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).

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!

Thanks.

Jo

I would say there was lots of wear left on those pads. I can't quite
see, but lots of pads these days have thin metal projecting fingers
that rub on the disk when the pads are worn right down. They make a
screeching noise when they contact the disk. It just an audible
warning.