Cost of new brakes

[philbes]

The cost on the Skoda web-site for fitting replacement front and rear discs/pads to my 2012 Octavia vRS is £275 front + £275 back = £550.

 

I phoned the local VAG specialist and was quoted £306 and they stated that Skoda OEM parts would definitely be fitted.  I misheard him on the phone - he actually charged me £206!

 

New discs/pads were needed due to heavy disc corrosion after 5 years and 42,000 miles.  The discs on my previous Honda lasted over 75K miles on the front and were still good on the back after more than 90K miles.

[philbes]

Forgot to say - the garage also swapped my winter wheels for the summer ones - well they did have to remove the wheels anyway.  IA little bit of extra hassle for them to lift the wheels in and out of boot and also the two sets of wheels use different wheel bolts (one set have radiused seats and the other tapered).

[Sarge]

Sounds like a good result but seems quite soon to have to change them. Perhaps due to low miles? My vRS was on its originals at 85k and the fronts were done at 70k and other Bridkodians have got more. 

[philbes]

5 minutes ago, Sarge said:

Sounds like a good result but seems quite soon to have to change them. Perhaps due to low miles? My vRS was on its originals at 85k and the fronts were done at 70k and other Bridkodians have got more. 

As I said in my original post the problem was heavy corrosion; over the whole surface of the discs at the rear and the front discs were crumbling away at the edges.  Judging from other posts I have read this is a common problem with the discs on some Octavias - different suppliers for the discs?  I have never had to change discs at such a low mileage on any other car I have owned or driven as a company car.

[Newbie VRS]

Had my fronts replaced at 80k & the rears at 115k. Some corrosion, but basically worn out.

[paddypaws]

I just replaxed my rears disks at 55k due to corrosion, the old OEM disks were Bosch from new.

[philbes]

1 hour ago, Newbie VRS said:

Had my fronts replaced at 80k & the rears at 115k. Some corrosion, but basically worn out.

That's the sort of life for discs that I would expect.  However, the discs on my car needed replacement at 42K due to heavy corrosion with the front discs crumbling around the edges.  Salt corrosion was suggested as the cause but I live in the centre of Gloucestershire so no sea salt and very little salt on roads on the past 5 years.

[TheClient]

A year ago, when I bought my  2011 vRS at 33k miles, they all needed doing. Effectively the same as philbes. They still worked but.... The backs were corroded badly and the disc surface pitted - it past a recent MOT with an advisory - they looked bad though.  At first glance - the fronts didn't look so bad, but the inner surface was pitted and corroded. The outer edge was delaminating.

 

I paid about £130 for replacement parts, discs, pads and springs , retaining clips. Plus probably another £20 in a long reach hex socket and some brake cleaner and special cretec grease and did it myself. I used a Mintex set just because I got them at such a decent price.  The braking performance was much better and more confident after the change as well as the shudder under braking resolved. 

 

Edit: my Mk5 Golf GT made it to about 65k on the rears and I replaced them. Although, they were still passing MOTs.  The fronts were still ok when I sold at 70k miles and 9.5 years. Original pads and discs! My Octavia was originally a Glasgow based car so the salt may have played a part on the short life but looking at other's experience - maybe not.

 

 

Edited 8 April, 2017 by TheClient