Brake linings (attn MonsterMork)
Posted: September 3rd, 2018, 1:09 pm
Whoops, red face moment here at Bungee Towers. I took my four year old Toyota in for its second MOT and got a Do Not Drive because the rear disc pads were down to 1.6 millimetres, and I hadn't known about it. The car's last main-dealer service (last Christmas) hadn't flagged anything up, and I'd only done about 8,000 miles since then, and there had been no dashboard warning lights, and the car had been stopping perfectly all through my last 2,500 mile thrash through France. And, FWIW, my discs were in perfect and unmarked condition - it was just the pads that needed changing?
So - on the strict understanding that I'm not trying to duck my responsibility to keep the car roadworthy - what could I have done to head off this black mark on my car's record?
Could I/should I have taken a caliper measurement of my brake pad thicknesses every few months, in the hopeful confidence that my visible pads (the outer ones) would have matched those on the inside edge of the wheel discs?
Or should I have known, as the RAC website says, that the minimum MOT-allowable pad thickness varies from car to car (from maybe 3mm down to 1.2mm), and that the true allowable thickness is stamped on the car's wheel discs? Where I'm really not likely to go looking for it?
I mean, come on guys, what's a punter supposed to do? All I can say is thank goodness for the MOT, and god bless all who sail in her.
MonsterMork, as an MOT tester I would be glad of your views. Please don't spare my blushes, I'd really like to know.
BJ
So - on the strict understanding that I'm not trying to duck my responsibility to keep the car roadworthy - what could I have done to head off this black mark on my car's record?
Could I/should I have taken a caliper measurement of my brake pad thicknesses every few months, in the hopeful confidence that my visible pads (the outer ones) would have matched those on the inside edge of the wheel discs?
Or should I have known, as the RAC website says, that the minimum MOT-allowable pad thickness varies from car to car (from maybe 3mm down to 1.2mm), and that the true allowable thickness is stamped on the car's wheel discs? Where I'm really not likely to go looking for it?
I mean, come on guys, what's a punter supposed to do? All I can say is thank goodness for the MOT, and god bless all who sail in her.
MonsterMork, as an MOT tester I would be glad of your views. Please don't spare my blushes, I'd really like to know.
BJ