Who's Responsible?

[bolo 2]

9 months ago when my hyundai i20 was 3 years old, one of the brake pads started breaking up because after 2 or 3 days lying idle, it stuck to the disc. Failed MOT and cost me £450 for 1new pad and 2 discs Now it has started sticking again.
Should this have been a guarantee repair last year and what about this time after approximately 8000 miles?

 

[Burnerman]

Its a bit of a difficult one, as brakes are classed as consumable items - reasonably enough - so you may have a bit of a battle.....what you are experiencing is in fact, quite normal.
However, in this damp weather expect the pads to stick to the discs, especially if the car isn't garaged.
Still, once you start up and try to move, the pads will disconnect from the discs with a click, and wont be damaged. Using the car cleans up the pads and discs as you brake normally, but you may hear a scoring sound for the first mile or so. This is because both the pads and discs contain ferrous material that rusts together.
The secret is, use the car regularly and give the brakes some work!
After only 9 months both discs and pads will be fine, and won’t need replacing.
John

 

[bolo 2]

Thanks for the rapid reply. AA have just examined the car and tell me that the problem has to do with a jammed cylinder. Car's been taken to hyundai garage in town but I've now resigned myself to paying our £200-£300 again.

 

[Burnerman]

A sticking caliper on a car around 3 years old?
Not impossible, but certainly unusual!
John

 

[bolo 2]

Garage found that it was the pads and brakes on the offside rear, the same ones that were replaced last April! However, because they were fitted at another branch service guy said that he would look sympathetically at the repair and only charge 50% of the labour cost. Given that it was no fault of mine that the Hyundai service depot was moved from one part of town to the present one, should the replacement of pads and discs be under warranty after just 9 months? Anyway, £188.00 is cost this time using non Hyundai spares.

 

[Burnerman]

The Hyundai uses a disc/ drum system, disc for the footbrake, drum for the handbrake.
Either the rear disc was very heavily scored or it needed a new caliper in the first place for so much wear to take place!
If there was other faults, the nearside system would be the same.
John

 

[bolo 2]

John, both the disc and the pads were replaced last April. Last night when the AA guy said it was the caliper he let me see through the wheel, the noticeable silver groove running round the centre of an otherwise rusted disc. Service lady said that if it was the caliper it would be under warranty but not if it was just the pads and discs. They will not be replacing the caliper(they don't accept AA guys finding) so is there any way that I can check if the caliper is really the culprit? Lastly, are newly fitted discs and pads not guaranteed?

 

[Burnerman]

Any caliper which is being naughty in the fashion that it won't fully release can be noticed during MOT, where the brake balance can be seen on a dial....however -
What I do is to jack both rear wheels off the ground, and spin them by hand......trying to feel if they spin with the same slight degree of resistance - they should both be equal.
Then, press the brake pedal hard for a few seconds, release and try again. The faulty caliper should now be dragging the offside wheel.
The garage doesn't have to honour brake pads and discs, as they claim they are wear and tear items....but in your case they should. Naturally enough, they will try to wriggle, and try to baffle you with bovine excrement science
Your question to them should be : 'How come only one side is worn, if the calipers are fine?' Let them wriggle out of that one!
I reiterate though - discs can turn brown with rust almost overnight, but after a few miles they should be clean again.
Hope this helps!
John

 

[mattylad]

£450 for 2 discs and 1 pad? Bejeezus!!

 

[Burnerman]

Main dealer or Kwik-Fit prices, Matty
John

 

[bolo 2]

Don’t know it helps but given that I could only see part of the disc that the AA guy pointed out, the image below gives a rough idea of what that disc looked like to me. The clear metal strip between the 2 rusted ones, was roughly 30-40mm wide.

 

[bolo 2]

Had the fault lay with the caliper, the repair would have been under warranty. However, if the fault lay with the disc and pads, it would not be under warranty and would therefore have to be paid for. Is there any advantage to the repairer in deciding either way?

 

[Burnerman]

Referring to your diagram, this is what happens when the discs / pads are getting on a bit - maybe towards a year or so?
The disc naturally rusts, that we know about.....right from new. When the brake pedal forces the pad against the disc, theoretically the rust is scraped off. However.....if the rust isn't scraped away, the corrosion continues as you have shown. Rust is much harder than the disc material (a sintered iron mix) and just gets polished rather than scraped and gives the wear lip on both the disc and the pads.
With new discs and pads, this rusting syndrome is removed to a large degree as both the disc surface and pad surface are completely flat, but as the mileage builds you do get this discrepancy.
Sticking my neck out, this is why its best to replace both the pads and the discs at the same time - unless the car does a high mileage when the rusting doesn't occur. On your first post, you said you had two discs but only one pad - which I presume means pads only on one side? Bit of an error there, I'm afraid!
The question remains.....why did only the offside system wear?
John

 

[Mottie]

Your question to them should be : 'How come only one side is worn, if the calipers are fine?'

Easy - you are not putting your foot squarely on the brake pedal.

 

[bolo 2]

............unless the car does a high mileage when the rusting doesn't occur.

13000 a year approx

On your first post, you said you had two discs but only one pad - which I presume means pads only on one side? Bit of an error there, I'm afraid!

I only went by the receipt John. See below.

The question remains.....why did only the offside system wear?
John

And that question will be addressed this afternoon!!