Brakes query.... and a KwikFit *spit* quote

[MikeoftheQuays]

2 parter here really...

Firstly I'm not entirely happy with the brakes. They stop okay but don't feel particularly good. "Adequate" is what I'd call them. Also, and this bit is kinda hard to explain, something feels wrong when braking at low speed. If I'm rolling forward at low speed (like walking pace speed) with the brakes gently applied there's a kind of variation in the braking. Like the discs are warped or something. It feels as though I'm tapping the brakes. Thing is, braking at medium speed there is no vibration and at high speed under hard braking there is minimal vibration.

So, bearing this in mind I thought nothing could be lost by booking it in to a free brake check at Kwikfit. They have advised that while all is legal there is a lot of corrosion on the inside of the front discs (it does feel quite bumpy). And it is this that is causing the "variation". The discs themselves are worn but a few mill' over the legal minimum. Same with the pads. They have advised new discs and pads on the front, new pads on the back... All in it is £250 (including a discount offer on at the moment).

Just wondering what folks's opinion is on 1/ Is it a brake problem (caused by the corrosion maybe?) and 2/ Is that quote competitive?

 

[Danith]

I don't use those franchise garages anymore ever. That nationwide garage by old traf did a cowboy job on a ball joint of mine and national tyres tried having me off with brakes a while back. I'd imagine Kwik Fit aren't much better, but you'd think brakes and pads should be fairly straight forward, although I felt the same about my ball joint!

 

[dajones]

Change the brakes but anyone can DIY the front. Its so simple. Have a look at the guide on here on how to do it. As for the backs they can be quite tricky to do so I'd recommend not attempting them. Save you a bit of labour costs then

Sent from my HTC Desire HD using Tapatalk

 

[john182rs]

The quote sounds good but it might not be renault discs and very very s**t cheap pads.

Just by going on ktecs site, brembo hc front discs are £70.80, cheapish pads for the front are £30 for KTR's or £77 for EBC's then rears £30 again for KTR's.
Comes to around £207 ish, can you think that kwik fit will fit all that for £43?
I would say buy your own stuff then fit them yourself or a local garage. Then you know what is being put on.

Also, i would not trust kwik fit, ive had a really bad run in with them over alignment of wheels and they still fucked it up.

 

[Bodge!]

try a local independent motor factor.

We've got one down here, and i picked up discs and pads dirt cheap!

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

The quote sounds good but it might not be renault discs and very very s**t cheap pads.

This is true. I'm fairly certain they're not Renault parts cos they said they had them in stock and could do it right away.

Looking at the NWP site I see I could get Brembo HC front discs plus Renault pads, rear discs and rear pads for £235. Just need to get them fitted. That couldn't be much more than £50 right? Not sure I fancy doing it myself.

EDIT: Ooh, I notice I could save £25 by putting Motrio pads on the back. They'd be alright wouldn't they seeing as the rears don't do much anyway?

 

[JackJack]

Rears don't do much so don't need anything special back there.

 

[Jon.G]

Mike, Phone up NWP and just let them know you're from cliosport, and see if they can sort you out with fitting. They fitted my coilovers and set the camber up for £80. Which took nearly 3hours to do.

Sounds like a decent price for the lot. Save the £25 as well and get the Motrio ones, the rears arn't as important.

 

[Jay.S]

You can get new front discs for £45 from the brembo shop for HC's, pads I have mintex 1144 about £65 from NWP which are good for road use.

Rears I got new OE Rears & pads for Fred@btm for £100 don't think he is doing that offer now might be worth a ring. I would do a fluid change aswell.

I would just fit it all myself its easy enough. That is a cheap quote including labour but I would never ever trust those grease monkeys at kwik fit.

 

[john182rs]

The only thing you might struggle to change is the front discs, otherwise changing the front and rear pads is really easy. You could save yourself a few £££ if you was bothered about it.

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

I'm gonna read/watch a coupla guides I reckon. See what's needed, how tough it is. Also give NWP a ring to see what kinda money they're talking for doing it.

tbh if it's anything like reasonable I'll probably chicken out and let them do it. Cos I'm soft. And I don't have another car to drive if I f**k it up!

 

[gracie barra]

id like to know what the legal limit is on discs when there are so many different sizes of discs???:dapprove:

 

[Danith]

Goin to go all the way to NWP to get brakes fitted? There's loads of good garages on Trafford park and GSF and Euro Car Parts are on there too if needed. Otherwise get NWP to send mail order out or to the garage? Also EARS motorsport in Macclesfield may be ok, I haven't been there myself yet but they're pretty cheap for 15" tyres for mine. They have a shop on Ebay.

