Advice please...simple MOT turns into big bill :-(

S

Sadgamble

Member
Hi all

I had my zed roadster picked up and MOT'd last week. What I thought was going to be a reasonable £54 from the stealers (including the valet!) turned into a bit of a kick in the nuts....The guy had asked if there was anything I would like looking at whilst it was in. So, I asked to have a look at the drivers side rear brake as it has been squeaking for the last few months, progressively worse. Nothing crazy, nor could I notice a difference but was annoying me.

Anyway, the guy calls me and tells me that the car flew through the MOT, and had looked at the rear brake and found that the disc was below the bmw recommended wear level. The pads were fine, just the discs, but said you can't replace discs without new pads..is this true? So he apparently looked at the other 3 wheels to find exactly the same problem on all of them!!! :headbang:

So his quote was the following (Not including the 54quid I paid for the MOT): -
£275 for front discs, pads and labour
£285 for rear discs, pads and labour

I told him I'd leave it for now but would book it in for next month's payday :(

So guys, what do you reckon? It is worth getting this done at an Indy specialist? would it be much cheaper? Considering the car had a Type II service in July last year I'm quite surprised that this needs doing. I bought the car in Oct, its a 2005 plate, 52K miles

Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated guys. Many thanks
 
If they'd needed doing last year, then I'm sure the dealer would have let the previous owner know (you bought it in October 2009 IIRC) as it's not like them to pass up an opportunity for a bit of work.

The previous owner might have been told that the discs were low, but chose to ignore it as it was being sold. Did you (or whoever did the pre-purchase inspection - if you did one) check the discs & pads when you viewed it?

I'd also echo their recommendation that new discs should have new pads, as the old pads will have been imprinted somewhat with the old disc's pattern and the new pads wouldn't necessarily sit fully on the disc.

Genuine BMW front discs (p/n 34 11 6 766 239) are £? each, pads (p/n 34 11 6 761 244) are £57 a set - so £? for parts.
Genuine BMW rear discs (p/n 34 21 6 766 225) are £40 each, pads (p/n 34 21 6 761 239) are £54 a set - so £134 for parts.

Aftermarket discs can be had for as little as £19 each from ECP, and pads for as little as £12 per set - so you could save £150 on parts alone, if you're happy to use aftermarket gear.

I'd guess BMW are charging just over 1 hour per side labour, so at an indy working to the same timescale you could save 1/2 to 2/3 of the labour too (£80-£150)?

All in all you could save £300 by using aftermarket parts and taking it to an indy. It's up to you really.
 
Have a search on the Forum - there are lots of options to consider in terms of pads and discs and it's so much cheaper to do it yourself. Not a big job but just time consuming.
 
My bet is that they don't need doing. My nephew used to work in the service dept of a main dealer and they were told to push on service items.

Look through the alloys, is there plenty of meat on the pads? Run your finger across the disc, is there a lip on the outer edge?

If they do need doing, front discs and pads for less than £100, and half hour per wheel to fit/change. Pretty simple job.

You must know someone who can look to see if this actually needs doing?

Where are you based?
 
hmmmmmmmmmm

Discs are below BMW reccommended minimum but it flew through the MOT ......
That sounds strange to me ....... I thought the specs for the MOT pass were taken from the manufacturers specs.
 
Wow thanks for the quick responses guys....this site is great!

Im based in East London/Essex. Was taken to the Chigwell/Loughton dealership.

I'm thinking that I should keep all the parts OEM and prefer not to switch to aftermarket stuff. It's got a full clean history with BMW and would like to keep it that way. And Im assuming that going to an Indy wouldn't be much different from a stealer anyway? Anyone know of an Indy near me that they've used and recommend?

Haven't really got the time and more importantly, the skills to do the work myself! :( I have got a mate that is a mechanic that works in a subaru specialist garage, he came with me when I bought the car and looked over it for me, but didnt notice anything major. Looking at the Type II service, the brakes weren't done, so I guess it probably makes sense they may need doing.

Thanks for the replies so far...:-)
 
Okay, understand that you want to maintain the service history, but get your Subaru mate to check that they actually need doing.

I'm originally from your area (wanstead) and have a couple of mates (Brentwood & woodford) that have M3's, I know they use a local Indy, will get the details.
 
Firstly there is no requirement of disk thickness for the MOT test. Brakes are viewed in 2 parts. First is on the test machine. Absolute performance, balance, etc. Second part is visual and looks at contamination, security of fixings, obvious weaknesses and damage. At no point doe the tester have to check against any sort of manufacturer thickness spec.

You can also look on the dvla site and with your MOT test certificate view all previous tests and see if thee were ever any 'fails' or advisories.

As an aside I certainly would not waste money on main agent disks and their rates on fitting of them to a 5 year old car. I'd also have your mechanic mate put his micrometer on them and test. As noted above it's a big earner for dealers to do a £50 loss leader MOT and then a £500 brake job
 
I bet theres nothing wrong with the disks, this is the reason i cancelled my mot with sytner and went to my local guy.

When cold check the disk for a lip at the edge.
 
Cooks Ferry engineering. 02088042002. They're in Ponders End, a good old fashioned BM specialist.

There you go :thumbsup:
 
Right well I've just gone to check....if I've checked correctly, there is a slight lip on all 4 discs. seems to be greater on the fronts....didn't check too long though....was getting wet in the rain :P

So seems I'll get my mechanic mate to have a check and see what he says. But I will definitely go to and Indy if it does need doing & if Lance gets back to me on here to recommend one.

The thing is though, what would actually be causing the squeaking on that one wheel if all 4need doing (apparently?). The stealer said also, (if I wanted, to save me a bit of money for a while) is to take that pad/disc off, clean and grease it and put it back (for 80quid!) But advised that it may only temporarily solve the problem :headbang:
 
£80 :o , to probably just copperslip the back of the pads, stealer is the correct name. That lot must be walking up the road 300 yards and putting shed loads of dosh in the BOE at the end of each day.

Indy details are a couple of posts above.
 
I had a very similar experience with Berry Chiswick.. Car was in for an oil service they came back saying that a whole lot of work needed doing (including Discs and pads all round) which was knocking on the door of £2k worth of work at their rates.

I went to national tyres who checked the discs and said they were worn but fine. Second dealer for a 3rd check said the same, worn but fine. Shortly after noticed braking efficiency decreasing, so got them changed at an indy for a lot less than the original dealer quote :D

Most of the work has now been done as it did need it but not all at stealer rates, but I am still riding on the 'punctured' tyre they quoted £330 to replace :o Tyre was not punctured at all :roll:
 
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