I am a bit confused because my brakes are making a scraping noise even though the pads were renewed 1000ish miles ago. I was told on another forum to check my discs and I have done they are smooth but the very outer bit sticks out a bit. Is this the lip which you're not supposed to have?
I am trying to work out if I need new discs or not, I have not put this in technical as I am not asking how to replace them just a very basic question in inspection.
There are lines on my discs but you can't feel them but then it sticks out at the very top so I am confused.
Is there any method of actually checking discs?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 05/10/2009 at 14:42
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The lip at the outside of the disc is normal and usually develops because the pads don't extend to the outer diameter of the disc, so this annular area doesn't get worn.
Are the pads genuine spares? Non-genuine pads could be incompatible with the disc material and could result in a scraping noise.
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Rob I am keeping you busy tonigh, its actually a B, one of the last of the B, though I doubt it will make any difference for the purposes of this thread.
No idea what the pads are, I was charged £45 including labour for them. The thickness of the pads are around 1cm maybe 12mm. The noise was there before I had the pads changed. When I bought the car I had it serviced and was told the pads will need changing within 3000 miles, that 3000 miles turned out to be 300 miles.
The discs feel smooth to touch e.g there is no real grooves although its not perfectly smooth no discs I have felt ever are unless they are brand new, they feel exactly the same as my dads and his car has exactly the same milleage. What makes me think the discs might need doing is I suspect they are original as I have no paper work to say they have been replaced, so thats 82,700 miles almost. However the previous owner mainly did motorway work.
I had the brakes bled around 500 miles ago.
Either I way I assume this noise is affecting braking performance? I have nothing to compare the brakes to. It dosn't pull or anything.
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No idea what the pads are I was charged £45 including labour for them.
You mean to say you didn't specify what you wanted them to fit? That's asking for trouble!
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Nope just assumed he would have known what pads work well with my car, I mean its not exactly rare.
I learnt that lesson though with my exhaust which the fat fit place messed up.
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Those discs want skimming the lip off or you could be a little rough like me and get the angle grinder out and whip the lip off, but you should have done that before you fitted the pads!
If those discs have covered some mileage around 50-60k then just replace if it's the second set id whip off the lip, it's hard to say without seeing the disc & there is a minimum thickness too.
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Can you upload a photo Rattle ?
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Taken some from inside the wheel but they are useless, I am going to happen get the wheel off but its pouring down of rain and very windy at the moment :(. Hopefully by tomorrow the weather will have calmed down.
If it helps the noise is a lot more obvious at slower speeds (probably because of road noise masking it).
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Are you sure the noise is coming from the front brakes?
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Its the brake without a doubt it only happens when I press the pedal. Some half decent pictures at last. I jacked my car up but had trouble removing the bolts with my spanner so I left it with the wheel on.
tinyurl.com/ye9y9pl
tinyurl.com/ycdot5s
I have also noticed a chip in the wheel I seem to remember this is an MOT failure?
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It's probably one of the new pads fouling the lip at the edge of the disc. Sometimes a bit of grit gets in the pad and makes a noise for a while. But if the braking is normal I doubt if there's anything to worry about. Keep listening.
There's a bit of a dent in yr wheel rim in the first pic Rattle.
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I know there is Lud only just spotted it now. I did clip the kerb a few weeks back may have been from then. I assume its an MOT failure? Mentioned it on my post above.
I am tempted to get a nice set of smart alloys but they would be 14" and mine are 13" it would probably affect the speedo too much.
I have a almost brand new tyre on that wheel too.
As for braking well the car stops, I never feel like it won't stop but I have driven cars with sharper brakes I am not sure what the Corsas are supposed to be like.
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It isn't an MoT failure. The tyre appears completely undamaged so I doubt if the dent was done with that tyre on the wheel. The dent isn't bad enough to compromise tyre pressure or position or anything like that. Nothing to worry about really. A big hammer would straighten it out quite easily.
