Just back from Kwik Fit where they've confirmed I need new brake discs and pads front and rear. It's a Ford Focus 2.0 Zetec first registered April 2001. They've quoted £302 to do the job and I nearly fainted.
I've been looking around to see how much it would cost to buy the parts and a Haynes manual to do it myself. The cost of discs and pads varies massively depending on what site you like at. Discs range from £20 a pair to £110 a pair and pads range from £10 a pair to £70 a pair.
Can anybody please guide me on which brands are the best value as I'm sure the cheapo ones will be a pile of dust by the time I've driven to the shop and back!
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Get a quote from an Indy and a Main Dealer first.
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If you're competent, get a quote for parts from your local motor factors.
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Try a national motor factors like GSF or EuroCarParts, they'll be fine.
Follow the instructions in the Haynes manual, or get a competent friend.
I've always found changing pads and discs straightforward.
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Agreed, competent motor factor and you will get parts as good as OE at proabably half of the cost at dealer.
Enlist help of mechanical mate and provide him with a couple of bottles or crates of his favourite tipple (after he's helped you complete the job).
Might even be worth getting him to check if it really needs discs all round, it's just possible the need may have been exagerrated...wouldn't be the first time.
Edit..if you get a make of discs/pads and post here before buying, some of the lads will know whether good stuff.
Edited by gordonbennet on 17/06/2009 at 22:13
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Get a thickness measurement on the discs to see how far off the minimum they are.
Some places will quote you for discs which may not be needed.
Personally I find rear disc handbrake adjustment a bit scarey and haven't yet tackled it as you have to screw in the piston in the right direction and then re adjust the handbrake. A cheap good indie mechanic with lots of experience might give you a good price (many use original spec parts).
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I changed the disks and pads on the front of my 1999 1.8i before I sold it last year, to get it through it's MOT. My 1.8i had drums on the rear, so the following comments are based on the changing the front disks and pads only...
I used UniPart disks and pads (total cost around £55 IIRC) and found the job pretty straight forward, with help from the Haynes Manual and some extra tips from one of the Focus forums.
The calipers were fairly easy to remove from the disks, although I couldn't get enough leverage with an allen key so needed to use a hex-bit/socket set to undo the caliper retaining bolts.
Probably the biggest problem I had was getting the new pad backing plates to slide smoothly up and down the 'rails' attached to the car chassis (not sure of the technical term) - this was mainly due to rust/corrosion. The only way I could see to get round this problem was to file the brake disk backing plate slightly to make them fit - this was a bit fiddly and time consuming, but it's obviously important that the brake pads slide backwards and forwards smoothly to make them work effectively and reduce the risk of them binding.
I was able to push the piston back far enough by hand to get the new pads onto the new disks without the need for a special tool, although I did have to bail-out a small amount of brake fluid from the reservoir to make room !
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Good old caring sharing Kwik Fit eh !
I can tell you for a fact that I am about to do the front discs and pads on our 53 plate Focus and the cost of new discs and pads from the local motor factors is about £65 and thats before you look on Ebay for discs.
The problem these days is that the new non-asbestos pads are so hard, they ofeten wear the disc out of spec before they themselves are wornm out, especially on performance cars such as BMW's etc.
Our Focus had drum brakes on the rear which are still like new so I won't be touching these.
Changing the discs and pads isnt rocket science on the Focus, you should be able to give it a go if you are methodical I would have thought.
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