Cost to replace front discs?

The message from snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com (jmc) contains these words:

They're not hard to change yourself if you've a socket set. About half and hour per side, provided there's no unexpected nasties.

How much that'll cost depends on your mechanic. Between £20 and £200 I should expect.

As for 'em being rusty - where's the rust? If it's on the bits that are supposed to be shiny it implies that all is not well with the calipers. Either the slider is jammed, or one piston is seized - depending on the design of the brakes. This will need correcting as well, or you'll be wasting your money. Alternatively it's possibly that the pads are damaged - if one's got a chunk missing for some reason - rare but I've seen it - then you'll need to replace them as well.

Many people (me included) replace pads as a matter of course if discs are being changed - though that might depend on how worn the pads are - if they're almost new then you might choose not to.

When asking this sort of question, it's best to give the make and model, as replacing a disk isn't the same on all vehicles.

Not that it matters, but have you seen the actual MOT refusal form? Discs all rust when the vehicle is unused, but that rust disappears after a few applications. They're likely to be either cracked or worn too thin.

Nah they'll never take that long surely? I remember a couple of years ago, me and my mate fitted new disks to his Nova :) We had NO mechanical knowledge, a s**te selection of tools, and only the Haynes BoL for guidance. Still, we did it in about 2 hours, and it only took that long because it took us an hour to get one of the wheels off :)

Rusty disks?

If your brakes work then brake hard a few times and they'll be shiney again (well, at least the strip where your pads hit the disks).

If this doesn't happen then your calipers are seized which means no brakes on that wheel!

Disks vary in cost, but around £50-£150 a pair plus 1-2 (tops) hours labour to fit. All depends on their size.

The message from "Dan405" contains these words:

Depends. Some calipers can be bastards to shift, and I had a Renault Trafic which had the discs so solidly rusted on that I had to belt 'em with a sledge-hammer to get 'em off.

A garage will / should do a pair in < 1 hour easy

But at home you may get problems such as seized bolts (especially the little screw that holds the disks on when the wheel is removed, and sometimes calipers need freeing. My old Golf GTi - took about 40 mins for the pair incldng getting tools out. But once took me 3 hours as I had to drill the screws out - bummer.

I've taken an angle grinder to some before. And I defy anyone to change Rover 600 discs in less than an hour per side.

John

I just changed the front discs and pads on my wifes car a couple of days ago, a first for me, and it was pretty easy.

But there was an odd rust problem on the offside disc, the inside of the disc had about 2cm rust around the very edge. It clearly looked as if the pad hadn't been in contact with the disc at the very outer edge and had led to the rust build up - but upon checking the pad, the pad had actually been worn down by this build up of rust. Most odd. The discs and pads were about 4½ years old and pads were only a third to a half worn, car has 36K miles on it.

The message from "Johnny" contains these words:

Now that you've replaced the bits - keep an eye on it. It's often sticking slides or pistons that cause that sort of pormbel[1].

[1] Gawd knows what happened there!

Certainly will keep an eye on it.

As to the original question of cost, the dealership wanted £140 to replace the front discs and pads - which to be honest I think is fairly reasonable (I have heard of people being charged over £600 for discs and pads all round - not a Ferarri either, but a Toyota). But I bought the discs & pads from Brakes International

for £75 including delivery. Although I came across a nut on the caliper mounting bracket that wasn't accessible with a socket so spent a further £4.99 on a spanner!

The message from "Johnny" contains these words:

Hmmm, nothing for a Montego!

Blimey, they don't to antiques ;-)

Firstly, a car cannot fail its MOT on rusty discs. The only possible close failure reason is discs 'excessively pitted', and unless your car has been parked in the sea for the last couple of years, without being used, then I cant see that being the case.

What is the exact wording used on the fail sheet, and under what section has he failed it??

Secondly. you say it is a 'truck'. Exactly what vehicle is it,. some larger vehicles have the discs fitted to the insides of the hubs, meaning the hubs have to be removed to take the discs off, which would obviously increase the time and therefore the price of the job.

Lastly, if you don't fully trust your mechanic, take it elsewhere.

The message from "SimonJ" contains these words:

However, it could be that the chap has inferred (probably rightly) "restricted free movement of brake components" - which is a fail. If he's got rusty rings on his discs it's quite probably something's jammed.

IIRC, that's fairly common with Rover products too.

Oh yes there is. A complete set of front pads at £10.95 + VAT, Each front disc is £8.17 + VAT, Next day delivery for my little lot was £5 + VAT.

Blimey, I should be on commision here :-)

The message from "Johnny" contains these words:

How did you find that? I tried their rather patronising search system and it didn't list Montegos.

The message from "Johnny" contains these words:

Bloody hiding under Austin/BL, innit!

Which is why I was asking what exactly he had failed it on, replacing the discs will not cure a sticking caliper.