Hi All,

I had my Superb II in for its first MOT last weekend. It passed fine, but the garage gave me an advisory for corroded front brake discs. They reckoned the discs needed to be replaced and quoted me £197. Because they couldn't fail me on it, and I wanted to shop around, I said "no thanks". The cheapest quote I've gotten so far has been £178, which still seems hefty enough give the car still isn't quite 3 years old.

Looking online, I found a site called "Skim my discs" which promotes skimming rather than replacing. I'm assuming this would be substantially cheaper than replacing the discs (assuming mine aren't so badly corroded that skimming is impossible - hard to imagine after 3 years and with less than 35,000 on the clock). But I don't know whether this is good practice or not.

So, does any have any views on skimming discs, good or bad? Or do you think I should be able to get the discs replaced for substantially less than I'm being quoted? I had a quick look online, and the cost of the discs themselves only seems to be £40 or £50 for a pair, so the rest is presumably for labour. Skimming the discs apparently takes all of 9 minutes from start to finish, and I'd imagine replacing them doesn't take much longer!

Should I just stump up for new discs, or should I be frugal and go down the skimming route? All opinions welcome!

Kind regards,

Declan.

Skimming discs on a road car is false economy - it will also not do anything for corroded discs, just ones that are wearing unevenly or have wear grooves in them.

£50 for a pair of discs sounds very cheap to me, don't forget you also really need to change your pads when you change discs.

The prices you have been quoted are not too bad, considering half of that is for parts, the rest for 1 - 1.5hrs labour.

What do they mean Corroded?

If the face of the disc is corroded this can be one of many things which may be wrong..... if you use the car daily and the face of the disc is corroded then i would look at the pads, why they are not getting a good contact on the surface to remove this corrosion....

What do they mean Corroded?

If the face of the disc is corroded this can be one of many things which may be wrong..... if you use the car daily and the face of the disc is corroded then i would look at the pads, why they are not getting a good contact on the surface to remove this corrosion....

They said "rusted / corroded". I only use the car once or twice a week, and then only for very short trips at low speeds with minimal braking (certainly no hard breaking). Only get to do longer runs on the motorway and stuff once every 2 or 3 months.

They said "rusted / corroded". I only use the car once or twice a week, and then only for very short trips at low speeds with minimal braking (certainly no hard breaking). Only get to do longer runs on the motorway and stuff once every 2 or 3 months.

If you only do short trips then the faces of the disks will corrode but a good run and some reasonable braking will take the corrosion right off.

My wifes Furby VRS does about the same amount of miles as you and she's still on the same set of discs at 55,000 miles!

If they couldn't fail it on the MOT then it sounds like it is not dangerous but was an excuse to wheedle some more money out of you, I had a service advisory for rear brakes on my VRS at 40,000 miles, they actually needed replacing at about 90,000...

If you're worried about it take it to one of the bigger chains for a one of their free brake tests, play dumb and see of they mention it too.

If you only do short trips then the faces of the disks will corrode but a good run and some reasonable braking will take the corrosion right off.

My wifes Furby VRS does about the same amount of miles as you and she's still on the same set of discs at 55,000 miles!

If they couldn't fail it on the MOT then it sounds like it is not dangerous but was an excuse to wheedle some more money out of you, I had a service advisory for rear brakes on my VRS at 40,000 miles, they actually needed replacing at about 90,000...

If you're worried about it take it to one of the bigger chains for a one of their free brake tests, play dumb and see of they mention it too.

I must admit that I think they might well be trying to get some extra money out of me! It was a free service (oil change) and MOT courtesy of my Tesco car insurance with Halfords Autocentres. They said I can drive around as is for the next 12 months, but that they recommend changing the discs. They didn't push it when I said "no thanks" in fairness, which really makes me think it's not dangerous or anything. There's no judder when braking or anything else amiss that I can feel.

Personally I would get a pair of discs and change them myself, not a difficult job at all!

I would not let Halfords do an oil change, who knows what they have put in and even if it meets the VW507.01 standard. If you drive a diesel and it does not you could be in for a hard time.

Mine will be in for a first MOT shortly, 38K miles with a lot of very short (1 mile) trips.

I would not let Halfords do an oil change, who knows what they have put in and even if it meets the VW507.01 standard. If you drive a diesel and it does not you could be in for a hard time.

Mine will be in for a first MOT shortly, 38K miles with a lot of very short (1 mile) trips.

They used 5W30 oil - after reading these forums I was paranoid enough to demand proof!

As for changing the disks myself: I accept it's probably not a difficult job, but trust me - I would not attempt it myself! Christ only knows what would happen, but something would definitely go wrong and the car would somehow self-combust!

They used 5W30 oil - after reading these forums I was paranoid enough to demand proof!

As for changing the disks myself: I accept it's probably not a difficult job, but trust me - I would not attempt it myself! Christ only knows what would happen, but something would definitely go wrong and the car would somehow self-combust!

5w30 oil.........Yes but did it meet 507.00?

I wouldn't worry about the discs. My mate had an advisory for 3 years on his Polo about corrosion and he has just changed the discs at 110000 miles (yes original discs AND pads!!)

A lot of modern brake discs have only 1.0mm each side wear limit ( e.g. new disc is 22mm thick and wear limit thickness is 20mm).If you can see an outside lip on the disc that approaches this 1.0mm depth then its not worth skimming. Check a workshop manual for your minimum brake disc thickness.

Edited 13 August, 201114 yr by vwcabriolet1971