Car advice

[thistledo]

On 31/07/2021 at 12:37, jimmy boo said:

Us £91 an OK price for 4 NGK spark plugs? Just spent £548 on a service at my Subaru dealer and thought they'd be about half that

Half of that should be around what it costs tbh. Last time I bought spark plugs for a similar type of car was around £30. 

Certainly most decent independent garages will let you buy the stuff yourself and they fit it, I'd do most servicing myself if it wasn't for the fact of it needing to be added to the VW system that it was done by a qualified servicing place. 

[mishtergrolsch]

Anyone had an Insignia? And would you say economical or shite?

Looking at a 1.5 petrol.

[Thorongil]

3 hours ago, mishtergrolsch said:

Anyone had an Insignia? And would you say economical or shite?

Looking at a 1.5 petrol.

I used to have a 2l diesel with the higher BHP and it was middle of the road economy wise. It was actually a pleasure to drive though, like shit off a shovel.

it wasn’t great though in terms of durability. Had to spend a bit of money on the thing.

[Boostin' Kev]

Is A74/M6 best route for Edinburgh to Lake District?

[Michael W]

37 minutes ago, Boostin' Kev said:

Is A74/M6 best route for Edinburgh to Lake District?

Bypass/A702/M74/M6 is the quickest.

Always a danger of being stuck behind a tractor, though. 

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Anyone had an Insignia? And would you say economical or shite?
Looking at a 1.5 petrol.

Decent on the motorway in any spec. I imagine the 1.5t engine will provide Decent town driving as well.

[Left Back]

Got my car MoT’d on Monday.  All good.  It’s in for a service today at the main dealer and they’re saying all the brakes and pads need replaced because they’re dangerous.

Got a couple of issues here.  The main dealer put new pads and discs all round when it was serviced 2 years ago.  The car was 3 years old then and had done under 30000 miles.  If the car has done more than 2 or 3 thousand miles in the last two years I’d be amazed.

Also I thought they checked the brake pads and stuff as well as testing the brakes when they MoT it?

Is the dealer at it here?

 

[Jinky67]

1 minute ago, Left Back said:

Got my car MoT’d on Monday.  All good.  It’s in for a service today at the main dealer and they’re saying all the brakes and pads need replaced because they’re dangerous.

Got a couple of issues here.  The main dealer put new pads and discs all round when it was serviced 2 years ago.  The car was 3 years old then and had done under 30000 miles.  If the car has done more than 2 or 3 thousand miles in the last two years I’d be amazed.

Also I thought they checked the brake pads and stuff as well as testing the brakes when they MoT it?

Is the dealer at it here?

 

Brakes and pads are checked during MOT. The check the brake pads and discs for wear and for a brake pad to be considered dangerous there has to be less than 1.5mm of material left. This would have been a fail on your MOT, if worn down to the wear indicator it would have shown as an advisory so for a MOT station to miss this would be seriously negligent. 

Discs again if excessively worn, pitted or fractured would have either been noted as an advisory or failed. 

Has your garage explained exactly why they are dangerous? 

[Left Back]

Just now, Jinky67 said:

Brakes and pads are checked during MOT. The check the brake pads and discs for wear and for a brake pad to be considered dangerous there has to be less than 1.5mm of material left. This would have been a fail on your MOT, if worn down to the wear indicator it would have shown as an advisory so for a MOT station to miss this would be seriously negligent. 

Discs again if excessively worn, pitted or fractured would have either been noted as an advisory or failed. 

Has your garage explained exactly why they are dangerous? 

He’s away to ask the mechanic and call me back.  I did tell him it was MoT’d on Monday which led him to want to speak to the guy.

[Arthur daley]

9 minutes ago, Left Back said:

 

Is the dealer at it here?

 

Undoubtedly 

Especially if it’s only been a few years and a few thousand miles since replaced , unless there was some problem with the brakes binding but you would notice that while driving  and the recent mot would have shown any problems considered “dangerous “  

[Jinky67]

3 minutes ago, Left Back said:

He’s away to ask the mechanic and call me back.  I did tell him it was MoT’d on Monday which led him to want to speak to the guy.

