Is this car clocked? - Warning

I have seen a car listed for sale at a large independent dealer. It is a 2015 Japanese family car, which has 29,000 miles on the clock.

However, when I checked MOT history, things don't add up:

2018 - mileage 14,000

2019 - mileage 18,000

2020 mileage 22,0000 - Pass
Advisories:

  • Front Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
  • Front Brake pad(s) wearing thin (1.1.13 (a) (ii))

2021 - mileage - 28,000

It has two previous owners.

How can a car with factory fitted brake pads need replacing at 22,000 miles? On the RAC website. It says brake pads can last anywhere between 30,000 and 70,000.

Is it reasonable to assume this car has been clocked?

Edited by Warning on 16/05/2021 at 15:30

Is this car clocked? - Xileno

Too many unknowns to say. It maybe the previous owner(s) had a heavy foot. My brother's wife doesn't 'read' the road, continues at full speed to a junction or a red light and then slams the brakes on. Could this car have been a hire car? Does the car have brake-operated traction control?

Edited by Xileno on 16/05/2021 at 15:40

Is this car clocked? - Andrew-T

Too many unknowns to say. It maybe the previous owner(s) had a heavy foot.

As I reported on another recent thread, I had the dubious pleasure of driving a business pool Peugeot 309 (about 30 years ago) for about 200 miles. It had done about 16K (IIRC) and the brakes made grinding noises because there was very little pad left.

Brake pads can wear down quite fast if the driver has a heavy right foot.

And as to the colour, the V5 has a limited pick-list for colours. If the registering dealer had only partial colour vision that could account for Green instead of Blue, for example - and unless someone bothers to correct it, it will stay that way.

Edited by Andrew-T on 16/05/2021 at 17:41

Is this car clocked? - Engineer Andy

Too many unknowns to say. It maybe the previous owner(s) had a heavy foot.

As I reported on another recent thread, I had the dubious pleasure of driving a business pool Peugeot 309 (about 30 years ago) for about 200 miles. It had done about 16K (IIRC) and the brakes made grinding noises because there was very little pad left.

Brake pads can wear down quite fast if the driver has a heavy right foot.

And as to the colour, the V5 has a limited pick-list for colours. If the registering dealer had only partial colour vision that could account for Green instead of Blue, for example - and unless someone bothers to correct it, it will stay that way.

Indeed, and I mentioned on another thread, a former colleague wore down his Pug 206's pads in a year because he liked to drive fast and brake late.

I also suspect that pads wear out quicker than from reasonable (but not heavy) use if a car isn't used much, the discs warp and thus cause uneve wear on the pads as a result.

Is this car clocked? - FP

I don't think it's been clocked.

More likely it has been used for short journeys and has not been garaged - hence rust forming on the disks, which get rubbed off by the pads each time the car is used, thus wearing the pads excessively.

Is this car clocked? - Warning

They told me it was a leased car from Honda contract hire c/o Lex Auto.

The other thing they remarked was the V5 says the colour is X, but they tell me the colour is Y. They told me the car is not crash repaired, as it is HPI clear. I asked him, if there are mistake like this on the V5. He told me it is the first time he has seen it.

The car is still being prepped. No photos.

I don't know if it has brake assisted traction control. It is a base model Civic.

Is this car clocked? - focussed

What is brake assisted traction control?

You probably are referring to stability control which uses the abs and sensors such as yaw and steering input to compute whether or not the driver is in the process of departing from the authorised safely controlled trajectory and activate the braking system if it detects that the driver has exceeded the pre-programmed parameters.

Otherwise known as " electronic clamp down on having fun"

Is this car clocked? - Xileno

"You probably are referring to stability control "

That's what I meant...thanks ;-)

Edited by Xileno on 16/05/2021 at 17:08

Is this car clocked? - Terry W

There are 74 nationally 2015 or 2016 Honda Civics on Autotrader.

If you are remotely concerned about this one, unless it is very cheap, leave it and look elsewhere. They are not scarce or specialist.

