Cost of brake replacements

[RodDuggan]

We've just taken a call from our local Skoda service department who are carrying out our annual service.

It's a 2013 Yeti 1.2 with 48k miles on the clock.

Although no brake wear indicators have come on yet, they are recommending new pads and disks all round. The originals have lasted very well as we don't often tend to use the brakes!

The cost was quoted as just over £700!

Unbelievable.

[J.R.]

At that age and mileage & if you hardly use the brakes then they will most likely be rusted to feck especially the inner face that is not visible.

 

I would also speculate that the backplates are in a similar state and about to self destruct, where you live (not by the sea hopefully) and whether the vehicle is garaged at night will have a big influence.

 

DIY or independant garage will be far cheaper.

[Breezy_Pete]

Never rely solely on brake wear indicators, but also best not to rely on dealerships for unbiased, accurate info.  Get a second opinion elsewhere, or better still, check things yourself.

[KenONeill]

8 minutes ago, RodDuggan said:

The cost was quoted as just over £700!

Even assuming the work is needed, I was quoted more like £300 by an independent, who actually used Audi parts. Now guess why we call them "main stealers"!

[MATT0693]

That is a HUGE amount of money for that work.

I did discs and pads on a 1.2TSi Yeti last week, £90 quid for mid-range discs & pads (3yr warranty) and it took me an hour.

The costs of the parts is going to vary on your PR code and brand choices, I would not expect to pay much more than £200-250 for that job.

 

[Urrell]

Are you sure the Yeti has brake pad worn indicators, most have not.

[MX-5]

11 minutes ago, MATT0693 said:

£90 quid for mid-range discs & pads

If there's one thing that I would want top quality (and not "mid-range") on any of my cars, it would be brake pads and disks, closely followed by tyres!

[Austin 7]

HI

 

Some things to note. 

My 1.4 Yeti has no pad wear indicator, even though the replacement pads have the buried contact 

These days, pads and discs wear at at more similar rates than of old, and if you replace pads and not discs or vice versa then you are faced with a wait whilst a new flat part beds in to a worn uneven one. 

Disc rusting is highly influenced by how long the vehicle stands in a wet or damp atmosphere, and for some reason is often worse on the inner faces you can't see.

If you use the brakes lightly, the rear discs don't get polished off and are more prone to rust

Rear disc removal for most models needs a special triple square socket to remove a very tight bolt, which may thwart DIY

Conclusion, your brakes may indeed be due for renewal - but shop around for the work.

 

[MATT0693]

1 minute ago, MX-5 said:

If there's one thing that I would want top quality (and not "mid-range") on any of my cars, it would be brake pads and disks, closely followed by tyres!

I completely agree, the problem is selling that to a customer without them thinking your trying to make more money out of them.

In some cases my margins are smaller on the branded parts, but it saves me the headache in poor fitment and warranty issues down the line.

 

 

 

 

[Ootohere]

@MX-5they never left the Skoda Factory with that good discs and and pads so the £90 ones can exceed the OEM.  The dealership quoting £700 is fitting nothing very special but are charging the price of very special parts sourced cheaply. 

[J.R.]

I would not touch any brake discs or pads unless I had been assured that they were made in the Audi factory

[Norton Ian]

15 minutes ago, J.R. said:

I would not touch any brake discs or pads unless I had been assured that they were made in the Audi factory

 

It's extremely unlikely that any brake disc or brake pad is made in any Audi or VW group factory. They use a supplier that makes them to their spec'. Provided the pads and discs are made by a reputable company there is nothing wrong with them. Some of them may even be better than original ones. 

[Ootohere]

They are to their spec (not a high bar there then) and the price screwed to the ground so much that some manufacturers will not be a supplier to the VW Group.

They source some right rubbish, and sometimes they take stuff in house like software and then they really produce rubbish.

 

(There are vehicles from a factory with discs that do not rust into the ground quickly like Citroen fit, but then it can be surprising the car even new or at 3 years old can pass a UK MOT Brake test. Not a very high bar there either though.)

Edited 27 September, 2021 by e-Roottoot

[Breezy_Pete]

10 minutes ago, Norton Ian said:

 

It's extremely unlikely that any brake disc or brake pad is made in any Audi or VW group factory. They use a supplier that makes them to their spec'. Provided the pads and discs are made by a reputable company there is nothing wrong with them. Some of them may even be better than original ones. 

I think you missed that @J.R. was joking, as hinted at by the  

[weasley]

I have just been quoted over £240 just for the rear pads on my MINI.  I know I could do it myself in an hour but I just don’t have an hour to do it, and it’s under warranty so needs an approved job doing.

[gumdrop]

What is the main dealers hourly rate for labour?

[Carlston]

4 hours ago, RodDuggan said:

We've just taken a call from our local Skoda service department who are carrying out our annual service.

It's a 2013 Yeti 1.2 with 48k miles on the clock.

Although no brake wear indicators have come on yet, they are recommending new pads and disks all round. The originals have lasted very well as we don't often tend to use the brakes!