Steel rims are cheaper, stronger, more easily repaired and not significantly heavier than alloys. They are preferable in most ways.
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Thanks Lud :)
I will just continue using it for now and then work out what I am going to do. The biggest problem with alloys is they would be 14" and mess up my speedo so if I do replace it will be a steely.
The MOT is in feb so I may as well sort any issues which may affect it out now rather than be faced with a big bill then.
When I jacked it up I put my picture behind the wheel and got a good shot of the brake pipes etc and they are all in perfect condition so that is one less thing to worry about. A little wire brush and they will look like new.
Also span the wheels and thee is no evidence of any binding and the bearings seemed perfect e.g no wobble.
Edited by Rattle on 03/10/2009 at 17:14
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You do not undo wheel bolts with a 'spanner'. You clealy do not know much about cars and suggest you take it to a garage/tyre/brakes place that does. This may be a safety issue. Regards Peter
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And those corroded wheel bolts - enough to give Oilrag a heart attack !
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I meant the wrench you get with the car. I suspect the bolts have probably been torqued up using a machine hence why I had trouble removing them but I didn't try too hard.
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"And those corroded wheel bolts - enough to give Oilrag a heart attack ! "
I`ve been sweating about the `wire brushed` brake pipes - with no mention of grease...
;-)
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Might be a good idea to get one of them spider wrenches (gives you more leverage) to carry in the boot in case you need to change a wheel at the roadside.
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Every now and then, Lidl/Aldi do a decent wheel brace. I've one in my boot.
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Every now and then Lidl/Aldi do a decent wheel brace. I've one in my boot.
Is that the folding one from LIDL? If so, then likewise, I've also got one in the boot.
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Every now and then Lidl/Aldi do a decent wheel brace. I've one in my boot.
Available at Lidl from Monday 12 Oct for £3.99
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Lo and behold!
From next week (12/10/09): tinyurl.com/y8bd8pe
Edit. Sorry oldcrocks, I didn't spot your post ;>(
Edited by bathtub tom {p} on 05/10/2009 at 13:38
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That's not the one I've got.
Mine is a star brace, but you can fold two of the arms down to make for easier storage (in the provided plastic pouch)
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Thanks I will get one of those :).
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For the minimum wear limit of the disc thickness, go to an on-line brake part supplier, look up your model of Corsa and you will find the correct figure.
I suggest brakepartssuperstore.org.uk/index.html
but there are other sources of this information.
A simple calliper with a screw adjustment can be used to measure the disc thickness then manoeuvred around the lip on the disc edge and measured with a steel rule.
There's no point in trying to remove the lip as it's solid cast iron, though it is worth removing flaking rust.
However, if the disc thickness is anywhere near the minimum then scrap the discs and buy new ones, they're cheap for the Corsa and easy to fit.
My experience of most modern cars is that the discs are worn out at the same time as a set of pads.
If there was no lipping of the discs then the pads would most likely have a lip as their outer edge would overshoot the edge of the disc. The pads would rapidly crumble and fail.
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hi bud, it could be the shim that the pads sit on they do have a habbit of moving and rub on the discs
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If your brakes are making a scraping noise, and your pads have been professionally replaced only1000 miles ago, why think they are giving the problem. Its very possible the noise is coming from the rear brakes that have not been replaced. I would look there before getting bogged down worrying about the front, and then get your mechanic in if there is a fault.
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Yes wire brushing the pipes made me suck air through my teeth. Some pipes are plated and others coated so wire brushing is a no no. Pete D
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When the car was serviced 2000 miles ago he didn't mention anything about the rear brakes needing any work but its all city driving so they might well do now. However the noise does seem to be coming from the front.
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If the "1000 miles ago" brake work was done on the car recently, take it back there and ask nicely why it is happening (so soon).
Daughter's KA went back to have squeaky brakes sorted after disk and pad replacement at a Ford garage.
They replaced the lot again. That fixed it.. (although that's not what I expected to be done).
