Brake pads - ceramic brakes

[Simpo Two]

At the start of March I bought a s/h Aston Vanquish from an independent dealer. As usual when buying such things the questions you'd normally ask get overlooked in the excitement. The car looked very nice, no obvious faults and I paid the asking price. They chipped off £500 off what they'd offered on my my p/ex. Anyway, after bringing the new car home I was then off the road for a month on medical grounds and so have only recently been getting familiarised with it.

The car is in generally excellent condition, but I only noticed yesterday that the rear pads are down to 5mm. If I'd remembered to check them before purchase I'd have mentioned it to get some bargaining power. As pads for ceramic brakes cost £££ to replace, do I have any grounds to ask for a contribution or is it simply 'caveat emptor'?

[Gary29]

I think you're on your own with this one.

[Dimebars]

Simpo Two said:

At the start of March I bought a s/h Aston Vanquish from an independent dealer. As usual when buying such things the questions you'd normally ask get overlooked in the excitement. The car looked very nice, no obvious faults and I paid the asking price. They chipped off £500 off what they'd offered on my my p/ex. Anyway, after bringing the new car home I was then off the road for a month on medical grounds and so have only recently been getting familiarised with it.

The car is in generally excellent condition, but I only noticed yesterday that the rear pads are down to 5mm. If I'd remembered to check them before purchase I'd have mentioned it to get some bargaining power. As pads for ceramic brakes cost £££ to replace, do I have any grounds to ask for a contribution or is it simply 'caveat emptor'?

Approved used would have had some minimum standards attached, but with an independent dealer these won't apply.

Maybe worth an email to them asking what their prep standards usually are and point out that the pads are low. Wouldn't expect a favourable reply, and anything you get will be a bonus

[66HFM]

Dimebars said:

Simpo Two said:

At the start of March I bought a s/h Aston Vanquish from an independent dealer. As usual when buying such things the questions you'd normally ask get overlooked in the excitement. The car looked very nice, no obvious faults and I paid the asking price. They chipped off £500 off what they'd offered on my my p/ex. Anyway, after bringing the new car home I was then off the road for a month on medical grounds and so have only recently been getting familiarised with it.

The car is in generally excellent condition, but I only noticed yesterday that the rear pads are down to 5mm. If I'd remembered to check them before purchase I'd have mentioned it to get some bargaining power. As pads for ceramic brakes cost £££ to replace, do I have any grounds to ask for a contribution or is it simply 'caveat emptor'?

Approved used would have had some minimum standards attached, but with an independent dealer these won't apply.

Maybe worth an email to them asking what their prep standards usually are and point out that the pads are low. Wouldn't expect a favourable reply, and anything you get will be a bonus

They may offer to fit them at the cost of the discounted parts only, if you ask nicely....

[Simpo Two]

Thanks for confirming my thoughts. I'm not sure they have the facilities to change pads, they're mostly a sales operation. Unusually they don't supply a conventional third party warranty; they say that after bad experiences with warranty companies not paying out they 'self warranty' instead. They do this using trade contacts to get things done at a reasonable cost to themselves - so there may be a network I can tap into. But as you say, I'll expect the answer to be 'no' and anything better is a bonus. Thanks!

[akadk]

5mm is 50% worn

They should be good for another 20k unless you plan to take it on track ?

[Simpo Two]

akadk said:

5mm is 50% worn

They should be good for another 20k unless you plan to take it on track ?

No, just for everyday stuff. I didn't know how thick they started nor the wear rate.

If they can do 20K miles that's not so bad - but in my experience the pad wear sensors go off well before that and that's probably an MOT fail.

[ABMA]

Simpo Two said:

No, just for everyday stuff. I didn't know how thick they started nor the wear rate.

If they can do 20K miles that's not so bad - but in my experience the pad wear sensors go off well before that and that's probably an MOT fail.

My understanding is ceramic brakes take longer to wear.
I will enjoy the car as is and since you don’t track it, they may not need changing soon.

[davek_964]

Even if they do need changing, they may not be as expensive as you think - ceramic discs are a tad expensive, but pads should not be so bad.

I had rear pads fitted - by a McLaren dealer - for around £700-800 a few years ago, and I'm sure a chunk of that was the labour.