Peugeot 306 Brakes - Lifetime Guarantee?

Hi everyone.

I recently took my 306 into my local K**k-F*t garage to have two new tyres fitted. While they had my car on the ramp, they also noticed that I needed new pads and discs all round due to 'exesseive wear'. I said that they had fitted pads 18 months ago and that they were covered by their 'Lifetime Guarantee'. They accepted this (although they couldn't find my details on their computer - surprise!) but said that I would need to have new discs fitted which were not covered.

I have had three 306's over the past ten years and realise that brake pads on this model wear really quickly. However I had new discs fitted about two years ago due to 'excessive wear' and was wondering why they would again wear so quickly. I'm sure when I started driving in1981 that car owners didn't have to have their discs replaced every two years. I only drive about 14,000 miles per year.

My question is; Is it normal for my discs to wear out after two years or is K**k-F*t just trying get some more cash out of me to cover the cost of their guarantee. Has anyone else come across this at Kwik-Fit? (Ooops!)

Stay away from Thick-Fit. I once witnessed a 'fitter' use a metal faced hammer to refit a set of mini brake drums. (you'd think he would have slackened the adjusters first as part of that job entails..)

Recent chats with my local parts shop indicate that rear discs are being MOT failed due to excessive corrosion more frequently these days. This is due to more vehicles having them as standard and the fact that they don't get the usage like the front ones. When braking all the weight shifts to the front so the load is on the front pads/discs. The rears generally have a pressure limited bias to prevent spinning under braking. This results in an inability to clear the corrosion and premature deterioration of the disc surface and edge.

I recently replaced a one owner 2001 Corolla rear disc set at 27K miles for this reason. It is a common fault on Mercedes as well with them not lasting more than 20K miles. The problem seems worse if open faced alloys are fitted (no s**t sherlock..)

18 to 24 mnths is a bit steep though - get shot of the car and buy something with less expensive habits.

Thanks Ron.

As mentioned, I do have open faced alloys. I will probably get rid of it next year and go for a Honda CRX. Now that Peugeot have stopped making the 306, there's none from the range that I like anyway. I have to say in defence of the 306 that it has been a fantastic car to drive and has not caused TOO much financial pain.

Thanks for the reply

I hope you didn't believe what they said, I don't surposed they measured the discs when they said they were worn out, rust biulds up on the unworn edge of the disc and it make it look a lot worse than it really is. I own a Citroen Berlingo and there not much difference brake wise from the 306, my car has done 85,000 miles and still on the origonal discs and I only changed the pads at 48,000 miles. Rear discs are a problem as they do tend to rust up, and no matter how hard you try the pads won't clean off the rust, you have to use emery cloth and elbow grease. Dont let them frighten you into changing the discs, get them to measure the discs in the centre of the rubbing path with a micrometer and not a thumb nail and ask them how much wear has taken place, there should be no more than 2mm of wear, one of the reasons that they give a wear limit is to stop the piston popping out of the caliper body when the pads are fully worn. I'll quarantee that they are taking the p1ss, unless they have fitted some very abrasive pads in the past.

Thanks johnwr.

Yes I thought the idea was that the pads wore quicker than the discs.