Tame Technician - S6 help required
Discussion
Hi
I need TT's help.
My S6 V10 goes in for a major service in a few weeks and I have been given a provisional quote which I am happy with and have budgeted for (stupid 10 spark plugs).
Obvioulsy there may well be other things that are required and I have a bit of a thing with brake disc replacement.
Having owned loads of cars in the past some exotic and some not and racking up lots of miles in some of them, I have only once in 20 years of driving had a new set of discs.
Recently, I have heard a spate of 'oh it needs new discs' when cars go in for service. Most recent is my mums 21,000 Jazz. 'New discs needed luv, they eat them'. Erm yeah right.
So my question is this, if I am told I need new discs, am I within my rights to ask to see my originals and if so, what is the minimum thickness required before they should be replaced.
They are huge and so I just know they will be expensive. Fine if it needs them but not if it's just a money spinner.
I would really appreciate any advice you could give me.
Oh and lastly, I am 2 weeks away from my service, so I have no idea what to expect, but what's the betting that 'needs new discs mate, they are notorious for going through them' is the sentence I hear.
Cheers
O
I need TT's help.
My S6 V10 goes in for a major service in a few weeks and I have been given a provisional quote which I am happy with and have budgeted for (stupid 10 spark plugs).
Obvioulsy there may well be other things that are required and I have a bit of a thing with brake disc replacement.
Having owned loads of cars in the past some exotic and some not and racking up lots of miles in some of them, I have only once in 20 years of driving had a new set of discs.
Recently, I have heard a spate of 'oh it needs new discs' when cars go in for service. Most recent is my mums 21,000 Jazz. 'New discs needed luv, they eat them'. Erm yeah right.
So my question is this, if I am told I need new discs, am I within my rights to ask to see my originals and if so, what is the minimum thickness required before they should be replaced.
They are huge and so I just know they will be expensive. Fine if it needs them but not if it's just a money spinner.
I would really appreciate any advice you could give me.
Oh and lastly, I am 2 weeks away from my service, so I have no idea what to expect, but what's the betting that 'needs new discs mate, they are notorious for going through them' is the sentence I hear.
Cheers
O
well how many miles have you done on them and what kind of driving? Discs should easily last 50k with normal driving, but that does depend on the weight and use of the car obviously! It's such a simple job for a spanner monkey to do in such little time and the mark up on discs is massive, so yes it is usually a money maker for them!!! And of course you can get them to show you your discs....but how do you know they were 'your' discs and not another very worn set they had in the bin or 'conveniently' behind some technicians work bench?? Yes...I've worked in a dealership! ;-)
Edited by Toady1 on Tuesday 5th January 14:07
The car is on just over 50, I have all the service receipts for all work done so I will check and see if it has ever had any new ones.
If it does need them then fair enough.
I kind of thought about the whole 'how do I know they are mine' but I would think that the chances of them having a set of S6 discs just lying around for such occassions would be pretty slim. I think they are model specific and not fitted to any others as the RS6 are cross drilled.
Anyway, I will wait and see what happens. Fingers crossed.
O
Soovy said:
Self healing brake discs - who'd have thought it?
They've been standard fit on VWs for a number of years. The main dealer in Guildford wanted to replace all mine and the pads at 40K miles...rears went to 98K and fronts I replaced at 138K, yes, almost a 100,000 miles later.AdrianR
Before we decend into a rant about those dealers out there (I guess there must be some, but I've never worked at one) who are a bit trigger happy with the fault list, let we give you my opinion.
You can then by all means rip it to shreds if you feel the need.
Audi discs are soft and wear very quickly (fact). Typically I change discs at around 40k, but on a Q7's RS4' and RS'6 thats usually the second set of pads. Most of the other cars do indeed "need" new discs when the first set of pads wear out arround 40 ish.
Some customers will want to take the car and bring it back in 3-5k to get every last penny out of the pads and not even consider the discs as in spec.
Some customers will be masivly upset if the pad light comes on between service intervals and would want what ever we feel needs doing done now so as not to have to return to dealer until the service indicator is on again.
And some customers want to know, exactly how worn stuff is and what are the positives/negatives of just doing the pads.
Getting the level of information right for each customer is tricky and a job done by our service advisors, I know what i write on the job card, but I also know not always all of what I have writen get through, if you feel you arent getting enough information ask questions, if you dont like the ansers ask to speak to the technician that worked on the car.
Here is where a lot of the problems lie with discs replacement. When the discs are worn, but not quite worn out.
Lets say at 40k the pads are low, have at best 3-5k left on them, the discs are visably lipped, but within minimum thickness when measured.
