How much for new brakes?

PH01

Does anyone know how much I should pay for new brakes?
The dealer where I get my car serviced said it is going to cost me €300 - does this sould excessive?
Would I be better off going to Kwik-Fit?

lomb

depends how many miles on it and weather u need discs as well. what car is it?

PH01

It's a VW Bora ('00) with 85,000 miles on the clock. Will have to get the front done soon, but I'm not sure about the back ones.

lomb

um discs should be ok till 120000 anyway. my mums 99 golf has 60000 on it and the pads have loads left.
kwikfit will do it for 60-80 euro should be fine.
they did my dads corrola several years ago and only now needed replacing and no squeks or anything and breaking is better than my new 03 golf. vws pads are shi% until warmed up. im sure all pad manufactures meet a certain standard.
go with kwik fit.
oh should have mentioned the 300 probably includes break fluid change. have u had this done before? vw recommends every 2 years. its debateable weather this frequency is needed but every 4 years sounds good to me. otherwise the abs sensors can get damaged from buildup of metallic grindings in fluid and water. u can do this urself if u can diy its fairly easy.

fletch

With 85k on the clock, you're prob best gettin the discs done aswell...I paid €187 for pads and discs on my '98 Ford Escort....my advice go to a garage a bit down the country, I went to a Ford main dealer in Kildare and saved over €50.

dudara

Recently bought disc and pads for left front on a 95 Astra from Quinlan's motor factors in Cork (I think E45). Then took the parts to small garage, where a lad fitted them for E20 for me.

I would advise to buy the parts yourself, and then find a small local garage to fit them.

lomb

take one front wheel off and visually inspect the disc its vented in the centre and hollow. if theres pleanty of metal on outsides of disc its ok.
now drive the car at 70. press the break pedal gently and then firmly (not 2 firmly that it wants to skid or anything) if u feel no pulsations of the break pedal then ur discs are not warped. like i said disks are fine till 120+

dudara

Lombs right. If you look at the disc, if will be obvious if it needs to be replaced. They can get quite badly scored, also run your nail along the surface of the disc to see if any big grooves are present. You'll also notice it in the handling of the car.

PH01

Thanks lads.
Looks like I'm going to have to get my hands dirty.
I'll have a look at the disc and I'll look out for what you've said. BTW, shouldn't I be concerned about the brake pads as well?

BrianD3

Ask the garage if the 300 is for front discs and pads or just front pads. it's probably the former. If it's the latter it is a total rip off.

Or is it rear pads/shoes and front pads that they're quoting you for.

Assuming that it's front discs and pads and the discs do need replacing (which they could well do after 85k if the car has been driven hard) 300 euros for genuine discs and pads from a main dealer doesn't sound too bad. I paid 180 to advance pitstop for the same job on a renault and the parts they fitted were poorer quality non-genuine parts which suffer quite badly from glazing when cold. Therefore I'd advise you to go for genuine parts. Maybe get your local mechanic to fit them to save on main stealer labour charges.

PS if you replace brake discs you should replace pads at the same time even if they're not worn out.

BrianD3

dudara

Always replace pads if repleacing discs. It doesn't have to go the other way around though. A damaged disc will damage the pads.

PH01

Yeah, I think it was for front discs and pads.
And where would one get genuine VW parts?

lomb

from www.gsfcarparts.com
they have branch off nass road,dublin parts prices are on line but in stg+vat works out at 150 euro for front discs and pads.
tbh i seroisly doubt u need new discs.

lomb

the funny thing is that the original brake pads on my new golf are absolute crap until warmed up. many people prefer aftermarket pads like textar and ebc greenstuff.
the ones kwikfit fit to the toyota are excellent. id highly recommend them.
i bought some discs for a peugeot i use to have 25 euro for 2 discs and 30 euros for pads and both were bendix (very reputable) however golf discs are dearer as there vented. however ive looked at the discs and tbh i cant see how something as thick as these discs can warp. i very much doubt u need discs personally altough a breakfluid change with genuine vw dot 4 brakefluid is a good idea every 3 or 4 years.

BrianD3

however ive looked at the discs and tbh i cant see how something as thick as these discs can warp.

Warping isn't usually a problem with discs, but what does happen is the disc gradually wears down from use and gets narrower. If the width goes below the manufacturers specs. for minimum width and a VW garage spots it, the they would be obliged to inform the owner that he needs new discs. If the disc narrows by more than 2 mm or so, then it will be below the min thickness. 2 mm isn't a lot and there are undoubtedly thousands of irish motorists driving around on discs which are more worn than this.

Does 2 mm of wear actually have a significant detrimental affect on braking? I doubt it, but who knows.

BrianD3

lomb

yeah but brian the vw disc are incredibly thick. i personally think its a waste of money replacing them but i suppose 300 isnt alot for the job espeecially if it includes the fluid change as well. mayb best advice is if going to keep it get it done as will need doing at 120 or 130000 anyway but if going to change within say 3 years just get pads done from kwikfit.. however i feel the discs are good to 150000. i got 120000 out of a solid disc on a big car (405) before a disc physically cracked but they were much thinner than vw vented discs. also itisnt dangerous if the disc cracks u just hear a thumping noise. i drove it for 500 miles before changing it.

BrianD3

lomb wrote:

however i feel the discs are good to 150000. i got 120000 out of a solid disc on a big car (405) before a disc physically cracked .

Well that answers any questions as to why manufacturers specify minimum disc thickness Yes VW vented discs are thick and the min thicknesses that VW quote probably include a large safety margin before the discs are in danger of cracking/snapping. But you never know how big that safety margin is so it's probably best to do things by the book and change discs when the manufacturer says they should be changed.

BrianD3

lomb

yes this is the reason but even if a disk does crack as i say it will only split,on one side first. now bear in mind u have a disc on the other side.

i think best advice is to physically inspect the disc. i knew the 405 discs were gone 15000 miles before they cracked had got very thin. as i say he sholud have a look, if they look ok leave them.

PH01

Thanks again for all the info. I certainly know more about brakes now than I did 24 hours ago, and I think I've saved some cash in the process.

Also, I shouldn't really need to worry about the rear drum brakes, right? They're only used when the hand brake is applied, right?

lomb

rear disks on the golf and most probably the bora as well. most of the effort is on the front pads however the rear ones are activated with the foot brake as well. its 4 wheel braking. the rear discs will definately be 100% though.
its very easy to check pad wear. get the wheel off and ul see the pad. if it has more than 6or 7mm of material left it will be fine.
u really need to get wheels off and see everything for urself.