Brake pad warning light.

[DiscoPol]

Hi guys quick question,

tried a search but my connection is slower than a slug on valium, so not getting much back im afraid

My warning light for the pads has just started to flicker on every now and then and the braking is feeling a little softer than it used to, not a surprise as im on and off the bloody brakes all the time now as the polish drivers arent shy of just slamming on and then accelerating away as fast as possible

I was wondering if anybody knows roughly how long before i MUST change them?

Im gonna do the discs aswell i think as out here brakes are your biggest friend in the never ending battle with other drivers
(the worst Ive ever come across and I have lived in Spain,Turkey,Greece and Bradford at various points in my life )

I know that you cant give me exact timings and distances as this is hard driving, my car is starting to feel the ravages of Polish roads already, getting knocks and all sorts from the front, back and sides but don't know if i should get straight on it or whether i can safely wait a week or so before i go hunting for parts out here, I'm waiting on family friend who is a bit of a spanner monkey to show me where i can go for bits and pieces without heading to the stealers, coz you just know im going to need drop arms and bushes a plenty

Any advice will be gratefully received and I wont hold anybody responsible if they disintegrate before stated distances,

Cheers

Dan

[mjb]

Change them immediately. It means your pads no longer have enough friction material left to cover a pair of thin wires

[hammerman]

I would second that.They need changing asap.On the one occasion that the light came on on mine,i changed them 2 days later & they were pretty useless by then.
The light will come on more as they wear the last of the pad away,then if the light goes out under braking,the wires have worn away leaving no friction material left.

[DiscoPol]

Cheers guys,

will send the wife into the stealers later today then, you just know they are gonna rip her off but it sounds like i cant afford to wait and i wouldnt want to be without brakes here, you would be dead in a blink of an eye

[mjb]

Give your local motor factors a ring round first - they may well have 406 brake pads for a fraction of the cost of dealer parts

[DaiRees]

God no, don't buy pads from the stealers. I remember paying £40odd years ago . You can get a good branded set for half that

[DiscoPol]

Give your local motor factors a ring round first - they may well have 406 brake pads for a fraction of the cost of dealer parts

Hmmm might be few problems there, Language, location and language again, but the stealers has english speaking staff and is only 7KM away, and as i am being advised to get it done right now im thinking stealers will be the easy option

[steve_earwig]

Do what I do - go there with the offending part, point to it and say "ug"

[DiscoPol]

If i can find a local factors then that is what i plan doing, otherwise its the stealers or send the wife in, now she is a scary little thing at the best of times but you just know they are gonna try and rob her, i dont know which is worst being an "anglo" or being a women here, but they are both pretty low on the food chain.

[steve_earwig]

You just have to be firm with these foreigners When I first got here I had a few problems but the majority are friendly and patient and it didn't take me long to figure out who was going to help me and who wasn't. Obviously there are a few that treat me with contempt because I'm English but they're in a very small minority and there are other shops. The big pain are the car spares shops where it's all behind the counter and there's nothing I can point to but then there's 5 near here, three have staff that speak good English, one of which I got talking to a couple of years back and now one shop is full of my mates

[DiscoPol]

All done,

new front pads and discs, done by local mechanic as I dont yet have the rest of my tools over from the UK

only brought out a basic tool kit for the journey over, you know the sort of thing: multimeter, set of screwdrivers, leatherman and small socket set and a few spanners (as much as i could wedge into one of the rear compartments )

after pricing up parts and replacement tools, jack and axle stands from OBI (like B&Q ) and a couple of other places decided it would be more sensible and pocket friendly to get a local garage to do it and then just collect my own gear next time im over in the UK.

So i now have new pads and discs and a new found confidence in the stopping ability of my motor which as previously mentioned is an absolute must out here.

Only issue is he has replaced the fronts and told me the rear drums and shoes are fine, i dont have a problem with this as tbh the rears do next to cock all but keep you straight under heavy braking anyway, but i think he has adjusted them because now the handbrake is pointing at the sky and doing very little in the parking brake type of way you would want it to,

Im aware from having read it on here plenty of times that the 406 handbrake is a pig and useless, but my question to you guys is, is it worth taking back to him as everything else is spot on now, should i just live with it till i get my tools back and then follow the numerous how to's on here about adjusting it myself?


Im coming back to the UK in about 2 weeks for the next load of gear and the new pads and discs fitted only cost me about 125 quid so I was happy with the price and he did another couple of little things too in that price, (rotated all the wheels, fixed my rear centre seatbelt)

what do you think?

[steve_earwig]

I think if you took it back for the handbrake you'd be in for a saga as everything he tries fails to achieve the desired result

[DiscoPol]

I think if you took it back for the handbrake you'd be in for a saga as everything he tries fails to achieve the desired result

you see add into the mix that there is the language barrier and the fact that the price was fair (i think) and that i need to cultivate relationships with his type of people (spanner monkeys not Poles) and the knowledge i could gain from him about local suppliers and so on im thinking it might just be best to leave it and not be seen seen as the whinging "Angol".

and yep he probably wouldnt even get it right without swapping out everything in the whole handbrake assembly

[mjb]

Got a flathead screwdriver? You can adjust it yourself! See my howto on the rear brakes

EDIT: ah, rear drums not discs+drums... still worth having a look for an adjuster hole behind the wheel

[steve_earwig]

It's just drums? Ok, might be worth it after all

ASS-U-ME