If I beleive the discs will be bellow min thinkness before the pads are low again, I will write on my job card "pads low 3-5k max, advise discs and pads as discs lipped (within spec at time of test)"
If the customer wants further clarification, the service advisor will probably get me to talk to them, but this is rare and not really my job. I always tell the service advisors to add, "we have lots of complaints from customers that didnt have there discs done at this sort of wear level that the brakes were much noiser afterwards and they thought somthing was wrong". This is fact and Not workshop upsell BS.
But I try to give the customer all the info and the choice.
As I said before not all customers are remotely interested in that or get confused by us advising somthing but then say its not actually out of spec now, so you cant please every body.
The point is if the dealer say it needs discs and pads and the disc look nearly new, they are takin the p**s. If the disc are over half worn at the end of the first pads life, you can assume they will be completely worn before the next pads are worn out, so changing them is genuinly a good idea.
You can if you wish ask them to give you the old ones, but a good look through the wheel before it goes will be just as, if not more, productive.
Hope this helps. soz about teh typing/spelling i'm a bit crap at that.
You can then by all means rip it to shreds if you feel the need.
Audi discs are soft and wear very quickly (fact). Typically I change discs at around 40k, but on a Q7's RS4' and RS'6 thats usually the second set of pads. Most of the other cars do indeed "need" new discs when the first set of pads wear out arround 40 ish.
Some customers will want to take the car and bring it back in 3-5k to get every last penny out of the pads and not even consider the discs as in spec.
Some customers will be masivly upset if the pad light comes on between service intervals and would want what ever we feel needs doing done now so as not to have to return to dealer until the service indicator is on again.
And some customers want to know, exactly how worn stuff is and what are the positives/negatives of just doing the pads.
Getting the level of information right for each customer is tricky and a job done by our service advisors, I know what i write on the job card, but I also know not always all of what I have writen get through, if you feel you arent getting enough information ask questions, if you dont like the ansers ask to speak to the technician that worked on the car.
Here is where a lot of the problems lie with discs replacement. When the discs are worn, but not quite worn out.
Lets say at 40k the pads are low, have at best 3-5k left on them, the discs are visably lipped, but within minimum thickness when measured.
If I beleive the discs will be bellow min thinkness before the pads are low again, I will write on my job card "pads low 3-5k max, advise discs and pads as discs lipped (within spec at time of test)"
If the customer wants further clarification, the service advisor will probably get me to talk to them, but this is rare and not really my job. I always tell the service advisors to add, "we have lots of complaints from customers that didnt have there discs done at this sort of wear level that the brakes were much noiser afterwards and they thought somthing was wrong". This is fact and Not workshop upsell BS.
But I try to give the customer all the info and the choice.
As I said before not all customers are remotely interested in that or get confused by us advising somthing but then say its not actually out of spec now, so you cant please every body.
The point is if the dealer say it needs discs and pads and the disc look nearly new, they are takin the p**s. If the disc are over half worn at the end of the first pads life, you can assume they will be completely worn before the next pads are worn out, so changing them is genuinly a good idea.
You can if you wish ask them to give you the old ones, but a good look through the wheel before it goes will be just as, if not more, productive.
Hope this helps. soz about teh typing/spelling i'm a bit crap at that.
If you know what your looking for its quite easy to see how much is left on the pads and see the lip on the discs thru the alloy wheels. The problem leaving vented discs to wear to much is that they can cause judder as the start to collapse slightly.
The more rapid wear nowdays is due to the use of sintered metal in place of asbestos in the pad material.
The more rapid wear nowdays is due to the use of sintered metal in place of asbestos in the pad material.
Soovy said:
I had a service at 48,000 miles on the 911.
"New discs and pads needed mate - £1500 - they're dangerous."
I declined.
At the 60,00 mile service at the SAME DEALER they didn't warrant a mention.
Self healing brake discs - who'd have thought it?
That is shocking..."New discs and pads needed mate - £1500 - they're dangerous."
I declined.
At the 60,00 mile service at the SAME DEALER they didn't warrant a mention.
Self healing brake discs - who'd have thought it?
No not the dealers con attempt, but you going back there for the next service!
TT
Thank you so much for your detailed response.
The dealer seems pretty good and so I am inclined to trsut them but I will check for visible/felt lip on the discs before I take the car in.
When it had its MOT August they recommended new pads but then advised that as a service was due in a couple of thousand, it would be fine.
Thanks again for all your input everyone!
O
Thank you so much for your detailed response.
The dealer seems pretty good and so I am inclined to trsut them but I will check for visible/felt lip on the discs before I take the car in.
When it had its MOT August they recommended new pads but then advised that as a service was due in a couple of thousand, it would be fine.
Thanks again for all your input everyone!
O
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