Regarding the ding in the wheel, my daughter has produced one or two of those on her KA over the years - at the most recent tyre change the fitter restored the wheel shape without charge.
Maybe an advantage of being female....?
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Well the car is running as sweet as a nut and returning 40mpg even in city traffic so I am tempted just to replace the discs and pads anyway as I intend to keep the car until it breaks.
I think the guy that fitted them will just fob me off if I take it some where else I will get the rear pads checked too.
I wonder how much VX charge for discs and pads? I will do some phoning round tomorrow as I have the day off.
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I wonder how much VX charge for discs and pads?
Generally approx £15 to £20 more than www.autovaux.co.uk do.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 08/10/2009 at 19:59
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I meant with fitting too :). I am not going to work on my brakes when I have never even changed pads before. I would probably end up in the back of a double decker bus :).
I should ask how many hours labour is it? 90 mins would cover it wouldn't it?
Edit I see the parts should be around £50 all in so its just labour really.
Edited by Rattle on 08/10/2009 at 20:05
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Check out the prices at the "fast fit" which the dealers for most makes of cars have on their sites, i think Vauxhall call theirs Masterfit. They will use genuine parts, have Vauxhall trained fitters and usually charge sensible prices.
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The labour time allowances for front wheel drive Vauxhalls used to be pads 0.7 hours, pads and discs 0.8 hours, i.e., the mechanic got a whopping 6 minutes extra time for fitting the discs!
Happily, the geometry allowed both operations to be done without removing the caliper.
So, if they're charging you much more than an hour's worth of time, it's too much.
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Thanks so given the parts are £50, labour at £40 an hour £100 should cover it. If VX can do it for around £130 then I would be happy with that. I know I am going to get stupid quotes like £300 or so though.
Two nights out or perfectly good brand new brakes, erm its a no brainer really :).
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local factors apec discs£20 pair £10 for pads. this is a diy job
going to save you a fortune in your life time
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As Rattle clearly does not know much about car mechanics I suggest he does not do a DIY job as he will not be saving a fortune in his life time, as his life time may be shortened dramatically. Regards Peter
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I have booked my car in for a 'free' health check at VX. The person I spoke said it could be a number of things but it may well be the discs. I will test the master cylinder again before I take it to ensure they don't start spinning me lies regarding that.
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I'm intrigued. How are you going to test the master cylinder ? Regards Peter
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By following the procedure it states in the Haynes manual.
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Good luck - let us know how it goes?
i take mine to Vauxhall to do a free "health check" it costs nowt for peace of mind.
Edited by redviper on 09/10/2009 at 18:28
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How honest do you fine them? I know it varies. This dealer gained my trust because he was asking a lot of questions and told me quite a lot of about discs and pads mostly which has been covered here. He seems to think it may that the discs should have been skimmed rather had nothing.
People will probably think I am over the top always fixing little things with my car but when it comes to brakes what is more expensive repair work or causing an accident due to faulty brakes.
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Rattle, skimming discs is a waste of money as it generally costs more to do than to buy new discs.
OK, if you own some high powered exotic car then skimming discs might make sense but for ordinary motors it just doesn't make sense.
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Indeed I don't think the man on the phone was implying that is what needs to be done, what he said was it sounds like if you didn't need the discs the I may have just needed them skimmed but if they didn't even skim them at 83,000 miles its likely the new pads have just moulded onto the old disc surface because of the grooves.
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I find the vauxhall dealer I go to very honest. Twice they "advised" me that I needed a new exhaust on my astra (which it did) and each time I said to leave it. But they never tried to sell me one just advised it was dropping to bits
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Thanks :) It will be interesting to see what they have come up with since in the past 6 months I have had the following work done
1) Four new springs
2) Three new tyres
3) New pads (but suspect this is where the problem is)
4) Complete new exhaust
5) New MAF sensor [did this myself]
6) All the usual service items, air filter, plugs, oil etc
I suppose it is not in their interest to make up a load of lies as a) nobody will bother doing it on a ten year old car 2) the public will clock on.
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