Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

Hey folks, when my car was having its service/MOT recently the garage advised it needed its front discs/pads replaced - given it had the rear ones replaced not long ago and the braking performance did seem to be down in general they went ahead and replaced them. I was advised the brakes would be soft while the pads bedded in and certainly the performance has improved but it doesn't seem as sharp as it should be. When I first bought the car slamming the brakes on would put you through the windscreen as they gripped very hard.

Anyway, when getting out of the car today I noticed that half the disc was gleaming but the rest looked unused on both sides. I realise sometimes things may look wrong when they're not but I'm suspicious given the performance of the brakes isn't what I expected.

The car is an 04 plate Seat Toledo TDI Sport 150, I've attached a couple of pictures to see what people think before getting back onto the garage that fitted them.

Thanks,
John

http://johnmcl7.smugmug.com/photos/5...80_wHyyc-L.jpg

http://johnmcl7.smugmug.com/photos/5...88_N3yzf-L.jpg

Re: Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

Looks like the either the pads have broken up (which would be odd to happen in the same way on both sides of the vehicle) or alternatively the wrong size discs or pads have been fitted and the swept area of the pads is incorrect.

Re: Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

That looks like alot of disk space not being used! New front ones sir.

Re: Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

Yep, thats not right, take it back to the garage and complain.

Re: Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

Thanks for the replies, I was fairly sure it wasn't right but just thought it was worth double checking. I'll be on the phone to the garage tomorrow morning.

John

Re: Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

I've asked my workmate to look at the brakes as well (he races his own motorbikes and is forever stripping them down and rebuilding them) and he's suggested that the pads are still bedding in. Both the pads and discs are new and were fitted together just under a month ago, the car hasn't done that many miles since then (maybe around 50-60) is that possibly not long enough?

John

Re: Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

They could still be bedding in at that mileage but tbh it looks like something else, it's so very uniform & a huge chunk of the disc, even when bedding in I'd half-expect it all to be worn, from what I've seen it's often invisible when the surfaces are still fully mating.

Re: Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

From here there are quite a few variants of disc diameter fitted to Toledo models, I'd hazard that you might have some smaller diameter ones fitted in error.

See if that site gives your exact model variant size and check what's on the car, the table suggests the 150HP '04 takes the big ones.

Re: Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

Somethings wrong somewhere. Strip it down and have a proper look. Then go back to the garage and get them to sort it, if they won't then tear them a new 'un.

Re: Possible problem with front brakes on car
 

discs look the right size from what i can see of the callipers on the pics, i would have thought its more likely to be fitting error, probably they havent cleaned up the pad carriers properly or the slides are siezed.
certainly after 50 miles they should be fully bedded in, they ususlly feel about right after a roadtest, usually a mile or so.