pounds (or a few hundred if you buy it from the dealer).

If it had been mine, I'd have sorted the handbrake mechanism, and put it back in for MOT with the existing discs & pads, all bedded in and working nicely, as evidenced by passing the service brake test.

No doubt it was easier for the garage to swap out the whole calliper rather than try and sort out the handbrake mechanism, it takes time and effort  to fiddle which costs £££, and no guarantee it won't seize up again in a few weeks even if they can free it, so actually more cost effective for the customer to swap it out for new- likely costs the same overall and they get new parts which seem better value.

They wouldn't put the old pads back, and new pads won't grip that disc surface properly for quite a few miles until they bed in, so a new disc & pads it is (not their money they are spending) as they need it to pass MOT immediately.

To make absolutely sure it passes, they don't want to risk an imbalance from the nicely bedded in pads on the other side, so they fit new ones, and why not a new disc to match and guarantee that both are exactly the same in terms of friction? (it isn't their money they are spending)

Have the garage conned the OP? No. They got it an MOT as requested by sorting the brakes, and it now has completely new brakes that will last a considerable time.

One of the perils of paying someone to do a job, rather than doing it yourself, they won't risk it bouncing back because they've saved the customer some money by just fixing the actual problem but the brakes will take 500 miles to bed in.

If it is a stupid electric handbrake, you need some way to get it to wind off to change the pads, sometimes done with a service mode from your trusty ODB tool, sometimes done with spanners, hex keys, screwdrivers and battery disconnection if you don't have the tool.

Mildly_Miffed

facade said:

Plus, it only failed on parking brake, not service brake efficiency (or worn discs), so I doubt if the calliper slides & piston were seized or it would have failed on service brake.

And yet those don't look like drum-in-hat discs, so I'm presuming the normal caliper is used for the handbrake.

But since the OP hasn't told us what car it is...

Banana1983782

Thank you for the continued comments. 

To be unequivocally clear, there was no unusual noise when driving the car. I’ve had it for 13 years and I would have observed any change in noise, or braking behaviour for that matter.

What’s done is done and at least I have fully operational brakes, which should keep me going for a couple of years to come.

Thanks for everyone’s input.