Front discs and pads

[tim75]

I had my 3 year service done this week. The mechanic said that the car needed new front pads and that he could not machine the discs as the pads had cut too much of a step into them. He said that I was lucky that they had lasted 51,000 kms,(app 32,000 miles) as most wore out by 40,000 kms. (25,000 miles). Is this about right or is this just a way of getting extra work. I have not used him before and need to know whether what he said is reasonable.

[Rincewind]

My ZT-T has done 40,000 miles and I've still got plenty of "disc life" left in them and I'm still on the original pads front and rear from what I can work out, and I do a lot of high speed motorway driving and plenty of country road braking operations.

I would say that he's trying to drag some extra cash out of you. Having said that, what kind of braking do you do. Is it high speed primarily or is it round town braking? If it's primarily high speed braking then there may be a chance of high wear but I doubt it.

Post some pictures up on here showing your pads and discs paying attention to the edge of the disc so we can see what sort of a lip you have.

Nic

[sylvester]

I had my 3 year service done this week. The mechanic said that the car needed new front pads and that he could not machine the discs as the pads had cut too much of a step into them. He said that I was lucky that they had lasted 51,000 kms,(app 32,000 miles) as most wore out by 40,000 kms. (25,000 miles). Is this about right or is this just a way of getting extra work. I have not used him before and need to know whether what he said is reasonable.

My 75 Tourer has done 42000 miles and I was advised at the first MOT (car is 3 years old) that my front pads would soon need replacing 3-5000 miles left! I don't drive the car hard though.
The pads cost about £65 + vat from main dealers but can be obtained for as little as £25 on the net - genuine article in MG-Rover box, (E-Carparts Sandy Beds.)
There should be a spec somewhere to say how much wear is permissible for the discs. If there is still enough metal left then you can put new pads on part worn discs as they will soon bed in.
Eddie B

[Rincewind]

The minimum disc thickness can be found on the disc itself etched into the surface somewhere.

[brickwalls]

I had my 3 year service done this week. The mechanic said that the car needed new front pads and that he could not machine the discs as the pads had cut too much of a step into them. He said that I was lucky that they had lasted 51,000 kms,(app 32,000 miles) as most wore out by 40,000 kms. (25,000 miles). Is this about right or is this just a way of getting extra work. I have not used him before and need to know whether what he said is reasonable.

Tim, I take it you are from Melbourne, Victoria not Derbyshire [since you quoted Kms].
In that case go HighTec brakes & ask for Cam he does a top price on EBC Greenstuff pads [I got them for low dust, but they are a great improvement on the OMEs in performance.] He does RDA vented rotors [Disks] which are matched to the pads. 03-9553-1160 They will be significantly cheaper than the OEMs.

[Keith]

Well the first thing to do is check yourself

Take the wheel off, borrow a Micrometer or a Vernier caliper and measure the disk thickness, if it is less than the minimum thickness embossed on the disk then it needs replacing.

[crofts]

Tim, I take it you are from Melbourne, Victoria not Derbyshire [since you quoted Kms].
In that case go HighTec brakes & ask for Cam he does a top price on EBC Greenstuff pads [I got them for low dust, but they are a great improvement on the OMEs in performance.] He does RDA vented rotors [Disks] which are matched to the pads. 03-9553-1160 They will be significantly cheaper than the OEMs.

I'll go along with you there. When i first fitted the Greenstuff pads I didn't see much difference in the amount of dust. Now they are bedded in there is much less dust and the braking performance is superb. Will have to see if they wear quicker than O/E pads.
In answer to the above query most folks get 2 pad changes to a disc. While 25 -- 30,000 miles is not bad 1 member got to 81,000 on a set of pads !
I changed to Greenstuff at 18,000 miles though the O/E pads were less than 1/2 worn. I just got sick of the amount of dust ! :(

[driverjgp]

You get through pads quicker if your car is an auto.

[stef_uk]

i remember a mgr dealer saying i needed discs and pads when i took the car for service a couple of years ago...according to them they were at a dangerous level and potencially fatal....i said i couldn't afford to have them done that week and would book in the following week to get sorted...they wern't happy but booked me in the following week, in the mean time i took the car to a friend who owns his own garage so he could tell me how bad they really were......guess what...65% of the pads left and the smallest of rims on the disc itself...the pads lasted another 18 months and the discs are still going 2yrs later...so the moral of the story is unless you trust your chosen garage implicitly always be warey of extras that you need.

[MartinW]

You get through pads quicker if your car is an auto.


Exactly, considering a high percentage of Australian buyers choose an auto over manual.

I have used Greenstuff on my old MG and found they need to be worked hard to get the performance up otherwise they seem worse than standard when cold. I have always been told to watch out for upgrading to performance pads because often they only work when properly warmed up.

I'm interested in the experience others have had as I always understood that the Greenstuff minimized the dust, but this hasn't been the case on my BGT.

I was thinking of trying the Galfer brand as sold by Leda.

Has anyone else also found the rear discs deteriorate at double the rate of the fronts - as my MOT inspector said this year about mine, seems about right for BMW brakes!

[stef_uk]

sounds strange as the rear brakes work on a different ratio to the fronts so shouldnt wear as fast also the handbrake is on seperatly....my 75 runs 2-1 front/rear....the mg may be different....but does sound alot