Sierra brake query

Yes. How else are they going to learn. & a cross fade is done with a fader (or two)

Nah, it's done preset envelope instruction from within software these days. Ah, I remember when we used to use knobs and sliders my son. ;-))

-- Ken Davidson

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I sort of agree with both sides of the debate. I agree that work on brakes and other safety systems should not be exclusive to professionals. I also agree that it should not be attempted by those that are ignorant. However, there *is* a first time for everything and with the correct knowledge, there is no reason why any car owner should not carry out DIY servicing/repairs to his or her brakes. I, myself, had been a car owner for a few years before I was prepared to attempt so much as an oil change. I later progressed to brake pad changes, fluid replacement etc, but only after I had studied the procedures involved by reading through various car maintenance literature and this NG. For me, saving money is not the main motive for DIY. It's about personal pride, satisfaction and the security of knowing that my vehicle is receiving top notch maintenance.

Stuart Sharp

Would you

So on that score, you would have no objection to the tea boy (read new trainee) carry out vital safety work on your car on his first day after leaving school ?...

If someone wanted help with sound recording or balancing techniques for domestic or amateur use then yes, I'd help them. I wouldn't expect you to let anyone have free range of your work place so why should you expect me to?

It's a different matter DIYing car repairs on your own car. Most will take a great deal more care on their own car with things like brakes than many a 'pro' on piece rates.

Might well be in post or music recording. But still the old fashioned way for many things.

You seem to continually confuse having work done to a car by a garage, and DIY.

I'll bet you're in in the

I'd let him use my mixer. Any of them in fact. Besides how do I know that's not who did the job down my local Vauxhaul dealers last time I let them repair the brakes & they left the transfer piston out from between the servo & the master cylinder?

Exactly, and the LAST thing you need is to be discouraged from trying. When you think about it, squeezing a bit of metal between two fibre pads is not exactly rocket science. I bet we all have a host of stories about incompetent garages not to mention over-charging on parts and labour !

Conincidentally, the last job I had done was a routine change of fluid, and I know he bled them in the wrong sequence, described as ' VERY IMPORTANT ' in the Rover manual. Oh and he left, and then crushed the small cylindrical damper device under the bonnet, when closing it !

For me, saving money is not the main motive

Andy Pandy To e-mail, address hopefully, self-explanatory !

Do the pads yourself. You'll need one of those tools from Halfords to=20 screw the pistons back in.

--=20 Conor

"The vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world.=20 And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice."

- George Bush

But neither should fails praise be given were safety is concerned.

I suppose we could all be brain surgeons if we cut a few peoples heads open and had a go...

Not in the slightest, a garage I could sue the arse off if they cause an accident through faulty brakes, I stand little real chance in doing that to a DIYer...

IMO there is no difference between a garage doing the work and a DIYer, both have to do it correctly and safely.

I'm not going to defend what happened, but there is more chance of an error if committed being noticed by another person in the garage than a lone DIYer checking there own work or even two DIYers were neither really know what they are doing IYSWIM.

Just to clarify, I was responding to Dave's question regarding if I have ever worked in a garage, I have no 'vested interest' in preventing (safe) DIY.

Err, that's not really what I was asking, what I was suggesting was, would you (if someone suggested it to you) be happy if someone off the street mixed an episode of 'The Bill' or 'Family Affairs' and for their efforts to be transmitted just because they thought they were capable of doing your job for a few hours when they have asked questions that make it very plain to you that their knowledge is (or appears) very limited if not totaly lacking ?

Care and not knowing what one is doing are two totally separate issues, one can take great care whilst working on a braking system only to find later that due to ones lack of knowledge the previously safe system is now lethal... I have no problems with DIYer working on their cars, as I've said there are many jobs even a novice can do whilst gaining experience, but some others need knowledge and or experience.

I've had good success by screwing them back using a combi spanner and screwdriver. I use the jaws of the spanner (about 17mm) to engage with the dogs of the piston and turn it with a screwdriver, slid through the ring end, to act as a T bar.

HTH

Stuart Sharp

Not so. When more than one person is involved one of them is more likely to assume the other has done it. And they might be more blase about their work thinking someone else will notice, or at least share blame, if they c*ck up. And the quicker they finish the more money they make.

It's not unheard of for garages to do things like forget to fill an engine with oil after draining it. I'd no sooner do that to my car than I'd forget to get dressed before leaving the house.

If brain surgery is no more complicated than car brakes, where do I sign up?