Dearest Jeff Bezos (and readers) 

 

the brake discs and pads that you _promised_ me were 100% compatible with my little Skoda are ... not.  

 

Yours 

Justin

 

for future readers, the discs for the 6Y2 motor that I have are 239mm (amazon promises they are 256mm).  I have no idea what the pads are as I've not found the right ones yet.  the ones Jeff sent me look like they are for a scooter.  

On Autodoc they offer both 256mm and 239mm as compatible parts for the discs.  256mm won't even fit inside the caliper mounts let alone line up on the wheel nut holes.  

 

and by the by, thanks very much to the mechanic before me that rounded out the inside of the caliper hex sockets and popped them back, just to provide me with 90 minutes of entertainment this afternoon.  Just what a mid-50 year old wants on a Friday.  solution was to cut away the rubber dust guard and hammer on a bolt remover (I had these from when I replaced the exhaust and oil sump on the car: 

That's what happens when an idiot uses a 6mm Allen key instead of 7mm.

They are 6mm on the FSII calipers with the 239mm discs.

 

FSII part numbers are all here:

https://www.lllparts.co.uk/catalogs/skoda/CZ/FAB/453/6/615/615015

 

Some 1.2 htp Fabias have 239mm/FSII,  others 256mm/FSIII.  

Without VIN look-up it's not possible to tell which any given HTP has without measuring discs or looking for FSII or FSIII markings on outermost side of calipers.

FSIII is relatively prominent/large font compared with FSII. 

 

Strange subject. I always wonder if disc wear is a "nice little earner" for some MOT places. I've had my car since 2007, at 14k. It had an MOT at 2year old with "pitting " noticed on disc as advisory( that year and a few more times). I've it later mentioned at tyre changes , so I decided to check it out. At 100k, pad was 20.5 on mic.New was 21, replace at 19mm. RAC bloke had as look and suggested Its down to disc not being swept by pad. Suggestion, grind outside of disc. 

But at first pad change,I had problems. The early MOT I got with car never mentioned any disc problems .I found the advisory on line, so I'd suggest pads had been changed ( possibly at a "fast fit") place by gents with spurs on boots.

Local machine shop suggested I was right when they fitted helicoils. But they did say that certain designed are more prone to failure.

As for Allen keys , I found a set of various sizes , which needs a 10mm socket.

But I've noticed(/possibly it a vRS mod) that on 05 models, the Allen bolts are replaced by hex bolts.

Hardly a nice little earner if the car passes and it is an advisory.   Unless your MOT teat station iswhere you get work done.

It is Main Dealers that service cars that more often say 80% worn when just 20% worn. Or even loads of disc and pad yet to be used.

 

You can always get your MOT at a Council place that does not do repairs. 

20 hours ago, Ootohere said:

Hardly a nice little earner if the car passes and it is an advisory.   Unless your MOT teat station iswhere you get work done.

It is Main Dealers that service cars that more often say 80% worn when just 20% worn. Or even loads of disc and pad yet to be used.

 

You can always get your MOT at a Council place that does not do repairs. 

 

 

this is an excerpt from the MOT history of one of the household's cars.  it's serviced and MOT'd by a Peugeot franchise.

 

2021 - Fail
Repair immediately (major defects):

• Offside Front Suspension component ball joint excessively worn (5.3.4 (a) (i))
• Nearside Front Anti-roll bar ball joint excessively worn (5.3.4 (a) (i))

 

2022 - Fail

 

• Nearside Front Suspension arm pin or bush excessively worn (5.3.4 (a) (i))
• Offside Front Suspension arm pin or bush excessively worn (5.3.4 (a) (i))

2023 - Fail

 

• Nearside Front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint excessively worn (5.3.4 (a) (i))
• Offside Rear Coil spring fractured or broken (5.3.1 (b) (i))

 

it's about £800 a year so far.

 

i was looking at this and wondered why they didn't replace the suspension arm pin in 2021 if it was showing that kind of wear.   Ditto the nearside bushing since they were doing (supposedly) the anti-roll bar on the nearside in 2021.  

and particularly egregious is the replacement of the nearside front-anti-roll bar join in 2021 only to have it fail from wear within 2 years (18000 miles).

 

I do wonder whether they just make it up.

 

 

Is it you that has to pay for the work?    If so then when serviced tell them to ask you if you want it done.  It is not the MOT examiners job.   Or is the person doing the service visually handicapped. 

The MOT garage is the service garage.  

 

The point I was really making was that the garage service mechanics should be calling the owner and saying we can do this when doing that and save you xxx. 

 

And more worrying is a part entirely wearing out in 18k mi.  I'm tempted to say that either the issue didn't exist or the work was not done satisfactorily.  

 

But not my car. I would have done the work myself.  This is my mother's (79).