 

[daddycool]

i got mintex rear discs (with bearings) and pads off ebay for £80 delivered

 

[Andyrg@ ClioTurbo]

I think that that price is expensive, They will use NONE OEM parts. You can get Brembo HC discs for £60 and some decent pads for aroind £40 and back pads for around £25..

 

[Gt rob]

kwik fit dont get on watchdog for no reason!

 

[MartinR]

got mine from the brembo shop for just over £100 iirc brembo front discs and brembo front and rear pads. they do the job very well tbh.

 

[ForceIndia]

I'm gonna read/watch a coupla guides I reckon. See what's needed, how tough it is. Also give NWP a ring to see what kinda money they're talking for doing it.

tbh if it's anything like reasonable I'll probably chicken out and let them do it. Cos I'm soft. And I don't have another car to drive if I f**k it up!

Birchdown aren't far from you.

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

Goin to go all the way to NWP to get brakes fitted? There's loads of good garages on Trafford park and GSF and Euro Car Parts are on there too if needed.

Well aye, Trafford Park would be better seeing as I work in it.

Are most garages okay with fitting parts you've sourced yourself?

I'm still uhming and ahhing about doing it myself yet... It looks fairly straighforward according to the guides... Famous last words those though!

 

[jack_kemp]

Do the fronts yourself, it is a piece of piss. Very very straight forward indeed, then after you've done those, you can judge how confident / enthusiastic you feel about doing the rears.

 

[MicKPM]

To be honest the diagnosis Kwik-Fit made sounds about right... corrosion on the inner face of the disc results in less surface area for the brake pad to bind on (also, if the current pads have worn badly to the old disc face they won't be working at optimum either) which in turn reduces your braking systems effectiveness in most conditions and so do need replacing. Also, if the disc surface is badly corroded chances are the surface will not be "true" and so will cause the fluctuation in the "feel" you described. Now I'm going to be the flip-side of the general CS consensus coin:

Its okay people on here telling you to DIY this service job as in truth it is a really simple and straight forward enough job but its also a job you shouldn't take lightly as your brakes are your brakes hence the importance of getting it right first time as slamming up the arse of another car or into some poor old dear crossing the road isn't for the win! Some people are more than capable but others don't have tools or simply don't like the cold or getting filthy - If there's any doubt about your ability to do the job correctly then pay someone to do it properly for you.

I myself would advise a set of quality discs from either a local auto factor or your local Renault dealer as cheap discs just don't stand the test of time so you'll be replacing them again in 18months. Brembo HC's are good and fall into the "quality" bracket but don't go for the "Max" range or any other "Performance" unit... do you really need them? Pads can also come from your local dealer but if you do have a local auto factor you will be able to save yourself some cash by fitting a quality pad from a brand such as EBC or Mintex and again, don't fall in to the trap of buying a cheap or "Performance" pad as for everyday driving they're just not worth it and in my experience rarely live up to the hype.

Mick

 

[DennyG]

Repeating a lot of what has already been said here. I have the same problem of corrosion on the front discs and the braking on the car has deteriorated from very good to just adequate, and the pads are wafer thin, so I'm about to change both discs and pads. I put the corrosion down to the amount of salt on the roads this last two winters. I've bought discs (generic) and pads (mintex) off ebay for about £80 squids. I could have got them cheaper but when you go too cheap there is the chance of quality issues. I've not changed pads on a Clio before but I have plenty of experience on other cars so I don't see it to be a problem. Changing discs is usually quite easy after you've removed the caliper. £250 after discount sounds very expensive to me especially as Kwik Fit have a reputation for using very cheap parts.

Expensive discs don't offer all that much more unless you're intending to track the car, so I would go for good generic and consider them to be a 'consumable' as are the pads. Pads count more and what works on one car won't neccessarily work well on another. I don't know what works well on a Clio. Greenstuff used to be rubbish but they may have improved. Mintex 1144's were quite good on my other car, Pagids better and CL5+ the best I've had for fast road.

Are Kwik really offering a discount, are DFS really offering you a discount if you buy a sofa? Have you not thought of doing the job yourself, changing discs/pads is not a difficult job and you can save yourself a lot of dosh if you D.I.Y. As has been said these nationwide franchses are not much cop, far better to ask around and find yourself an independant by word of mouth. I'm really lucky, I have a guy who charges £10 an hour believe it or not. At that price its hardly worth the hastle of doing it myself.

 

[Ali]

It's not a bad price really...

People rarely consider that to change disks and pads; a/ you need to have a bit of savy, b/ you need to have some tools and c/ you need a place to work that doesn't make you look like a gypo!!!If you don't have the latter two you are better off getting a garage to do it!