The venerable 2001 3 door 2.0 ESP has started graunching its nearside front pads. Down to the metal me reckons. The discs have run two sets of pads and are way under the wear limit so I'll be fitting new everything. I used Motorcraft pads last time because the aftermarket set I first fitted were about as much use as putting your feet through the floor and trying to stop the car Flintstone style so I binned them.
Where to go? Ebay, Ford or a factor for good and also cheap?
In article , Dave Baker scribeth thus
Got a Europarts dept locally or as you say Motor Factors can be good...
Based on past experiences e-bay can be rather variable unless its a known good supplier..
Why do they call 'em that?. Never heard of computer bits factors eh;?..
OEM, at a small discount:
Chris
If you're going as far as Aberdeen, my brother likes Autosave. Although now Eurocarparts have a branch there he may change. Can't really ask him now as he's abroad on holiday.
If not in a rush Ebay - but do make sure you recognise the brand. ;-)
Genuine preferably but Mintex kit from a car shop are fine: 35.64 plus vat.
+1 on this. This firm have not only an excellent website with actual 1:1 dimensioned drawings of the parts, but they are also a pleasure to deal with too. I have no connection with them other than a very, very satsfied customer. I have dealt with them for years looking after many vehicles and the one time they sent the wrong item, the replacements were on a courier that same day and with me the next. No waiting for the incorrect items to be sent back even!
JB
Why not get some part used from scrap yard?
You would need to take a rule or callipers to check they have life left in them.
Well in the end I went for Ebay for both cost and convenience.
Hopefully I'll have it all fitted and tested next week.
Bah humbug. Seller had a condition I didn't spot about not delivering FOC to certain postcodes including my rural Aberdeenshire AB one. So I've stumped up an extra £9.99 for courier surcharge but it's still cheap enough in total. Then I worked out I could have had it sent to my mate's work place closer to Aberdeen with an approved postcode but too late now. I'll know in future.
I tried to reserve something online from the Aberdeen branch of Eurocarparts, they sent me a text to say it was in but when I arrived the gentleman said he had no record of my order, he wouldn't match an online price (about half what he quoted) and that the part wasn't in stock anyway. I got the distinct impression that he could not have given less of a f*ck if he tried. Having made an 80 mile round trip I was pretty annoyed.
They sent me another text the next day to say it was in so I phoned, and lo and behold they had never heard of me. I complained.
The manager of the branch called back a few days later and said sorry.
Anyway, if you're into online shopping, order from carparts4less.co.uk, they sell almost all the same stuff and it comes with eurocarparts stickers on it but costs 30-50% less.
So they are .. almost the same website, but cheaper prices;)...
Well it all arrived very promptly on Monday morning in a Fedex van with a motley, but quite acceptable looking basket of products.
Allied Nippon front pads. Drivemaster rear pads. LPB front discs. Rotortech rear discs.
I can find them all online so let's hope they actually fit, work and don't warp in service.
Nipped round to The Gary's this evening and he put the front discs and pads on for me. The metal to metal noises from the old ones was getting very irritating. We'll leave the old rear discs and pads on for now as they've got tons of life left in them but it's handy having the new ones ready for the future and it barely cost any more ordering the full car set at only £60 all in than just getting a set of front discs and pads from most other places.
He pronounced the front calipers still fine at 12 years old and no sign of sticking pistons which he'd been worried about as he says they're prone to that on the Focus but one of the offside pads was well stuck on its rail with rust and road debris. The nearside pad that was down to the metal had made a right mess of the disc obviously but other than that no issues. With everything cleaned up scrupulously and a smear of copperslip on the rails the pad flanges slide on it's like a new car. Loads of bite and retardation instantly as you touch the pedal which had previously needed a bit of a shove to overcome the friction and wear in everything but I now see just how much I'd got used to it being like that compared to having brand new brakes. It really does stop on the proverbial sixpence now. I nearly ended up with the dog in the front with me on the way back home.
I'm very happy, especially with the Ebay supplier, for both cost, quality and speed of despatch. Highly recommended. Four discs and eight pads for only £60 is daft and way better than anything I could do through my own trade suppliers or even most other Ebay or online sellers.
I had a nice result at the council tyre skip last week too. A matched pair of 205/55/16 Dunlop Sport Winter M3s with 5mm tread left and unmarked sidewalls which will go nicely on the Focus when the snow comes round again plus another matched pair of 195/50/15 Hankook Ventus S1s also with 5mm which fit The Gary's mother in law's car who I've donated them to. The Dunlops get ace reviews it seems for both winter grip and also summer wet and dry grip so they'll probably do fine for general use when my Toyos wear out.
It's got to be about as close to zero cost motoring as you can get. Free tyres from the skip, cheap brakes off Ebay, free tyre changing coz your mate has a tyre changer, he does all the servicing and repairs free and nothing else on the damn car breaks anyway. After 9 years of ownership on a 12 year old car I'm now up to the princely sum of nearly £150 in total maintenance costs including wipers, oil, filters, brakes and tyres (which of course have been zero). When I had a Fiesta XR2i which rotted, crumbled, leaked and broke on a daily basis I hated all things Ford with a passion but the Focus is just unbeatable. I actually think if Ford keep making cars as reliable as my Focus they'll go bust.
And this is the time you discover you have drums, not diskcs, on the back!
Ten years ago the workshop manager of the local Ford dealership said exactly that to me!
My current 10-year old Focus has not been as good as the first one; I had to replace the starter motor at 9 years/85K. ;-)
Chris
I had to re-grease the end bearing on one, the symptom was a sort of squeal as you release the key and the starter freewheels for a moment.
I'm guessing that mine had a stuck or worn brush. Intermittently, the solenoid clicked but nothing else happened. After several tries it would go.
In other times, I would have taken it off and had a look. Chances are cleaning the brushes and holder would have fixed it, but at the time I was unwell, and needed reliability to attend hospital clinics, so I paid a local garage to replace it.
Chris
if the solenoid clicks then the brushes are ok, it would probably have been the actual heavy duty contacts in the solenoid a bit burnt. or just a poor connection
Sorry Mr C, but that makes no sense to me at all!
The starter motor relay energises the solenoid, the solenoid engages the gear pinion, then the contacts supply voltage to the motor. The brushes are not involved until that very last step.
The fault could have indeed been faulty contacts in the solenoid, but I can't understand how the fact that the solenoid could be heard to engage meant that the brushes were OK.
Chris
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