Mondeo (1999) Brake Disc wear

The words "kipper" and "done up like" spring to mind. The standard thickness of a Mondeo vented front disc is 24mm (0.945"). There'll be a fair latitude on that between disc manufacturers because it isn't exactly a critical tolerance. Seems like the ones you had on to start with were fine. The wear limit on vented discs is usually 2mm. It may be that the caliper on the nearside was sticking on a bit and that disc had worn thinner but now you'll never know. Motto - always ask for your old parts back. They belong to you and a garage is obliged to give them back to you.

Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish, unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.

Dunno about Ford, but BMW stamp the minimum thickness on the disc hub - easily seen if you remove the wheel.

2mm of wear is permitted on the vented front discs on my Primera, 1mm for the solid rears. Thickness when new is 22mm front, 10mm rear. 30k seems a relatively short life for the pads, let alone the discs! Don't discs usually last about the lifetime of two pad sets?

Stuart Sharp

Dave Baker wrote

:-(

Thanks Dave. I should have measured the N/S disc, but assumed that the report related to both sides.

Many years ago I used to get the parts back without asking, but the garage was next door to my parents. I didn't know that I was legally entitled to their return nowadays, but I think a letter to the service manager might be called for, requesting the return of all removed parts in future work carried out. Or maybe a change of Main Dealer.....

Heh heh. Some years ago, my car died on the way into work - it was rather obvious before that the alternator had failed and I hoped the battery would take me there, but it didn't. The RAC took the car to my dealer, while I went on to work. The dealer later phoned up to say not only was the alternator faulty, but the battery too. Having little option but to allow them to change it, I asked for the old one to be retained, as it had been fine before with no signs of failure - and wasn't that old. On collecting the car, I asked for the battery, and was told they had no way of telling which one of the 'old' ones they had was mine.

you mean they didn't put it in the boot? or mark it in anyway? you should have said you didn't belive them and then asked for proof that they had changed it :)

Stu wrote

I would have thought so, although I did have new discs on my previous car ('95 Cavalier), but wasn't unduly surprised because I had driven it on Ainsdale Beach on dry sand and when I drove off the beach, I found I had virtually no brakes for a mile or so, which no doubt started a grinding-paste job on the discs. :-(

I can only assume that as Dave said, there was some binding on the N/S brake. There was no pulling when braking firmly, but perhaps a slight tendency left when gently coming to a halt, which I blamed on road camber and the faint channels caused by HGVs at one particular junction close to home.

As you get older and buy younger cars you tend to get out of touch with symptoms and DIY. Having said that, I spent a happy hour today in drizzle sorting the N/S screenwash jet on my girlfriend's L reg Astra. It is still blocked, but I replaced the plastic tubes which have perished, then she wouldn't let me bring the jet away to soak and clear it because it's in for MOT tomorrow. She also noticed the scratch on the bonnet I made when prising the jet out. :-(

Doesn't matter whether the jet is absent or inoperative, it'll still cause MOT failure. She should have let you try to sort it first.

Stuart Sharp

Stu wrote

I wasn't sure about that in the case of the nearside jet, and the driver's side manages to do a good job with twice it's share of water! Somebody confirmed this evening that it's a fail, so I'll take a look tomorrow. It could have been soaking overnight though. :-(

Try soaking in petrol. I clogged one once by waxing the car - petrol should break up the wax. Alternatively, just get a new one from the dealer, they're not that expensive :-)

Stuart Sharp

Stu wrote

I called her to arrange to have another look, planning to fit a new jet, but got no reply, so I donned me boots and went for a short hike on a sunny day!

When I got back she called back to say she had taken the car for a service and MOT and they had fixed it for her, plus another failure - the hazard warning switch always required a special technique to operate.

Best outcome as far as I'm concerned!

Thanks for the comments anyway.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Another very common fault on Vauxhalls of that era and one that my old Cavalier suffered from. You have to press the switch at precisely the right pressure and angle to get it to operate. Easily sorted by a trip to the scrappy :-)

Stuart Sharp

Stu wrote

That's the one! You had to kind of flick it. :-)