The cost was quoted as just over £700!

Unbelievable.

 

See what the MOT guy says. If the car passes without a mention of the brakes, they are working fine.

 

Take some photos of the brake pads and post on here.

 

Just one side of the car will be fine to get a general idea.

 

Edited 27 September, 2021 by Carlston

[J.R.]

3 hours ago, Norton Ian said:

 

It's extremely unlikely that any brake disc or brake pad is made in any Audi or VW group factory. They use a supplier that makes them to their spec'. Provided the pads and discs are made by a reputable company there is nothing wrong with them. Some of them may even be better than original ones. 

 

You might want to address that to KenONeill

[Austin 7]

The MOT test calls for a minimum of 0.5 G for service braking.  That's a pretty low bar by modern standards, and I'm not sure it has ever been updated in the decades since the MOT was introduced.  I accept that any tester worth their salt will advise you if it passes the minimum but they know it should do better.  The problem is, it could pass that test a only a week before the brake pads are down to the backing, and the tester isn't allowed to dismantle anything to look at the state of them.  I have seen brake discs on a newly passed car that had big bands of rust pitting on them.  It's one of those areas of maintenance where you might want to apply higher standards.

[SurreyJohn]

Phone them back and ask them for the pad measurements, then when they go erm…. ask them if they measured them or just eyeballed them

 

Them ask what the Skoda manual says minimum depth is, or does the manual say give it a quick look and not to measure them.  Then politely suggest if it is a £700 job, you would have researched this and have the data at your fingertips to explain the cost.

 

Then (and only if work is actually required) go to an Independent and pay about £300 for new discs and pads.

 

I was once told by a dealer my front pads on a 2 year old car were 80% worn and need changing now, a year later a different dealer said 60% worn, and need changing in 6-9 months, so somehow the pads grew by 20% in third year, or someone blatantly lied !

Edited 27 September, 2021 by SurreyJohn

[KenONeill]

3 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

You might want to address that to KenONeill

Or you could try doing some research and see if there are technical differences between discs supplied in Audi boxes and ones supplied in Skoda boxes (I have, but I'm not going to say what, because it will be interesting to see whether or not you actually know or can tell).

[Carlodiesel]

I have Bosch Original brake pads on my Yeti.

So when & if I ever come to replace them, I'll fit Bosch replacement parts.

Bosch Front Discs Pr. £47

Bosch Front Pads, set £20

Bosch Rear Discs Pr.  £34.

Bosch Rear Pads , set £15

 

Total Genuine Bosch parts £116

 

Or EBay have a Complete set Of Discs & Pads F&R for £80. (make not known)

So Rod if you are reading this, as others have said, do your homework. 

 

Edited 27 September, 2021 by Carlodiesel

[J.R.]

Or care!

 

You will have a long wait.

 

My experience has been with the cheapest of the cheap disks & in recent years they have come bundled with the cheapest of the cheap pads, usually coming from Germany regardless of what country website is used (most all lead back to the Autodoc conglomerate) often with impressive Germanic sounding names but look a little further and they are made in R.P.C.

 

The discs have all been the same excellent quality, its the pads that have been seriously lacking and they have got worse, 5 years ago they would brake OK but would in time would lack stopping power, not lock up to trigger the ABS and develop a terrible shudder that most including myself initially put down to warped discs, they weren't it was transfer of the pad material, they could be brought back by incredible abusive repeated downhill high speed emergency stops.

 

In the last 2 years the pads have lacked initial bite but did not transfer material, lose stopping power or cause vibration, however they really tore up the surface of the discs especially the rears & that rough surface texture would allow rust to take a hold & not be removed by braking.

 

On the last Octavia 2 and this Yeti I very quickly had to change to Ferodo Eco Friction pads which had much better initial bite and after a few thousand kms brought the discs back to a surface ground finish, I only did the fronts as they do most of the braking but on the Yeti the new rear discs were getting really chewed up and rust was present across the whole surface, I have changed them now to Eco Friction but its taking a lot longer for the surface finish to return even though I have been towing some very heavy loads.

 

The last lot of rubbish pads were branded Delphi, I dont think they were counterfeit, I think like all the others they sell good OE equipment and 2 grades of aftermarket offerings on high volume friction materials.

[Meyannos]

2014 2.0 TDI 4X4. 300,000k and on original brakes. Owned car since new, serviced at Skoda up to 150,000k and at 10,000k intervals since. Car thoroughly checked at each service and still passes inspection. Can’t complain about that. Never had a cars brakes last that long before.  

[J.R.]

My MK1 did 325K miles on the original discs, not quite true, a crack developed in one rear so I replaced them both, ithad racked up 188K in 3 years by my chauffeur friend and the brakes were very much solicited in the time that I owned it.

 

The 2 Skodas since then I inherited with corroded discs, one I know had a very pampered life, the other not sure but both had been seaside cars.

 

I hope to keep this one long enough to see if my current relatively low mileage low stress driving regime will actually be kind to the brakes now I have better friction material.