On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:26:18 -0700 (PDT), Jo
wrote:
Ste wrote:
On 15 July, 13:15, Jo wrote:
Hello,
My car was taken to a garage for an unrelated problem. The garage said
my brakes were worn and needed replacing. They charged me £30 for the
parts and £55 for labour (excluding VAT).
It wasn't a tyre outfit was it? They are notorious for crooks trying
to do unnecessary work. But yes, the price in principle seems to be
within the reasonable range, although you may be able to get it
cheaper.
The guy seemed shifty - he said if I paid with cash I wouldn't need to
pay VAT!
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8355/brakediscs.jpg
Are these brakes worn and were his charges reasonable? I estimate the
thickness of the abrasive portion of the parts to be 5mm thick.
Sorry for my ignorance on the subject, I'm a medical student!
They are worn, but not necessarily to the point of requiring
replacement. I assume these are the front pads. Starting thicknesses
vary, but are typically around 10mm or so, and under average yearly
mileage and typical driving styles pads can be expected to last a few
years from new. The legal minimum for pads if I recall correctly is
1.5mm, and realistically anything approaching 2mm requires imminent
replacement. If the pads are down to 4mm or less at the time of a
routine service, you'd expect a garage to discuss with the customer
the potential need for replacement before the next yearly service.
It's difficult to accurately gauge the thickness because of the
perspective and low resoluton of the picture. I'd say replacement may
have been premature. It would help if you could take another picture
of just the top-right pad, because that one looks the thinnest, and
from the opposite edge to the one now showing (i.e. from the same edge
as the bottom-right pad), and perhaps put the pound coin against the
pad material (so that the coin is sitting on one of the protrusions
from the side of the backing plate).
Thanks, here's another picture of them:
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/5119/brakepads2.jpg
I would have changed them
He just saved your life and probably someone else's
Arrrgh! I am sooo angry. Cheating students must call for the lowest
sort of scum.
Driving a car with dodgy brakes is worse