 

1 minute ago, Arthur daley said:

Undoubtedly 

Especially if it’s only been a few years and a few thousand miles since replaced , unless there was some problem with the brakes binding but you would notice that while driving  and the recent mot would have shown any problems considered “dangerous “  

Agreed. Unless the discs have somehow fractured or warped since Monday then i can't see how they could be considered anything close to dangerous and if you had a warped or fractured disc, a seized caliper or similar you would without a doubt felt it while driving

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

He’s away to ask the mechanic and call me back.  I did tell him it was MoT’d on Monday which led him to want to speak to the guy.

Probably change to just needing a clean.

[Left Back]

1 minute ago, Jinky67 said:

 

Agreed. Unless the discs have somehow fractured or warped since Monday then i can't see how they could be considered anything close to dangerous and if you had a warped or fractured disc, a seized caliper or similar you would without a doubt felt it while driving

He's phoned back and said the pads are worn and split and that's why its dangerous.  He also said the brake pads don't get checked during an MoT.

Either the MoT people have fucked it or the dealer is at it.  Think I'll pick the car up and get a second (third) opinion.  Not handing over cash to the dealer again to replace pads and discs that have done sod all miles.

[Arthur daley]

6 minutes ago, UsedToGoToCentralPark said:

14 minutes ago, Left Back said:

He’s away to ask the mechanic and call me back.  I did tell him it was MoT’d on Monday which led him to want to speak to the guy.

Probably change to just needing a clean.

Nut,they will be damaging them as I write this . 

[Arthur daley]

3 minutes ago, Left Back said:

He's phoned back and said the pads are worn and split and that's why its dangerous.  He also said the brake pads don't get checked during an MoT.

Either the MoT people have fucked it or the dealer is at it.  Think I'll pick the car up and get a second (third) opinion.  Not handing over cash to the dealer again to replace pads and discs that have done sod all miles.

Worn as in thin after a few thousand miles? The discs ok or need replaced ? Good for not just saying f**k it just do it  as they hope most people do . 

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Remember to get the quote for recommended work from them when you pick up the car.

[Left Back]

2 minutes ago, Arthur daley said:

Worn as in thin after a few thousand miles? The discs ok or need replaced ? Good for not just saying f**k it just do it  as they hope most people do . 

I remember being pissed off when they had to get done 2 years ago and I did say "f**k it just do it".  Checked the mileage.  had done 28000 then.  has done 32000 now.  maybe the parts they used are made of cardboard.

Have got it booked into a local garage now on Wednesday to see what they say.  If it needs doing fair enough but I'm not paying main dealer prices and maybe they'll last a bit longer this time if they do have to replace them.

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

I remember being pissed off when they had to get done 2 years ago and I did say "f**k it just do it".  Checked the mileage.  had done 28000 then.  has done 32000 now.  maybe the parts they used are made of cardboard.
Have got it booked into a local garage now on Wednesday to see what they say.  If it needs doing fair enough but I'm not paying main dealer prices and maybe they'll last a bit longer this time if they do have to replace them.

Those month end targets need to be met. I remember seeing into the office at my local dealer and they had a whiteboard with something called ramp up at the top, tech names on the left, day off week on the top axis and amount of extra work in £ achieved per day.

Guess there was a bonus involved.

[Jinky67]

22 minutes ago, Left Back said:

He's phoned back and said the pads are worn and split and that's why its dangerous.  He also said the brake pads don't get checked during an MoT.

Either the MoT people have fucked it or the dealer is at it.  Think I'll pick the car up and get a second (third) opinion.  Not handing over cash to the dealer again to replace pads and discs that have done sod all miles.

He is talking shite mate, brake pads are checked as there is a legal minimum limit of material that has to be checked to ensure they aren't dangerous. Brakes being probably the most important safety feature on your car for this "mechanic" to suggest they don't get checked is nonsense.

Most cars also have a brake pad wear sensor which will trigger a warning light once they start to contact metal. If your brakes were dangerous in terms of pad wear this would and should have illuminated or that would also be a fail for a faulty sensor.

A brake pad can crack however i'd want to see evidence of it before i gave the go ahead. You have done the right thing going to a local independent. 

 

Edited August 26, 2021 by Jinky67

[Left Back]

14 minutes ago, UsedToGoToCentralPark said:

Remember to get the quote for recommended work from them when you pick up the car.

Why would I want to get this?  No intention of asking them to do the work.  Seem to remember it was 6 or 7 hundred last time.  Certainly not cheap anyway.