DIY Brake JOB and Servicing Costs.

Ive been needing new disks and pads for a while now so decided to bite the bullet and buy them. Used porsche shop online and got them delivered with new front disks, pads and shims for about £255. Having never changed brakes on any car before I was wary but gave it a bash and it was a DODDLE. Each wheel took about 40 mins and Im cheesing with the results. :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: Also Im due a major service in the next couple of months and have been quoted £400 from my local indy specialist. Dont know if this sounds ok or maybe a bit steep any comments welcome. :thumb:

Good price, I paid nearly £800 at OPC well done for getting your brakes done! Ray :bye:

I take it you changed the caliper bolts and the spring plates, especially the bolts - they are designed to stretch so should never be re-used.

Did you degrease the discs? Rotation configuration correct? Did you clean the hub faces before mounting the discs and apply the correct torque value in a unifom manner on a new set of bolts with the threads AND the bolts shoulders greased with the correct grade of thread grease. Did you check the disc run out after you did all this? Wheels torqued up as above? If all the answers are yes then well done!

And you prove to me an OPC bothers to go to this effort and well done too Disc runout, you're havin a laugh.... while it might be in the book I'd love to be a fly on the wall and see who does it.

I did not read this in the manual. This is basic fitting work no more costly, difficult or time comsuming just basics! If the disc is out of true you get an amplfied wobble. If you grab the disc with a set of pads you get a shake. If you buy a sub standard disc(badly installed/machined on the piss) then you have no chance at avoiding all this. I would expect OPC to do this they will be trained this way. There are some Indies on this forum they may tell us what they would do.

OK M8, what's the answers to all your questions so that we all do it correctly in the future? :thumb: cheers Ray

I tell you what that's cheap. Are Original Porsche Parts or OEM? I got a price just the other day from my OPC for £1100 which included the front discs, pads and associated items and also a brake fluid change. They then reduced it to £850 incl. I got a price for the parts for a smidge over £500, so they want £350 for labour and what is it, 2 hours work maybe :dont know: I'm tempted to do mine to be honest but £500 for the parts! Guess I'll just not touch the brakes any more. To be honest they don't work too well in any case.

Slap em on gun em up burn em in! Quote. If this fails consult the manual.

I'm pretty sure they aren't stretch bolts. 85Nm on a M12 x 72 screw isn't enough to stretch, I wouldn't have thought.

Can you get different grades of thread grease :eh!: Agree its all good practice tho

Richard not sure if I understood your point correctly but the bolts do go pretty elastic after tens of thousand of miles due to the heat cycles so it is recommended that they are changed. cheers Ray :bye:

I too have been quoted £400 from my specialist for a major service, which I think is very reasonable, especially when compared to OPC prices. I'm also going to change the brakes on my car myself, I have already bought brakes and discs all round for £450 squids all in, and have bought new caliper bolts from OPC for £12.50 for 8 bolts. I'm not entirely sure that the bolts could not be re-used, but at the end of the day would you take the chance on the system that is going to stop you from becoming part of the scenery for £12.50? Brakes and tyres are the two things you do not want to scrimp on - the tyres are the only thing between you and the road and the brakes come in handy now and then! As for checking run out on the discs, for the time involved ( I expect it should take me no more than two hours to do the whole lot including bleeding the brakes) I am just going to slap them on and will soon know after a couple of miles if they are out of true. Any problems, I'll put the old ones back on and send the new ones back. I figure that even if I have to take them back off and do it all again, it will still be worthwhile rather than paying the OPC to do it.

Stretch bolts are used on places like cylinder heads, where the bolt (usually waisted) is torqued up to a level whereby it stretches (within its elastic limit). This is to put continuous compression on the joint during expansion and contraction. The caliper bolts aren't stretch bolts, and I doubt if they get hot enough to become elastic due to heat cycles. If that was the case, you wouldn't have any paint on your calipers, as it would have burned off long ago! More likely they will need replacing due to some over zealous monkey with a poorly fitting allen wrench - or rust! Just my 2p's worth.

Richard, when I changed my disks last summer I put the old bolts back. They felt very spongy so I've purchased new bolts and an appropriate tap and will be installing them sometime soon now that the weather has improved. The only thing I can put the elastic feel of the bolts is down to the frequent heat cycles. Ray :thumb: