Price of replacement

[ronk]

Am I out of touch?
Ive just been quoted £840 for the replacement of Discs and Pads for the front of our 335xd - I had a bit of a grumble and got them (BMW Main Dealer) down to £740 but Im still gobsmacked at the price - should I be, or am I just way out of touch?

The Car is just over three years old with 18k and has the big M Sport brakes.

[Smartbear]

Am I out of touch?
Ive just been quoted £840 for the replacement of Discs and Pads for the front of our 335xd - I had a bit of a grumble and got them (BMW Main Dealer) down to £740 but Im still gobsmacked at the price - should I be, or am I just way out of touch?

The Car is just over three years old with 18k and has the big M Sport brakes.

It needs discs at 18k miles! Surely that can’t be normal? Can you not just fit new pads at such a low mileage Ron?
Rob

[PerryGunn]

It needs discs at 18k miles! Surely that can’t be normal? Can you not just fit new pads at such a low mileage Ron?
Rob

+1 - I'd have thought you'd need to be quite an 'on the brakes' driver to get through front rotors in 18k - do they have a noticeable wear lip?

[ronk]

It needs discs at 18k miles! Surely that can’t be normal? Can you not just fit new pads at such a low mileage Ron?
Rob

At the first MOT there was a 20mm wide band on the central inner side of the disc - I wasn't happy but they wouldn't accept any liability - They did blame low miles and underuse of the brakes.
On reflection, the brakes from new always sounded a bit rough, almost rusty and were never a patch on the brakes of the 35is although being of the same dustbin lid size and having the Sport twin pot callipers. I wish I had complained at the time - I have £740 good reasons now!

The pad have 7mm on them and I have considered having an on car skim from skimmydiscs.com - I m not sure if this is feasible as the car is an X Drive model?

There is only a minimal lip on the outer Dia so the thickness is well within tolerance i would say.

Unfortunately Im not physically fit enough to do a simple job like disks and pads these days so a garage job it has to be

[Smartbear]

It sounds like they’re not worn out, I’d take it out & drive it hard on a twisty road where you can stand on the brakes.
Do that until the rust has worn off the disc, does it pull to one side when you stop?
Rob

[ronk]

Ive given it some hokey cokey including some left foot braking without result - I suspect they started off faulty - but proving it will be impossible.
Ive just sent an enquiry to the on car skimming people.

[IRD]

We have a 330xd which has had very light use and has just short of your mileage on the clock. It has the MSport brake package too. My wife drives it carefully so the brakes have not been overused. There are no indications of any problems at all. I can’t believe that you are having to have this sort of work done at such a low mileage. Especially at that price. It’s a poor do imo.

[patriot66]

Ive given it some hokey cokey including some left foot braking without result - I suspect they started off faulty - but proving it will be impossible.
Ive just sent an enquiry to the on car skimming people.

Hi Ron. I've had discs skimmed in situ on my Zed and a couple of other BMWs I've owned. They were perfect after. You will need to fit new pads at the same time if you get yours skimmed
Still can't get my head round £840 for 2 new discs and pads!!! That's just ludicrous!

[ronk]

I’ve looked online at Europarts and a pair of discs is about £500ish - the discount codes don’t seem to apply.
The prices are bonkers - the discs aren’t anything special other than big dia !

The on car skimming is maybe complicated by the x drive ?
Ive asked them the question. A light skim and new pads would be my first choice. If I was still working I would have had them linnished flat!

I agree £840 is a complete and utter rip off and I baulked at their first estimate of £640

[TitanTim]

A few years ago I had front discs, pads and calipers replaced on the Z3 by my local BMW dealer and the grand total came to £960 I was gobsmacked but my own fault as I didn't ask for a quote. The calipers alone were 210 each. I would say your quote is still pricey as it's not including the calipers. Might be worth getting a quote off a BMW specialist and see how it compares.

Tim.

[ronk]

Euro Parts are £295 each for the ATE discs - the dicount code didn’t apply to these parts.
New pads will be needed so the dealer £740 is starting to look “reasonable”

I’m nevertheless not happy at the failure of the discs - rear discs I could have accepted but fronts?

[Nictrix]

Ask for the old discs back. That will give them a fright if they are trying to pull a fast one.

[Paulwirral]

My 340 has the big brakes and 4 pot callipers on and they're fine at 30000 miles . I'd get new pads in and bed them in properly , I'm sure they'd clean up ok .

[ronk]

Ask for the old discs back. That will give them a fright if they are trying to pull a fast one.

There is definitely a wide band of corrosion/build up on the centre of the inner face and a slight noise when braking firmly from 70 ish - not a lot of wear or a lip so I will get them back and have a light skim and they’ll be as good as new!

[un1eash]

Price sounds about right for main stealers but then I'd never use them for things like brakes, Independent will be half that price.