Is this car clocked? - catsdad

Civics are very good cars but having had one, and also an Accord, they can be heavy on brakes. I had company a dozen or so company cars that ran up to 50k miles none required any pads or discs replaced except the Accord.

The Civic was my own car and needed front pads at about 20k and pads and discs all round at about 70k.

Is this car clocked? - Big John

The other thing they remarked was the V5 says the colour is X, but they tell me the colour is Y.

It depends on the colour - I've had some strange colours over the years. I seem to remember a Ford red that was more purple and a Hilman red that looked yellow. I think it's set at the point the dealer first registers the car.

Is this car clocked? - Miniman777

The other thing they remarked was the V5 says the colour is X, but they tell me the colour is Y. They told me the car is not crash repaired, as it is HPI clear. I asked him, if there are mistake like this on the V5.

Mistakes on a V5 are not uncommon. I had a Mazda MX5 which, according to the V5, had 3 seats!

Any doubts, just walk.

Is this car clocked? - SLO76
Nothing there to suggest it’s been clocked, it’s all fairly consistent but you should compare it to the service record to see if it corroborates it. Clocking is again rife but only within the first three years to disguise excess mileage from leasing firms. It’ll show with an unusually low mileage being covered in either the third or fourth year which often signifies digital mileage “correction” also known as clocking. Loads of firms advertise this service despite the actual legal uses being extremely limited, really only a replacement display should require it.

If the service history is missing or unstamped then walk away and find another. At my local Honda main dealer I found the bulk of their supposedly approved used stock either had no service histories at all, had questionable mileages or poor quality paint repairs. This is the sad state of today’s used car market where the first keeper never owned the car or cared about it as they only ever rented it either on PCP or contract lease.

Edited by SLO76 on 16/05/2021 at 17:13

Is this car clocked? - Bolt

If the service history is missing or unstamped then walk away and find another. At my local Honda main dealer I found the bulk of their supposedly approved used stock either had no service histories at all, had questionable mileages or poor quality paint repairs. This is the sad state of today’s used car market

After my look around for Civics, Main dealers are better than the back street for genuine mileage.

the back street garages showed only stamped books where all the MDs had full paperwork but were like the BS for poor paintwork and found it hard to find a good car, and ended up buying a 2008 full S/H all paperwork but needed new tyres, apart from that its fine and drives really well for age.

Is this car clocked? - Bolt

How can a car with factory fitted brake pads need replacing at 22,000 miles

Very easy as if you only do town work which I did for a while in my 2015 civic tourer, the front pads needed replacing around 15k rears 22k, over the 4 years I had it, it got through 3 sets of pads in 70k worth of driving

they all have brake assist

while looking for my replacement car Civic again but older I found 3 that had been clocked and could only tell by the MOTs

Is this car clocked? - Galaxy

Is the car an automatic? If so then the brakes always take more of a pounding than the brakes on a manual car because they are being applied more often to slow the car down.

I used to know a chap who could get through a set of front brake pads in 12,000 miles!

Is this car clocked? - Marlin1

How can a car with factory fitted brake pads need replacing at 22,000 miles

Give it to my Mrs. 18k miles in a Nissan Note and new pads and disks needed.

Races right up to the junction then slams the brakes on.

I age a year every time I am a passenger with her!

:-)

Is this car clocked? - SLO76

How can a car with factory fitted brake pads need replacing at 22,000 miles

Give it to my Mrs. 18k miles in a Nissan Note and new pads and disks needed.

Races right up to the junction then slams the brakes on.

I age a year every time I am a passenger with her!

:-)

Know how you feel. Giving mine a 215bhp Volvo SUV to drive has only made her worse.
Is this car clocked? - madf

I had to change all pads - front and rear - on our Honda jazz auto - at 30,000 miles.

I expect to do the same at 60,000.

Normal. Disks rust in the damp- pads abrade the rust and you see nice shiny disk faces - and black wheels from brake dust.

