Disks and pads

So my car was making a god awful squeal from the driver side rear and a trip to my local stealers beckoned. They said the rear disks had got too hot and we're 'chalky' and 70% worn. The fronts are 60-65% worn and although not urgent they need replacing to remove the somewhat embarrassing noise.

The quote.... £550 incl for new front and rear disks and pads and 1.2hrs labour

Then I went off to my local non-franchised garage. Very well regarded family business and they quoted £173 incl for a mid-range set incl fitting

I think of pads and disks as more of a consumable and although I would always use the dealer for my servicing for brakes and tyres potentially go elsewhere.

The lower price is almost too good to be true. Should I be advancing with caution on this one. Anyone got experience of using non franchise dealers for a job like this?

Cheers all

Paul

Your car is still in warranty - fitting non LR parts will invalidate what remains of the warranty, if that doesn't worry you then go for it

Ooops! Didn't realise that applied to disks and pads (idiot!). If the garage can order OEM is there still a danger of warranty invalidation by not using a main dealer?

Just begrudging the extra expense. Albeit slapping cheap disks on a £40k car is with hindsight perhaps one money saving tactic too far

Warranty stays intact if they use LR branded parts, if your friendly local person is a Land Rover Specialist then he will probably be able to get a considerable discount on parts from the dealership - mine certainly does and his invoice prices reflect the discount that he gets too

Hi Paul,

First of all, Pads and Disks themselves don't cause this issue... did they explain why the Brakes had been binding and getting hot? This is normally down to a seized/corroded handbrake mechanism in the caliper (or maybe a stone but unlikely given how hot they sound), you could easily end up paying for new disks and pads and it happen again...

(I reckon Dealer expect you to pay for the brakes, and they'll free up the handbrake mechanism while doing the job... or worse not even do this!)

But sounds a good price £173, changing the disks is very easy if changing the pads anyway since the bulk of the work is done. Garage I use charge £69 for a set of Pads (maybe more for the Evoque, this is standard price for cars, not sure about SUV's)

Hopefully an independent will question why the brakes got in this state... it can often lead to a new caliper if they cant free up the mechanism due to corrosion (normally they are older than this when this happens, I've had both my Mazda Rear calipers corrode and seize and need replacing at different times but at about 4-5 years old).

Also you can check if they are using Genuine LR parts (I doubt it at that price) if your are worried about losing warranty on the brakes. For example If these are changed to Non LR spec and a caliper was to fail, I think LR would not honour the warranty.

Think my first port of call is to ask the dealer why your brakes got hot, and why they think changing the discs and pads would stop it happening again! If the handbrake mechanism has failed and caused the brakes to bind then this should be a warranty item... (you might have to play hard ball to make this stick though...)

Personally if you get no where with the dealer, I bet the independent will give you peace of mind for a lot less money than the Dealer will just to change the bits.

Also check the independent garage know how to disable the Auto-Handbrake, (instructions are on here thanks to Cutter7 if you need).

This is a classic example of how important forums can be.

Thank you for setting me straight.

Been Googling but can anyone actually recommend a good specialist in the Midlands? (I'm based in Telford)

Hi
Try Roean at Wrockwardine Wood, I used them when I had the FL2.

Updated

Thanks for the recommendation.

Roean came back at £500 for OEM, fitting and VAT compared to the dealer at £680 after 2 hours fitting and VAT is factored in.

I would continue to shop around but that's a saving on 62 pints of Shropshire Gold bitter which will do me just fine.

For info my dealer is also coming in at £254.40 per corner for Michelin Lat Sport 245/45 R20's

Valuable lesson learned about OEM parts and using a specialist.

Thanks all

It's all down to the EU and the Block exemption or something - provided OEM parts are fitted then using another service outlet than the manufacturers dealers shouldn't invalidate your warranty. It would be interesting to see what benefit being part of the Land Rover Allegiance scheme would make in this case