Your car needs discs and pads sir...

A couple of years ago I took the wife's Civic to the garage for a service. I toild them the rear discs and pads need changing (they were heavily corroded), they didn't do them!

I used my Mk1 eyeball - it's a normal hunter on a 4 post ramp.

Maybe they take after their fellows in "Formula 1" in terms of speed

I usually take these sort of calls as useful info to ponder on. But I don’t feel compelled to get the work done at the time.

I must say that the two different marque main dealers I use have been fairly well behaved. Perhaps because they seem incredibly busy and literally just seem to want to get the car serviced and out.

I've had the opposite.

Health check video. Pads and Discs are at 50%.

2 Weeks later and less than 500 miles. Car back at dealers as the pads were down to the metal at the rear and about 1mm on the front. Amazing how having a fully maintained company lease car makes additional work vanish.

I've got a drive over gauge but I haven't got a smooth level surface big enough...

I had exactly the same with my Jaguar. They eagerly told me how the diff seal was leaking and how it would need to be replaced urgently at a cost of £750.

I said, "Great, when can we get it booked in?" Once I had pointed out that the car was still under warranty (extended) they immediately tried to back track and say that it wasn't urgent and I wouldn't need it doing until it became an issue. I pretended to be too concerned not to get it done immediately given the scare story they had fed me and made them find me a slot that week and give me a courtesy car (a brand new Range Rover with 700 miles on the clock).

Worst of all, the clown at the service desk showed me the job sheet when the work was done. The seal was about £5 and labour was quoted at 1.5 hours. I asked how that would add up to £750 and he couldn't tell me (after making him sweat a bit, I dropped it and left).

Brakes are one thing you can really save money on, mainly by checking them yourself and avoiding garages hitting you with this one.

My wifes car needed front brakes, was picked up on the MOT, I had said I knew they were due when I dropped it in and had the parts ready to go on, but still got a phone call saying did we want them doing, for £270.

No thanks, I have disks and pads ready to go, cost me £50 and about forty minutes of my time to fit them, so I saved £220 in that 40 mins, an hourly rate of £330.

People make excuses like they haven't got the time, usually quicker to do it myself than take it in and pick it up. I think some see it as a bit beneath them but unless you are absolutely minted with no debts at all it really isnt, its a good way to save a few quid rather than sticking it on a credit card. Takes some earning for most folk £220, especially when its from your taxed income, and then from your spare cash after bills, food, fuel etc. Can understand if you have a disability or nowhere to do it but a bit with a bit of planning it should be doable for most with half a brain.

That's my view too: If a job takes less than 2 hours, then I've probably already saved the time of taking it in, getting my wife to follow me there and drive us home again and repeat, especially if it's the main dealer 30 minutes away at least, let alone faffage doing the handover and collection.

On the shed thread last year people were telling me to take my car 'to an indie' to get the cambelt done for £350-400 but I did it myself for about £60 and an afternoon's work. It was very overdue, so I'm glad I did it, but paying nearly 1/4 the price of the car for one preventative job that didn't directly affect how it drove would have been hard to do if I wasn't able to DIY.

However, I can understand people not feeling confident about doing a safety critical part like brakes themselves. I often find in conversation that friends can't/won't do some jobs on their cars/house because they just aren't mechanically minded and it's not a question of them looking down on me because I can...in fact quite the reverse usually.

What gets on my titend I'd that discs are now a serviceable part, but they never used to be, it was just the pads.

I believe its because a number of years ago, asbestos was banned from pads, so the pads don't wear down the same, but instead they wear out the discs much quicker now. And of course, discs are very expensive compared to pads.

Had the opposite with my last car. I used it on track and had another trackday booked when it went in for it's first year service. I asked them can you give the brakes a good check let me know how much they have left. Perfect opportunity for them to sting me. Got the car back and they said brakes were all fine, pads still had about 60% left in them.
Went on my next trackday and about mid afternoon nearly went into the wall having nearly lost the brakes. Came off and checked them and found I had abut 1mm left.

And on the flip side had a long to do with the local Audi main dealer with my A4. Went in for a pre agreed service, They didnt do half the stuff agreed but tried to sell me about £700 of additional work that definitely didnt need doing, and made a bit of a mess of the car. Had a bit of a barney, escalated to Audi UK who were very helpful, ended up getting everything I was supposed to in the service, some complimentary stuff and a voucher for parts or servicing which I used for free parts. Service was supposed to be about £250 and ended up with about £350 of extra free stuff.