Grinding when heavy braking

[Riley26]

I have just noticed my car making a grinding noise when heavy braking. What would this likely be? I didn't get an advisory on the last mot on brake pads wearing thin. This was about 6months ago. Have only done about 600miles since. Thanks for any advice.

[Trackdayer]

Visual pad check would be the first step

[Riley26]

Thanks I'm struggling to be able to see them. Can see the caliper I think it's called but struggling to see inside them

[Vintagejock]

You must either take the wheel off to investigate or get a competent person to check it out. No exceptions.

[Scrump]

If the pads are hard.to see with the wheels in place then it is unlikely that low pads would be noticed during an MOT test.

[stevieturbo]

Riley26 said:

I have just noticed my car making a grinding noise when heavy braking. What would this likely be? I didn't get an advisory on the last mot on brake pads wearing thin. This was about 6months ago. Have only done about 600miles since. Thanks for any advice.

An MOT test is not for someone to check that you're having the car properly serviced and maintained, it's a quick basic safety check.

[Trackdayer]

Try poking your smartphone around with the camera on flash, you might be able to see the pads that way without taking off a wheel.

[Riley26]

Thanks it had an advisory a few years back on the pads. And I changed them. Just checking it had an advisory on the last mot about the brake discs being worn but not structurally weaken. How much would an independent garage roughly charge to change the front discs, I'm guessing they would do the pads too.

[Mave]

The cost depends very much on the car and the garage. It may be that if you haven't used the car much you've got surface corrosion on the discs - check out the surface of the discs, particularly the rear. A bit of light breaking and / or light use of the handbrake at low speeds might clear it up a bit. If it's not surface corrosion on the discs then you either need to get the wheels off and see what's going on, or get someone to have a look.

[Riley26]

Thanks I'll try then. If not I'll ring a local garage to see if they can do an assessment for me.

[spikeyhead]

Is there any corrosion on either side of the discs? most likely on the rears, and possibly on the inside out of sight?

[OldGermanHeaps]

No point in fking about with brakes, if there is doubt there is no doubt.
If you are in any way at all unsure in how to check them take it to a garage, almost none will charge to inspect them for you. If you go to a rapid fit place they will probably tell you to change them whether they need it or not though.