Front brake pads and discs
The front brakes do roughly seventy per cent of the stopping, and wear accordingly.
Weight shifts forward when you brake, so the front brakes do most of the work and wear out first — usually two to three times faster than the rear. Pads are the wearing part; discs last longer but not forever.
Whether the discs need doing with the pads depends on their thickness and condition. A disc with a deep lip or below its minimum thickness will not give new pads a flat surface to bed onto. We measure rather than assume, and if the discs are fine we fit pads only.
How you know you need it
- Grinding when braking — stop driving it and ring us
- A judder through the pedal at speed, usually a warped or unevenly worn disc
- Squealing that persists after the first few stops of the day
- The brake warning light with no handbrake applied
- A brake check has measured the pads near 3mm
What we actually do
- 1 Car on the ramp, both front wheels off
- 2 Calipers removed, slide pins cleaned and greased — seized pins are what wears pads unevenly
- 3 New discs where measurement says they are needed, new pads either way
- 4 Everything torqued to specification, fluid level checked
- 5 Road test to bed the pads in, and we tell you how to bed them in over the first hundred miles
Questions about this job
Do discs always need changing with pads?
No. It depends on thickness and surface. We measure and show you the reading.
Why do you confirm this one by phone?
Because the right parts have to be here before you arrive, and they vary by model. We ring to confirm rather than have you turn up to a car we cannot finish.
How long do new brakes take to feel right?
About a hundred miles of normal driving to bed in fully. Avoid hard stops from high speed in the first few.
Front brake pads and discs — in Westhampton
118 Mill Lane, Westhampton, Westshire, WX1 4AB. Open seven days, Sunday included.