Hi,
My Nissan Almera has 36,000 (2.5 years old) went today for P3 (big service). Dealer phoned within 20 minutes and asked to change brake pads on all 4 wheels (£280) and the 4 tires (another £280) because they are 1.6 mm exactly. I stupidly said 'yes' to the brake pads, and 'no' to tires since I know for a fact they have 3mm ... so paid £600. Not happy!!! Now, I'm thinking about this. The service spec from Nissan has mostly I (Inspect) on each item. If the inspection is not thorough, clearly they are just looking for 'more work opportunities' for themselves, and charge us for the priviledge. They claimed original brake pads were 85% worn after 36,000 miles, does that make sense??? Taking all the 'I's out of the list (since we can't trust the dealer) leaves a few filter replacements, and oil & filter. So --- what's the point of paying £328? I promised myself never to go to a dealer again!!! Wait until things break and only replace them then. Unfortunately, waiting for brake pads to degrade is not that safe...
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Porky ... my Almera 1.8 has just had a P2 done by a pain dealer and they did the rear brake pads as well cos they said they needed doing ?
Bill came to a grand total of £236.87 ... so that is for basically an oil change and to do the rear brakes !!
I only went to the dealers as it was still under warrantee but form now on I shall change my own oil @ 6mths and I've found a little garage near me for the service which will be a P3 next year
Re: my complaints about the fuel additive & the headlight alignment, I've written a *strong* letter to the dealer principle saying I wouldn't mind changing to the Nissan Cashcow (if I won the lotto) but there's no way I would entrust it to their"service" dept.
The Almera is a fairly low-tech (but good) car El Porko so it wouldn't be much to diy it or find a good independent (word of mouth)
Good luck! - Ray.
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Ray - thank you for your story. You got off lightly - I paid £600 for P3 + 4 brake pads which probably didn't need doing. Dealer said they were '85% worn' ... but the dealer also said my tyres have 1.6mm on them and are illegal. Actually - I measured this morning 3mm on all tyres (and they are worn evenly). I'd love to go legal on this dealer only that it will cost me more than I'll get. But the question that keeps me awake at night is : WHAT IS THE EXPECTED LIFE OF AN ORIGINAL NISSAN BRAKE PAD? Cheers, El Porko.
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>>WHAT IS THE EXPECTED LIFE OF AN ORIGINAL NISSAN BRAKE PAD?
How long is a piece of string?
It depends how the car is driven. Some people will be able to see them off in under 10,000 miles, while others will be able to nurse them to 50,000.
If you must use them, the best way to deal with dealers is to measure your tyre treads, and your pad thickness before the car goes in, and, if need be ask advice on here. Then, when the dealer is on the 'phone, you can ask what the measurement is, with the happy confidence that you already know the answer!
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I have a Primera 1.8, the P11-144 shape (99-02) and the only time it's been near the main dealer was for a replacement key & fob and for said new items to be coded to the car.
The servicing of the car is done every 18,000 miles by my local garage in the village (roughly every 18 months) and is about £120-ish; I just ask for a major service to be carried out and they do that, plug replacement, oil & filter change and maybe pollen filter or anti-freeze change (as appropriate).
Then at the 9k interval I have an oil & filter change done by a well known fast fit chain, cost about £20 and I replace the air filter then as well.
The Primera, like the Almera is a fairly simple car. Just reading this thread is convincing me that I have the right idea. I know that my car is supposed to have a P1,P2 or P3 service but I've no idea what that means in reality.
As for the brake pads, I think they last longer if you don't get into the habit of pulling the handbrake on whilst still moving slowly, I'd never had to get rear pads replaced first but in this case the grinding noise I got whilst gently pulling the handbrake on sort of gave things away. They lasted about 40k-miles or so, I replaced front and rear and hopefully they'll last until around 80k when no doubt it will need new pads & disks.
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Several main dealers are now working on the principle that will the brake pads (and the like) last until the next service interval. If not, they ask the customer whether they want them changed while it is in for servicing. They try and put it across that they are doing the customer a favour by changing them now, rather than in 4 to 6 months time and have to put up with further inconvenience of having the car off the road again to have the work done.
