Mintex rear discs and pads

[chicken_eyebrow]

Fitted new rear discs and pads last night after a bit of a nightmare at the weekend when I found the ones they'd sent me off of ebay were meant for a Merc Sprinter van

Very straightforward to fit, did the pair in under an hour and a half. Only problem was the disc retaining screws have corroded and had to be drilled out so might have to re-tap and fit some new ones at some point.

I'll see if the mintex discs and pads cure the mooing I've been suffering with the OEM ones since I've had the car

No difference in performance but then they only do 20% of the braking anyway IIRC :confused: but they were a lot cheaper than Skoda OEM, Skoda dealership quoted me £90 for the discs and £30 for the pads, the mintex ones were £62 for the lot!!!

Edited 27 October, 2009 by chicken_eyebrow

[Jigger72]

Was it the Mintex Brake Box brakes you fitted? I need to fit new rears very soon.

[chicken_eyebrow]

Yeah the combination box with the discs and pads

SKODA OCTAVIA 1.8 VRS MINTEX REAR BRAKE DISCS & PADS on eBay (end time 13-Nov-09 08:54:03 GMT)

[mluton]

Seems like ages since I posted on here. LOL

I have been running these discs getting on for 3 years front and rear. Also using the mintex pads all over, 2 sets of front and 1 set on the rear.

Cured my moo'ing problem back then to.

[N 5 0 VRS]

Hi, my front and rear discs and pads will all need replacing on my next service. As my nearest Skoda dealer (Autohaus Northampton) has gone i refuse to drive to Bedford to get the work done. So i have decided to buy them all myself and get my local trusty independent garage to fit them aswell as carry out the service.

First of all would it be worth buying the whole set off ebay for around £155 from the same seller you used?

Also would this work out cheaper to buy myself and go with my local garage or should i just drive to the nearest Skoda dealer and get them to supply and fit?

I am just interested in saving as much money as i can!

So whats the cheapest option and way of getting the brakes done available to me?

Is it worth upgrading to Mintex or should i just try and source some OEM parts?

Any advice?

[chicken_eyebrow]

Well going by the prices my local dealer quoted me for just the rear discs and pads (£120 for the lot) you would be looking at something like £150 for the fronts, plus extortionate main dealer labour rates, so all in all probably over £400 for the whole lot if you went to the dealer :thumbdwn:

You can get the OEM discs and pads cheaper from GSF or TPS I think some of the guys on here have in the past (Bond007 might be able to look up the prices for us?) but I have no idea where my nearest one is or how to buy off of them as I'm not "in the trade" :confused:

You could get the whole lot of Mintex ones for £155 off of ebay then its about 2 hours to fit them so maybe £260-270 in total (parts + labour) if you go to your local independent

Or third option is to buy them and fit them yourself, you do need a caliper windback tool to do the back ones but other than that its just a jack and wheelbrace, axle stand, 10mm hex key for the front (I think?), 13mm and 15mm spanners and a rubber mallet, you might also need a drill to drill the disc screws out if they're too rusted to get out with a phillips screwdriver.

I wouldn't say the Mintex brake box brakes are an upgrade, I don't think the quality is really any different from OEM, just cheaper!

[Wardy]

Sounds like a good outcome

Hope it cures the mooing

Steve

[N 5 0 VRS]

Great reply, thank you very much!

Yeah should be able to get the whole set for around £155 off ebay if they discount the postage a little.

Think i will go and see my local garage for a quote on fitting them and doing the service all at the same time.

Fitting them myself is not an option as i've never done brakes before and would be too worried i get something wrong! :eek:

Just a few questions, do you get that horrible rusty look on the Mintex discs when they have been wet. I hate the look of the OEM ones when this happens. Also can my insurance company class them as an upgrade, making my insurance void if i was to have an accident? :confused:

Cheers again

[Ian_D]

that horrible rusty look on the Mintex discs when they have been wet

You'll get that on all brake discs whenever they get wet, which includes condensation overnight.

That iron that makes up 99.9% of the steel just wants to get back to it's natural state and reacts with any water to form rust (iron oxide). It's just not worth manufacturers putting in anything to ward off the rust as the discs would be considerably more expensive.

You see a lot more of it nowadays as more and more cars have disc brakes (I'd go as far as saying drum brakes are dying out) with alloy wheels that have large gaps between spokes and asbestos was outlawed in brake pads (pads much harder now, so discs softer).

It's not only unsightly, it also reduces the life of the discs.

The only ways to stop seeing it are:

• Don't let them get wet, which means garaging in a nice warm garage and never going out when wet.
  
• Fit brake dust protectors that fill the blanks in your wheels.
  
• Don't look.
  

If it's any consolation, a £200,000 rolls will suffer from the same problem as your car.

Ian

[Bowders1]

Just a few questions, do you get that horrible rusty look on the Mintex discs when they have been wet. I hate the look of the OEM ones when this happens. Also can my insurance company class them as an upgrade, making my insurance void if i was to have an accident? :confused:

Cheers again

Yes you will get the rusting on these Disc's. They are not top quality IMHO, I ended up painting the centre part and carefully around the rim to try and stop the rusting. Worked to a certain extent

I wouldn't say the Mintex brake box brakes are an upgrade, I don't think the quality is really any different from OEM, just cheaper!

Agree here. Not that impressed with the Mintex. I had upgraded Mintex pads too. The Fronts have been on less than a year and left side has warped. These are coming off in better weather and upgrading to something else.

[Bodge]

My Brembo HC front discs came with coated centres and edges, so stay looking good.

But the Zimmerman rears rusted up instantly (as you'd expect from bare cast iron)! I wish Brembo did an OE option for the rear.

Good idea on painting the centres and edges Bowders.

[VRS Mike]

Sorry to thread jack but what other rear discs would you guys recommend as I need to replace mine.

Cheers

Mike

[chicken_eyebrow]

Either OEM (if you can get them cheap) or Mintex, the rears only do 20% of your braking so putting a £300 set of performance discs and pads on the rear is just a waste of money IMHO.

The Mintex haven't cured the mooing by the way, and on cold wet mornings it even moo's going forward to start off with :thumbdwn: That said, I've got so used to the mooing noises I don't think I could live without them now LOL

[Bodge]

The Mintex haven't cured the mooing by the way, and on cold wet mornings it even moo's going forward to start off with :thumbdwn: That said, I've got so used to the mooing noises I don't think I could live without them now LOL

That's what mine did before I changed the rear calliper! Have you noticed one disc on the rear getting hotter than the other after a short drive yet?

[VRS Mike]

Either OEM (if you can get them cheap) or Mintex, the rears only do 20% of your braking so putting a £300 set of performance discs and pads on the rear is just a waste of money IMHO.

The Mintex haven't cured the mooing by the way, and on cold wet mornings it even moo's going forward to start off with :thumbdwn: That said, I've got so used to the mooing noises I don't think I could live without them now LOL

Mintex it is then! I don't have any mooing, this seems to be one niggle mine doesn't have!

[chicken_eyebrow]

Have you noticed one disc on the rear getting hotter than the other after a short drive yet?

Not yet but I'll give them a check - both rear calipers seemed alright when I put the new discs and pads on, the handbrake levers moved freely, the pistons pushed back into the calipers no trouble and the slides for the outer part of the caliper didn't seem to be seized.

Whats the best way to check them? Are you alright touching them after you've given them five minutes to cool down a bit?

[bond007]

rear disks and pads are around £90 trade inc vat, to be honest there isnt much to the rear brakes

[bond007]

rear disk part number is 8N0 615 601 B and pads 1J0 698 451 K just incase you want to go the local factors route this will help identify what you want