Kwik Fit & Brake Pads

[mistergixer]

The MR2 needs a new set of pads fitting to the fronts, looking around my local Euro CarParts (??) shop will do a set of 4 Pagid pads for £70.

However, i noticed Kwik Fit are offering pad change plus free pads for the life of the car - although the website doesn't appear to list any prices.

I wouldn't generally trust Kwik Fit monkeys, but surely they can't fuck-up something as simple as fitting a set of brake pads. Surely?

Anyone got any experiences of them and their 'brake promise'? Any idea of prices? If it's not that more expensive than DIY i'm tempted to take it in just to avoid the arse of it all.
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Space Monkey #7
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[WildGoose]

Try www.buypartsby.co.uk for prices.

Someone recommended them on here a while back and they came out cheapest for a set of front pads and discs for my civic.

Brake system is the most vital part of your car, doesn't matter how simple it should be, I wouldn't trust kwik fit to go anywhere near it.

They might do the pads fine, buy grolly something up too tight so it never comes off the next time. