Took my Golf in for an MOT and service today. They came back and said that the rear pads were 80% worn and the discs are corroded so recommend replacing at the cost of £350. I’ve driven about 8k in the last year and they were at 70% this time last year. To me I read ‘80% worn’ as 20% of pad life left. Is it dangerous to carry on as is for another 8k to 10k miles?

On that trend I’d be looking at them in about 18 months assuming you’re not taking it on the track any time soon.

When you say “recommend” I’m assuming it’s an Advisory?

Bottom line, would you notice that the pads had worn to a dangerous level and/or discs failed before the next MOT (except for an accident when you couldn’t stop 🙂 ).

The fact you’re asking here, Id say the answer is a “no”.

Get them done IMO, if you do so few miles you’re just putting off the cost for months etc, rather than actually saving anything.

Nobody on a forum will be able to assess your brakes for you, if yours passed muster for MOT the corrosion can’t be disastrous so maybe just keep an eye on wear and see how you get on. £350 sounds a bit much for that work though so maybe shop around if you’ve no particular relationship with that garage.
FWIW I’d only expect my garage to recommend replacement for wear if they thought the discs/pads would need renewal before the next service, but then I take it to the same place annually for a service and MOT so they’ve a good idea about my typical use and mileage.

Passed the brake test on the MOT, so it’s just a recommendation flagged by the VW dealer as ‘red’ on their visual health check videos

We had an MOT advisory on the rear pads and discs on my partner’s 6 year old VW polo last February and an amber on the ‘health check’. I had a look at the pads through the wheel spokes and looked ok for a good few miles. Had an issue with the TPMS in September so took it in to get that checked out. TPMS was simply a code fault that clearing sorted out, but while they gave it a visual check on the brakes on the ramp I was shown that the inner pads had effectively worn to the metal with less than a mm left and had scored the inside of the discs. The outers were still about 5-6 mm. New pads and discs.
I felt pretty stupid for not checking more thoroughly in February
TLDR: I’d change them for peace of mind but not necessarily at a VW garage, as whilst the parts were relatively inexpensive, the labour was not.

a recommendation flagged by the VW dealer as ‘red’ on their visual health check videos

That’s the £350 explained then! Bit of scaremongering there to flag up any safety critical part as “red” when they’ve just assessed it as safe in an MOT test.

Thanks all, I must admit saw the red and it gave me the fear – it’s a good sales tactic. It’s still good enough to pass the MOT brake test, which they didn’t mention on their email or video. I’ll definitely take it to the local independent VW specialist in a few months/few thousand miles, the labour costs will be much more reasonable and they still use genuine parts.

Worn pads won’t stop the brakes working. But the thin bit of pad material left might shear off. Ask me how I know this…

£350 for discs and pads all round at at VW dealer is OK price wise.

They may or may not require changing now as opposed to in a few months / years depending on your mileage and driving habits.

Don’t get me started on MOT advisories. An MOT is not a condition report, it is but it’s either pass or fail, not a “well, it needs doing, maybe, cos I’m a bit short of work” type affair. Advisories shouldn’t be on the MOT certificate, they should be a service the garage supplies, in addition to the inspection.

I’ve had things pop up on advisories that weren’t mentioned the following year, having not done any work. Like I said, an MOT is pass or fail.

£350 for discs and pads all round at at VW dealer is OK price wise

OK? It’s a billy bargain!

Unfortunately though, the quote in the OP looks like it was just for the rears.

Had similar on our polo, waited for a nice day got on YouTube and DIY’d it for a LOT less than the garage wanted. First side took an hour, second much much quicker. Decent discs and pads on offer at EuroCarParts. Has passed MOTs since. It is a cost that’s in your future (unless your selling the car) so DIY or not, might as well get on with it at your convenience rather than at the behest of the garage.

Just today ahead of a big journey I got mine done at my independent – Golf GTD. Was making noises and had been flagged as pads running low at last service by the same garage. All 4 disks and pads £420 including suspension and bearing check and fixing a fog light. Terrific, love spending globs of money I’d not factored in like that :-<

This was not even an advisory on the MOT, just their own advice based on the visual health check they do at VW and it’s good they flag it TBH. As it’s a 2016 with £48k mileage I’m happy to get the general servicing done with a main dealer for the service history benefit, but it always feel likes they try extra hard to push loads of extra work every time I go. I used to do a min 15k miles a year, but new hybrid WFH means 8k/9k will likely be max mileage per annum.

As the discs are corroded, it’s time to replace. My car failed as the pads were worn, but as the car has been sat a lot during covid, it’s finished off the discs too. I also needed a caliper as that was sticking on. Indi but came to £300 ish. PS got 140k out of my rear discs – front are original too, but I’ll replace them as they are less faff than rears.

BIL had to have all his discs and pads replaced at circa £500 – 4 year old car, sub £40k miles. It’s been sat on the drive for most of the two years though. Discs badly corroded.

Let them do the basic services to maintain the service history, but find a mate to do the brakes. Yes they are a safety item, but they are also very easy to do to at least the standard a dealer would do.

I do my friends’ cars for a cuppa. Depending on the electrick-ness of the handbrake you might need a gadget to tell the calliper to rewind, in addition to a few basic tools and a dab of calliper pin grease. Usually the hardest part is finding the locking wheel-nut adapter.

My £350 quote was just for the rear pads and discs, the indi sounds like the best bet

My indi charged £100 labour (incl vat) for the rear discs and caliper change. As we weren’t 100% sure it was the caliper, I let them do it (plus the weather was crap).

Rears need a winding tool usually, to wind the pads back due to the handbrake. Fronts are a real doddle to change.

Just done some on an Aygo – front discs and pads – £38 the lot. Silly money. Much more expensive on my car.

Rear VW pads and discs, failed MOT. The 1/2 price MOT garage wanted £280
Local garage £130, i just had to brazen out the free re-test at MOT garage

As the discs are corroded, it’s time to replace

You’d want to replace them because they’re corroded in such a way that they didn’t even merit an Advisory on an MOT the car just passed? I don’t think I’d be doing it.

so it’s just a recommendation flagged by the VW dealer as ‘red’ on their visual health check videos

My Volvo had seatbelt mounts replaced last month under recall. The main stealer dealer gave me a lush video tour of my car, which included two ‘red’ flagged issues.

One was the cover for a headlight washer was missing.

One was that the battery case was not secured down. I did point out that the battery case was a) factory fit b) weak plastic and unlikely to actually contain a battery in a crash and c) the battery was clamped down inside the box, really rather well.

They will try anything for extra income.

(They missed the nearly rusted through brake disc shield on one side that fell off a fortnight later BTW)

I bought new rear Feb bilstein discs and cheap pads for £48 Inc postage, also add in brake cleaner, rubber cleaner, a new 16mm socket and a 7mm hex socket
Probably all in £60 for BMW Z4 brakes and two hours of my time today
The grating noise was embarrassing as my ears were the wear sensors
There must be a big make up for some garages when it comes to things like brakes
I work in construction definitely not a mechanic

It being vw I imagine sir will be paying the 60 quid charge for which one gets one’s car badly washed with a jetwash and badly hovered? My local is really not very good. I’m not bitter about it! 😀 They tried to have me over for replacement washer jets bizarrely. They’ve done about 4 services since and it’s never come up again. Did I mention I thought they weren’t very good?

Ford gave me a ‘red warning’ after the car received its second service, stating that the front disks and pads needed replaced.

Those same disks and pads remained on the car for another three years before any replacement was needed.

Main dealers are crooks as far as I’m concerned.

Just because brakes pass an MOT, does not mean they don’t need changed.

The only way brakes can fail for corrosion, is if they’re corroded bad enough to mean they’re likely to fail structurally.
As long as the brakes still produce the required performance, with no binding, or obvious ovality (brake pedal pulsing), they can’t fail for corrosion. This was changed years ago, due to more unscrupulous mot test centres failing brakes for insignificant corrosion to gain work.

However, that means brakes can still be corroded to the point it does affect braking performance, and/or result in bad brake judder at higher speeds, yet still pass an MOT.

A key thing to remember, is an MOT is a check to a minimum standard that components are not likely to fail at the time of test. Tolerable limits are usually well beyond what the vehicle manufacturer recommends, so a vehicle can easily pass an MOT, yet have various things flagged as part of a service inspection.

My highly rated independent charges not far of half the main dealer per hour. They are all VAG trained and have access to the manufacturers online system to update the service history.
I finally lost faith in main dealers when they told me the service bill for my Golf would be substantial as it needed a cam belt change – I had to point out it had a timing chain.

It’s always worth haggling with the main dealer. They price matched the local VW indy when I had my rear pads and discs changed a few weeks ago.

not all dealers are the same but…

That, once upon a time, was VW/Skoda/audi spec DOT 4. I had the car serviced at the wimbledon main dealer when 3, and brake fluid changed (part of the service pack I’d bought with the car). I finally got around to the long overdue second fluid change myself recently and the fluid in the fronts was not too bad, but that bottle of gunk is what came out the rears. Me thinks the tech didn’t bother with bleeding any fluid through the rears, hence that was 7.5 year old fluid…yuk.

Ayway, advisory, if you aren’t doing lots of miles wait a bit and check every few months. don’t take pads below ~3mm of material left as they tend to shear the remainder off, and as for discs, surface rust is fine but if th braking surface is heavil corroded then they are shot.

changing them is easy if you have tools and an inkling to do it, if not even halfords and such chains are pretty cheap for brakes.

Free VW parts for anyone willing to go get them.

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