After the break pad warning light came on last week, I set about sourcing new pads to resolve the problem. Also then having looked through my service history and seen that the original discs were changed at 65,000 miles, and knowing that the Zed was now on 123,000 I figured it was time to do those as well. The existing discs were the plain OEM ones, but since painting the callipers, I fancied a set of grooved discs to finish off the job.
I trawled around the internet for various front Discs and pads and stumbled across some on Ebay. A pair of drilled and vented discs and Mintex pads (x4) for £89.10. from "The Motorist Warehouse", a seller called Ziggy-a2z. 100% feed back so I thought I'd chance it.
I ordered them Monday afternoon and they were with me by Wednesday morning with Free delivery. When they arrived, I was a little surprised to see that the Discs were manufactured by Comline, not Mintex, but I think that was probably more my assumption, rather than being misled, when reviewing the advert. (I've checked and Comline are a UK Company and all discs are made to the required testing standards.)
I set about getting the old ones off. The nearside came off fine, but the offside turned out to be a pig, as the locator screw refused to budge, even with an impact driver. The following day I grinded it off, drilled out the screw and then managed to re-tap the thread, but was pleased that the new discs fitted sweetly and all holes lined up perfectly.
I got the new discs on, replacing both locator screws,( for the sake of a £1.01 each ) and things immediately started looking nice. I removed the old pads, ( down to about 2mm
) and squeezed the Callipers back with a G clamp and popped the new pads in easily using a sachet of copper grease on each wheel (also from BMW at £0.79p) to prevent squealling.
A quick touch up of the callipers then the wheels were back on.
For the first 10 miles or so today , the Zed was stopping like a cruise liner, but 50 miles later I'm almost back to normal and the bite is coming back in to them. I think a few more miles and they will be a lot sharper than the originals, not to mention the pleasing look and the peace of mind of having new discs ! If only I'd remembered to buy a new Wear sensor whilst I was at Stealers, I wouldn't have to take the wheel off again this week, in order to get the dashboard light to go out.
Whilst I enjoyed doing it from the point of satisfaction, with hindsight, the fact that it took me two evenings and most of Saturday plus £40 on tools to complete the job, I do wonder if I would have been better off going into work and earning the overtime to pay for it, then also having official receipts and dealer stamps in the Service book, to back it all up ?
Obviously time will tell how they hold up and perform, but for £90 I reckon it was money well spent, for a 2004 Zed with £123k on the clock.
I trawled around the internet for various front Discs and pads and stumbled across some on Ebay. A pair of drilled and vented discs and Mintex pads (x4) for £89.10. from "The Motorist Warehouse", a seller called Ziggy-a2z. 100% feed back so I thought I'd chance it.
I ordered them Monday afternoon and they were with me by Wednesday morning with Free delivery. When they arrived, I was a little surprised to see that the Discs were manufactured by Comline, not Mintex, but I think that was probably more my assumption, rather than being misled, when reviewing the advert. (I've checked and Comline are a UK Company and all discs are made to the required testing standards.)
I set about getting the old ones off. The nearside came off fine, but the offside turned out to be a pig, as the locator screw refused to budge, even with an impact driver. The following day I grinded it off, drilled out the screw and then managed to re-tap the thread, but was pleased that the new discs fitted sweetly and all holes lined up perfectly.
I got the new discs on, replacing both locator screws,( for the sake of a £1.01 each ) and things immediately started looking nice. I removed the old pads, ( down to about 2mm
) and squeezed the Callipers back with a G clamp and popped the new pads in easily using a sachet of copper grease on each wheel (also from BMW at £0.79p) to prevent squealling. A quick touch up of the callipers then the wheels were back on.
For the first 10 miles or so today , the Zed was stopping like a cruise liner, but 50 miles later I'm almost back to normal and the bite is coming back in to them. I think a few more miles and they will be a lot sharper than the originals, not to mention the pleasing look and the peace of mind of having new discs ! If only I'd remembered to buy a new Wear sensor whilst I was at Stealers, I wouldn't have to take the wheel off again this week, in order to get the dashboard light to go out.
Whilst I enjoyed doing it from the point of satisfaction, with hindsight, the fact that it took me two evenings and most of Saturday plus £40 on tools to complete the job, I do wonder if I would have been better off going into work and earning the overtime to pay for it, then also having official receipts and dealer stamps in the Service book, to back it all up ?
Obviously time will tell how they hold up and perform, but for £90 I reckon it was money well spent, for a 2004 Zed with £123k on the clock.