My local Vauxhall dealer tried this with my dad by saying the brake pads and disks are worn and need replacing. Luckily I took the phone call and they then went further by saying that they will not last until the next service period. My dad only does 5,000 to 6,000 miles a year, which is less than the yearly service interval and therefore I declined their offer on his behalf. A year later they tried the same 'trick' but I declined their offer again. 6 months on I changed the disks and pads for him myself. The pads still had 3 mm of meat left on them, and the disks were still ½ mm up the minimum thickness level. In short the pads and disks lasted 30 months longer than when the garage wanted to change them.
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Cheer's Porko - I'll let you'll know how I get on Re: my *strong* letter to the dealer !
Brake pads (obviously) will wear out sooner with auto-trans (like mine) and live in a hilly area (like here) compared to somewhere like E. Anglia + long motorway runs compared to stop start etc.,
O'Gingerous one ... I had the Primera a few years back - good car!
The main difference between the P1, P2, P3 services is that they're sposed to change the break fluid, air cleaner, PCV filter (where applicable), spark plugs, cabin air filter on the the bigger?services so ... you're doing the right thing me ole m8
Dynamic Dave ... To be fair, I was asked if I wanted them to replace my rear brake pads ... In these trying times, and things are gonna get worse finacially - it makes sense to diy it really, or find a "little" garage ... I can get 45 MPG up on the ole dash computer (believe it or not), but I have to drive like an old woman to achieve that figure which I can do here in Cornwall ... until July & August !!! but I've me day's of flying about London and the A20 in a 3ltr Supra, Dolomite Sprint, 3 ltr Capri x 2, BMW's, Jag's, Rover V8's etc., etc., etc. Happy days indeed !
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Several main dealers are now working on the principle that will the brake pads (and the like) last until the next service interval.
That caused a huge amount of hassle a few years ago on our company Peugeots - on 20K service intervals they were having the front pads and disks changed every service as they wouldn't make it to 40K. The leasing company was going bonkers but we said any work the dealer called for had to be done as we refused to allow the cars to go for routine work between services.
The other side of the coin is that I picked Mrs BP's Jazz up from servicing and they said the front pads had about 7500 miles on them but as the car only did 5-6K/yr they should be OK. However, strangely, they did call a few mths later to see how they were getting on and would we like to bring it in to have them changed!
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I recall niceguyeddy saying on here some time back that servicing was where the main dealer made his money and you can see that wiper blades, pads and tyres are easy to check first thing and get on the phone to the owner for authority to replace while the oil's still draining out. But they've got to be honest and you've got to watch out.
I replaced the battery on my 1.8 Almera in December. The main dealer price was as good as any other I could find and they seem to try and match on tyres. If I were technically competent and we had a garage, or even a drive, I'd try and do some work myself but I'm not and we don't so the dealer does the work which has been (touch wood) very little apart from the services.
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How about oil these days ... I've always been a GTX man, when I used to have my 240 GLT serviced by an indy a few years back, the engine would always make a hell of a noise on starting from cold and the oil light would take about 7 secs to go out so I would bin their oil (some Vauxhall stuff), stick on a genuine filter and all was quiet again !
Is Castrol still the biz ? How about Exol Full syn - any good ?
Nissan use the frog Elf or total, which on the last service was a 5w/40 but I'd sooner see something a bit thicker when its cold ... how about oil additives, I used to use something called Molyslip or later on it was STP ... do peops still use em? do ya need em? do they muck up an expensive full syn? so many questions, I think I'll go and have a cup of tea, but, I'll tell ya one thing - oil is the lifeblood of an engine !
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How about oil these days ...
In all but a few specific cases, e.g., VW PD engines, it's simplicity itself.
Fit a genuine filter, and use oil that meets the viscosity ratings and meets or exceeds the quality standards, changing it before or at the intervals given by the maker.
>>see something a bit thicker when its cold ...
All oil is allways too thick when cold - just because the number on the tin is lower, the actual cold viscosity is much higher than the hot viscosity, for any oil. Again, the car's manual's advice should be followed.
Aftermarket additives are not required , and many car's manuals will discourage their use. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than pour that rubbish into an engine.
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>>I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than pour that rubbish into an engine.
I've the greatest respect for you NC, and bow to your greater knowledge and experience, but!
I believe STP extended the working life of several of my old engines, by keeping them going until some other terminal problem consigned the car to the scrap yard. I do agree though on current engines.
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My experience with the stuff has been bad - very bad. I found it did an excellent job of oil filter blocking!
Thankfully, nowadays, only a real numpty would consider using it!
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>>I found it did an excellent job of oil filter blocking!
Perhaps that would increase the oil pressure enough to extend the bearing life a little ;>)
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