I've just been informed that I need new disks and pads all round. Not suprised really as the pads are the original ones (car on 53K) and my engine breaking driving style has resulted in pitted disks all round.

So, do you think that its worth buying OEM disks and pads from Skoda, given 53K is pretty good going, or just go for a third party make. Seem to remember having bad experiences of squealing brakes when choosing the cheaper options on previous cars (not Skoda though).

Havent got any quotes yet but if anyone has changed recently i'd be interested to know costs.

Do not skimp on your pads and fit the cheapest unknown make of pads on. My father put some very cheep unknown pads on his previous car just before an MOT and within 5 corners they were smoking. Remember it's your safety we are talking about.

OEM Skoda pads are made by Padgid, so are a good make, well my mothers Furby ones were anyway. Padgid, Mintex and Textar are part of the TMD Friction group and are made in this country. I am currently using EBC Greenstuff on my Furby because they produce less dust and are kinder to discs than others. Others on here usually say stay away from these pads. These pads for my Furby vRS were about £60-£70 ish.

If you don't want OEM then buy Mintex or Ferodo. You can normally find Ferodo pads at Halfrauds. As for discs plain ones will do, unless you do track days and/or use your brakes a lot.

Personally I'd always go for OEM unless you can afford, justify or need better. I'd never "skimp" on anything that relates to safety.

Personally I'd always go for OEM unless you can afford, justify or need better. I'd never "skimp" on anything that relates to safety.

Sound advice.

There is nothing much wrong, if anything, with the OE brakes on the Octy II and even the most enthusiastic of us Briskodian only resort to upgraded pads, EBC Red stuff (not the greens on the Octy, remember its 300kg heavier than a Furby so needs stronger braking) or Ferodo DS2500s.

From your sugested driving style; I'd say stick to OE - and Skoda parts are IMHO pretty price competetive as it happens.

Cost me £90 for two front discs and a set of pads made by Original ATE.

They are for a 1.9TDI PD105 though.

Once warm they can suprisingly be too good though!

I have to push the OEM parts hard to get them to fade, and thats with repeated stop start testing.

We have a 05 octavia 1.9tdi (105) ambiante bought ex display/demo from AE Witham Walton on Thames. We only do low miles in it (wife uses it for school run/her 5 mile commute + some big family visits) only has c25k on the clock. It has the bigger ventilated discs and the dealer (whitequay saab in reading the service bit for ridgeway skoda of newbury) has just told us at service/MOT that it needs pads and discs. I noticed that this was as a service suggestion and not an MOT advise which makes me wary - also I happened to see the engineers notes while in the garage and they just said "pads worn < 4000, discs" when asked the service repception guy said it meant pads had less then 4k left on them. I replied that they was not imminent replacement in my mind what did the discs have left. He promised to call after checking with engineer and didn't

I just rang back and got the service manger who tried to tell me that discs should be changed with the pads !!!!! (I ride and maintain my own motorcycles so this seems a bit bizarre to me).

My question - how many miles should I expect from the front discs ? I know as an estate it is heavy but 25k seems a tad short

When purchasing discs for my 2003 BMW 3 series (now sold) I was able to find Brembo vented discs for £25 each from Euro Car Parts. They seemed very good quality, perhaps even better than OE, but at a fraction of the OE price. Not sure if they do them for an Octi, but might be worth a look on their website.........?

Dealers always seem to want to replace discs and pads together for no other reason than extra work for them and most people don't know better.

My front discs are on 62k (07 car) and have a bit of a lip but are good for a bit more yet. I don't know how any estimate can be as accurate as 4000 miles till a replacement either!

Steve

PS Are you the Wurzel off Scoobynet :wonder:

My car is heading for 60k and I don't think the pads have been changed yet, the disks certainly haven't. I'd barely expect to need tyres after 25k... The estate isn't a whole lot heavier than the hatchback either unless you're always carrying a full load and like to brake hard all the time...

Thanks all that was my thoughts.

Have had tyres front front to rear and replace front twice (most recent about 1000 miles ago) so don't think we push it too hard. My gpz900r has done nearly 50k on it's front disks and they see a lot heavier use than the car ever does.

Not on scoobynet - have a mate with one but we have the Octavia for practicality and the bikes for fun.

Think WhiteQuay SAAB who used to do all servicing for Ridgeway Skoda of newbury (don't know if ashmore green is the same bunch) were trying to get extra work off the back of a cheap service/MOT deal.

My mum has had Skoda's (felicia/fabia/fabiaII) since VW took over (had diesels since we had a Mk11 cortina with a perkins fitted in the late 70's), my uncle drives a white octavia TDi taxi round horsham and neither of them needed discs so early.

Is it safe to wait for the pad warning light and just check the disks then. I am tempted to find a micrometer measure the current thickness and if well over service see what Whitequay have to say

You don't need a micrometer to measure the pad thickness; you should be able to see the depth of the central groove in the pad that indicates the remaining thickness by looking through the spokes of your alloys (assuming you have alloys).

As to replacement time; I would suggest that front pads should last 35-50K, depending on driving style and from experience you replace the discs every second set of pads.

Out of interest does anyone know the recommended service limit on Disc Thickness

If you have the 288mm discs under ATE callipers , I know that the front discs are 25mm new 23mm worn.

HTH