Hi all, well the long running saga of my brakes has now been put to bed and I am totally thrilled with what happened yesterday. To be honest, since Jason fitted the pads last week the brakes themselves have felt tons better (mind you, they could not have been any worse) and at least I had a lot more confidence in the car. However, there has been a most annoying 'grinding/metallic' sound coming from the driver's side brake since they were done. I spoke with Jason last week about it and he said to hang on and see if it disappeared. If it was still there then we arranged for me to go on Monday (yesterday) and get it sorted.
He admitted that perhaps the pads were not right for my car (or my pootling around) kind of driving and told me he was going to fit Bendix pads as they were better.
Here's the pads out of the box - they felt very abrasive.
It was very interesting to see the disc wear after one week of driving on the pads he fitted last week. As you can see, the discs were not shiny and the centre part was obviously not wearing properly.
Here's the driver's side after one week of wear.
And here's the passenger side. A bit more shiny but not shiny-shiny.
Anyway, he then fitted the Bendix pads and asked me to go for a short drive and then go back and see how everything was. Immediately I could feel a lot more bite and even better, no metallic grinding noise. All good news. After tootling around for twenty minutes or so I went back so we could take a look and I could report back to him on the feel.
Here's the passenger side after I got back to his garage.
And here's the driver's side. A remarkable difference after only a short time.
What was interesting (for me anyway) was to look at the pads after the short drive around town.
Here's the passenger side pads (Already the blue stripe has worn away)
Here's a driver''s side pad, (the outer one) where the blue stripe is still visible, albeit worn.
So, I'm now happy to report that the brakes feel a million miles away from what they did two weeks ago and looking at the discs this morning outside the office I can see both of them equally shiny across the entire surface which must mean all is well. Finally. I'm really chuffed as I feel completely confident and not scared when confronted with the mad drivers and the dangerous situations they create on the roads out here. The simonc brake saga is over.
Thank you for your patience and support.
)
you are right mec, my photo is of the rear... 