Took my ’08 A4 into the garage today. The rear brakes have been binding a little with the disks getting quite hot after a long drive.

Mechanic tells me the pads were sticking in the holder so I needed new rear pads.
Does an MOT which was fine and a new pollen filter.

Total price, £309…… This is a local garage. Now I’ve not seen the breakdown yet but given the MOT would be £50, this sounds terribly expensive. We’ve known this guy for twenty years, never, ever had a problem with him and find him to be very trustworthy. So where would the cost come in?

He did say that cars with the electronic parking brakes cost a lot for rear pads but I’ve had a look online and they don’t seem to be expensive. Is there something I’ve missed? Obviously i’ll know more when I see the breakdown but that won’t be for another week.

Any ideas?

He may have replaced the discs as well.

His labour cost? You are buying his time and his skill.

Indeed. I’m assuming replacing brake pads doesn’t take too long though. Unless the electronic gubbins add to the time.

samuri – Member
Took my ’08 A4 into the garage today. The rear brakes have been binding a little with the disks getting quite hot after a long drive.

Mechanic tells me the pads were sticking in the holder

What does he mean by ‘the holder’?

Sure it wasn’t the calipers binding? Perhaps the cost is for new pads & calipers on the back?

He definitely said the calipers didn’t need replacing. Guess I need to wait till I get there next week and collect the documentation, have a chat with him.

Perhaps he used quality parts rather than pattern parts from ebay ?

Electronic handbrake audi’s require the relevant software on which ever diagnostic tool he is using, this doesn’t come cheap, so you might well have been charged a diagnostic fee as well. The calipers have to be deactivated before winding the pistons back, otherwise the caliper is damaged, and when the job is finished the caliper has to be reactivated. See alot of this problem with audi/vw rear brakes as they use an aluminium caliper carrier and the pads are steel, so bimetallic corrosion occurs.

The pads aren’t expensive but the equipment to do the job is.

Example , the cheapest off brand disks and pads i can find will still cost you 80 quid in heavily discounted parts – youll be paying retail at the garage so in the region of 140 quid for those cheap parts plus your mot plus a couple of hours of his time.

I also doubt a garage would be fitting cheapest of cheap to a heavy premium motor like an audi a4 😉

That sounds like a reasonable explanation and he did say they had to get the audi computer out.

I would be a tad pissed off if someone told me I needed new pads, and they went and fitted new discs too without checking first. If it was sticking he might have had to remove the carrier and clean/lube the slide pins, which can be a bit of a bastard.

Front pads and discs for mine (A4 – not 08!) were about £250 so with £50 for the MOT I reckon you’re about spot on the money. Assuming that you have new discs too, of course.

If you can afford an 08 A4 a few quid for the brakes shouldn’t trouble you!

“I would be a tad pissed off if someone told me I needed new pads, and they went and fitted new discs too without checking first”

Errr to do the job correctly as per manufacturers instructions which any competent and dilligent garage should be , disks and pads get changed together.

Not the garages fault if you have shonky repair standards or know better than the manufacturers.

if your pads have been sticking and it’s excessively worn the discs then you’ll need new ones, as it’ll trash the new pads.

trail_rat

Errr to do the job correctly as per manufacturers instructions which any competent and dilligent garage should be , disks and pads get changed together.

Not the garages fault if you have shonky repair standards or know better than the manufacturers.

If I’m changing rotors, I’ll fit new pads. But if I’m changing pads I’ll check the rotors for wear and act accordingly. I don’t follow the manufacturers recommendations for grade of oil, tyres, fuel or boost pressure and I change my oil about twice as frequently as they recommend so I take manufactures instructions with a pinch of salt.

Ah but most importantly your not a garage with paying customers and liability insurance who would love if you blatently disregarded the safety instructions from both the car and the brake pad manufacturers.

I do as you do , change the worn parts and regular oil changes etc, but im also not a garage with paying customers.

trail_rat – Member

Ah but most importantly your not a garage with paying customers and liability insurance who would love if you blatently disregarded the safety instructions from both the car and the brake pad manufacturers.

Indeed I am not, but surely most independent mechanics would discuss it with you? I can see main dealers taking that approach. I wouldn’t know though since I’ve never taken a car to garage to have brake pads changed.

if it was sticking he might have had to remove the carrier and clean/lube the slide pins, which can be a bit of a bastard.

Every time I change pads I clean and regrease the sliders. False economy not to as if one sticks then its new pads again. Takes me a little over 15 min per side to do take my time fully cleaning and relubing sliders, removing the piston seal and winding out the piston to check and wind back in and clean and refit the seal and get it all back together all brushed off and freshly lubed.

I can’t stand people not cleaning up all the sliding surfaces and just whacking new pads back into a caked up caliper and yoke.

But as for discs, no need to replace them every time you do discs. That is just a waste. Check condition and thickness and replace as necarssary. Why replace discs that are absolutely fine?

Watching wheeler dealers the other day and the guy said to use copper slip on brake sliders….arghhhh

Which manufacturers require you must replace discs when getting new pads? c

Err to do the job correctly as per manufacturers instructions which any competent and dilligent garage should be , disks and pads get changed together.

Jimjams got it right.

High five!

Changing discs EVERY time you change the pads? Are you on crack?

Pads are designed as a consumable, as are discs, but the replacement ratio is probably about 4 sets of pads to a set of discs. Discs usually have a minimum thickness (as do pads), but the wear rate of pads will be a lot higher.
*EDIT* unless the poster means when you replace the discs, then you should replace the pads at the same time, which I would agree with.

In my experience I am nearly always told to replace the disks when the pads get replaced. I never believed it and took the car other places but they all said the disks needed replacing so I just take it that change in pads almost always means new disks also.

traildog – Member

In my experience I am nearly always told to replace the disks when the pads get replaced. I never believed it and took the car other places but they all said the disks needed replacing so I just take it that change in pads almost always means new disks also.

I hope you don’t drive anything too flash

Used carbon ceramic rotor anyone? 😯

Wow!! That seems incredibly expensive. Just dropped my ’08 A4 for it’s MOT. It’s also having a major service, plus replacing all discs and pads and I’ve been quoted £346 for all of the above (might not need all discs/pads replacing – just wanted a price for worst case scenario!).

This is at an independent Audi specialist (shout out to Ron Turnbull’s in Midddlesborough).

traildog – Member

In my experience I am nearly always told to replace the disks when the pads get replaced. I never believed it and took the car other places but they all said the disks needed replacing so I just take it that change in pads almost always means new disks also.
I take it you do the same with your bike?

As long at the discs are not near their minimum thickness, excessively corroded or have excessive runout there is no need to replace discs when the pads are replaced.

Audi centre

http://www.audi.co.uk/owners-area/servicing-maintenance-mot/fixed-price-services.html

REAR DISCS & PADS (up to 2000cc over 3year old) £259 inc parts,labour & vat

& £49.99 MOT at Audi centre inc Audi Mot protection policy (foc – cover >£750 failure items at next MOT)

The OP was talking about rear pads ONLY.
From the Audi dealer price list

Brake pads (rear) – £129

Brake pads & discs (rear) – £259

I would say both prices are reasonable-ish.