Rear brake pad change complete... but beware of main dealer!

[martandem]

Hi all,

As an almost non-experienced DIY mechanic (apart from an oil change here and there!) I changed the rear pads yesterday.... all went pretty smoothly, so a big thanks to those who answered my previous questions etc, much appreciated! For anyone considering doing it (Renault Chelmsford quoted £128, excluding parts!?! ) it is pretty simple, and well worth the effort to save the money!

However, with a risk of stating the obvious, always check for yourself when the main dealer says you need work done.... It's time to name and shame:

Renault Lookers Chelmsford
CM2 6PB

For starters, they have ALWAYS put the wrong oil in the car... they always use 10W40, which IS NOT what it tells you to use in the ClioSport manual?! WTF?! I will either change the oil myself before a service is due, or take the oil to them and tell them to read the manual!

Even worse, when we had the 24k service done last May, they told us that the front pads and discs had to be changed, and that the rear pads were 70% worn... obviously we took the front discs/pads on the chin, and told them to hold off on the rear, with the service coming to £530... :dead:
4200 miles later, yesterday (yes, we keep a very low mileage on the Arctic Blue 182, immaculate with one lady owner!) i take the rear pads off, and AT WORST, the pad with the most wear on is 60% down - and thats all those miles later!

So my advice, and something I will ALWAYS do now going forward even if it turns out to be just for peace of mind, is before your services are due, check the simple things - Pads, discs, oil, etc. Then if they try to mug you off, you know about it. It makes me wonder whether i even needed new discs back in May 2007....

Anyway people, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

 

[msa197]

My Renault dealer quoted £120 for rear pads fitted, but never had any instock.

Wouldn't of paid that anyway, they only cost £40 tops and fitted them myself 1/2 hour job.

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Nice result . Alot of little jobs like changing the brake pads and discs isn't hard and as you've found out , you can save yourself a few quid as well

 

[fUbAr]

Nice one.

The rear brakes only do about 20% of the braking compared to the front... so pads should last ages really.

 

[ginna]

the tech's have to be over cautioues as the customers will try to get it all for free if they said 60% left then they failed in 6 months, the oil is recommended by renault them selves not the dealers so they buy bulk oil. imagine if you looked at your bill and they had charged you 50.00 for oil, you would kick off ?? as you no its only 20.00 to buy the oil you need.. its our job to work on cars we don't just do it to pull your eyes out...... labour prices are there for the garage to be competative, they have to get the money back from somewhere when it costs 500 for a training course to work on the cars.....

 

[SkidMarx]

^^^ very true
Take it your a renault tech too ginna?? A lot of what was said above is true.. i think all main dealers have the same probs. Dont like to see main dealers slagged off too much tho.

 

[ginna]

no mate im a lexus tech but its the same everywhere you go... renault labour prices are cheap compared to where i work lol !! try 115 a hr plus vat !!!! everyone has to work somewhere...

 

[SkidMarx]

Yep i admit sometimes main dealers arent the best place to go but it is hard working at one as a tech, your service manager wants you to sell 8 hours a day, and you want to do a good job and sometimes quality and quantity dont go together.
At lexus tho you can get away with £115 an hour!! the owners are probly richer, the cars are better quality and prob better to work on and lexus garages seem to have an eye on quality over quantity i think. Correct me tho if im wrong?!

 

[ginna]

still need to sell the hours as you say and upsell, ye you do your best and thats not good enough for people !!! its the going rate around leeds mate for dealers in our prestige. problem is the customers moan worse than us lot !!! LOL

 

[franx]

10w40 is fine...

 

[laserline2]

yh the owner's manual will say one thing but if you were to go into the service dept they have a massive chart on the wall with the car and what oil it takes

 

[rich-6]

£128 and its only a 20 minute job

 

[martandem]

Yeah, don't get me wrong guys (Ginna/David) I don't mean to **** them (you) off, in my honesty i'm very ignorant when it comes to cars... but the point i was trying to make is that it doesnt harm to be "in the know" with the very simple things like oil/pads etc, and then at least you know what to expect when you go there...

For the dealer we went to, i still doubt their motives for what they said about the rear breaks, but maybe i'm just a cynic!

I've found the whole oil thing for the 182 very confusing, it seems every thread says something different! I guess it only really matters if you are racing the crap out of the engine every week!

 

[martandem]

the tech's have to be over cautioues as the customers will try to get it all for free if they said 60% left then they failed in 6 months, the oil is recommended by renault them selves not the dealers so they buy bulk oil. imagine if you looked at your bill and they had charged you 50.00 for oil, you would kick off ?? as you no its only 20.00 to buy the oil you need.. its our job to work on cars we don't just do it to pull your eyes out...... labour prices are there for the garage to be competative, they have to get the money back from somewhere when it costs 500 for a training course to work on the cars.....

.... Also, the dealer charged me £38 + VAT (exclusive of environmental costs) for the wrong oil, so i wouldn't have minded another £10 for the oil in the owners guide!

 

[RichRSi]

If the guide says use one oil and the dealers are putting something else into the engine it's like this; the guide is wrong or the dealers are.
Either way by ignoring the guide and putting in a different grade oil suggests to me it's more about wacking in what ever they have..

£10 more for the right oil? if they are charging £500 for a service it'd have to be a very unreasonble customer to start moaning about another £10, most are still recovering from the shock of seeing the bill.