Should I use my local garage to change discs & pads

Should I use my local garage to change discs & pads on my 996 C4 the guy said he cant tell me how much it would cost because they've never done one before all my other cars go there, or should I take it to an indie to be safe?

DIY: Changing front brakes (2 parts): Changing rear brakes and adjusting parking brake (1 part, but it's kind of a follow-on to the front brake videos):

+1 have done these myself too - it's easy really, not much technical skill required. Save yourself 2 hours of labour and up to £100 for the privilege I would suspect...?

Just had mine done by a mate who's a mechanic. He only charged me £25 (Top bloke). Took a bit longer than expected as well as we couldn't get my car on his lift, lol. Got to get mine bedded in as they are still making a slight rubbing noise when warm. Jim

Thanks a lot for the links looks easy enough, if I was a bit younger I'd have a go myself but the back starts playing up at the thought of it. Another thing is how do you get the spokes on the alloy wheels to match front and back? :?:

I did mine last week, never done discs before in my life, piece of cake! Helps with the right tools, ie compressor & impact wrench for wheel removal & air ratchett for calliper bolts, impact driver for disc screws, g clamp for pushing cylinders back in, but once you have this lot you can do almost everything on the running gear. Very satisfying to have done it.and instructions on here and renntech give you the confidence to do it right.

Q1. Do front discs have 1 or 2 brake wear sensors? Q2. If only 1 does it go on the inner or outer pad? Q3. Where do the anti squeal/damping shims go? TB

I'd normally say do them yourself as it's a fairly easy job to do. However, I made the decision to get the OPC to do mine and I'm so glad I did. There were all sorts of problems with shims fusing to callipers and the like. Porsche ended up replacing both the front callipers under warranty. If I had tried to do them myself I doubt very much I would have had such a good response from the OPC. :dont know:

Looks an easy enough job and I used to change discs and pads a few years back, slipped disc in my back whihc put paid to that and now crouching over takes its toll. Depending how bad your back is, how deep your pockets are and how much free time should answer your question. There are indies which will charge a couple of hours labour, your call.

I did my rears but I believe the fronts are the same apart from different style shims and directional discs. They have 2 wear sensors which is on a split harness, you only need to replace them if they have started to wear down, they just clip into the hole in the pads. The shims go between the pad and the calliper, you fit them in place against the cylinder, remove the adhesive film and then slide in the pads. As they get used the shims will adhere to the back of the pads, which is the only awkward bit in the whole job. To get the old pads out you need to separate the pads fro, the shims, which have been heat bonded together because of the adhesive. They say separate with a spatula, good luck! I used a wood chisel and they came apart very easily.

Discs Weird how people think the same... I have just saved a small fortune by ordering rear discs and pads inc the dampers for my C2S (997) from Berlyn Services Porsche all OEM items but without 'Porsche' on the brown box !! It's my intention to use one of the guys from my local garage that look after the 335d & the Cooper S to do the removal and fitment for a quick £50 !! Everyone happy - except the OPC .... :nooo:

Mate if you dont fancy the job just take it to your trusted mechanic.No need for opc or expensive garages.They are easy to do.[/img]

Cheers ttshinykit, didn't want to get caught out with the little things :thumb: TB