Roads are VERY hilly. The road outside our house leads to the Morolands - 100 meters higher in less than a mile. Brakes work hard on descents,

Is this car clocked? - Chris M

Of course the "pads wearing thin" could just be the MoT tester trying to drum up some business.

My son's Fiesta had "pads wearing thin" in 2019, but they had apparently grown back by last year and still have at least 3mm when I checked last week. I could list a number of spurious advisories our cars have collected over recent years which have disappeared the following year.

Edited by Chris M on 16/05/2021 at 21:40

Is this car clocked? - Galaxy

With regards to the colour of the car I believe that the DVLA only actually allow 12 different colours to be used for car registration documents.
I once owned a car that was Terracotta and, on the V5 document, it stated it was Red! At the time I firmly believed that this was a mistake on the V5 but, of course, it wasn't.

Is this car clocked? - S40 Man

Lots of good comments. Everyone has taken this advisory at face value. It b is not unknown for MOT station to exaggerate a problem to drum up some business. May week be the brakes are ok for a while yet. Have a look when you inspect the car.

Is this car clocked? - Chris M

"Everyone has taken this advisory at face value."

I didn't :)

Is this car clocked? - catsdad

Good point S40. In my Civic case the dealer service measured the discs and recommended changing them. The MOT done at the same visit, but by a different mechanic, made no mention. Maybe the MOT guy and the service tech were on different bonus systems. However taking the measurements at face value I reckoned I had only about a years wear left before they would be under spec. At that point I intended to keep the car for three or four years so I thought it was as well to get them done as I would never need them done again.

Best laid plans and all that as I changed cars about six months later. Annoying.

As for the Accord the brakes were definitely worn as it was maintained by our in-house garage who would only change anything when they judged it was essential.

Is this car clocked? - John F

Interesting thread - not till the eighteenth post from Chris M that the first thing that came into my mind was mentioned.

Garages like to change pads with many thousands of miles wear left on them (won't last till next service, squire...). With normal driving you should get about 5000 miles per millimetre of pad thicknes (at least !0mm down to 2mm). Same goes for tyres - measure them yourself with a tread depth indicator.

Edited by John F on 17/05/2021 at 09:18

Is this car clocked? - Bolt

Interesting thread - not till the eighteenth post from Chris M that the first thing that came into my mind was mentioned.

Garages like to change pads with many thousands of miles wear left on them (won't last till next service, squire...). With normal driving you should get about 5000 miles per millimetre of pad thicknes (at least !0mm down to 2mm). Same goes for tyres - measure them yourself with a tread depth indicator.

In some cases the Garage is right depending on mileage, I see your generalising, as not all garages are the same, some pads do not last long and 5k per mm wear is not possible on some pads, but some do push the limits of pads to extremes -or- want their moneys worth! which can be false economy

Is this car clocked? - Andrew-T

<< ... some pads do not last long and 5k per mm wear is not possible on some pads, but some do push the limits of pads to extremes -or- want their moneys worth! which can be false economy >>

It's many years since I changed any brake pads, but I remember that the ones I used had a central groove which served as an exit for dust, and also as a wear indicator. When that groove had gone it was time to change.

Of course one could get one's 'money's worth' by going further, but as with tyres, the indicators were there.

Is this car clocked? - Bolt

Of course one could get one's 'money's worth' by going further, but as with tyres, the indicators were there.

Some are not as clever as you;), and do rely on garages to let them know when brakes and tyres are worn to limit, unless of course they are not believed, which some don`t. it seems

Is this car clocked? - Andrew-T

Some .... rely on garages to let them know when brakes and tyres are worn to limit, unless of course they are not believed, which some don`t. it seems

I don't think it's a matter of being 'clever'. I suspect that many drivers are too busy to do more than believe that as long as the car has not broken down, perhaps nothing needs doing until it does. And the MoT (if one remembers it) should pick up any problems. So we arrive at the position already discussed.

If it ain't broke ....

Is this car clocked? - Xileno

I've removed a few posts here and in Technical as there seems to be a comedian around who thinks it's clever to keep repeating other people's posts and adding nothing of any value themselves.

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