Check Your Brakes Too!

[PJ Grady (Europe)]

Following on from Clare's earlier post about checking tyres...

We recently repaired a car for sale - which had been used as a daily driver.
As part of the safety checks - we took a look to see the condition of the brakes on all 4 wheels and we were shocked with what we found!

The car was essentially running on 1 good calliper - and to make it worse, the front shock absorbers were shot too - so no brakes and a bouncy ride!

The pictures are in the News section of www.pjgrady.co.uk

The brakes were replaced (as were the shocks) - so all is now OK....but for the cost of £40 for a full set of pads - and a hour or so to fit them and bleed the system - this must be one of the first things to do on the car.

Best regards

Darren

[bozzzydmc]

Frightening !!!

[Martyn]

What kind of state where the discs in?
There must have been some scoring.

[Tourettes Tony]

well my car had a brake pad made up from another car, and had been ground down, that said not a bad bodge really
TT

[Martyn]

As long as it fits,it will be ok.

[PJ Grady (Europe)]

Luckily the brake rotors were OK - only very light scoring on one of the rear discs - but nothing significant and didn't warrant replacing.

If this had gone unnoticed for much longer - it could have been very dangerous for the driver - and his wallet (new discs at £100+).

Darren

[Guinney1971]

I've had similar issues with the brakes on the Rapier. When I had her MOT'd in April, the tester said "the pads are getting low, you might want to change them".

I've no idea how the hell that car passed an MOT, because when I took the pads out, they had worn down so much that there was probably less then 1mm of pad left on the thickest part! Also, the calipers were seized solid and I couldnt get the new pads in. I'm guessing the car was using its rear drum brakes to stop itself :?

In total, the new pads and (exchange) calipers, cost me about £150 - and that was just for the fronts. These are the old calipers and pads.....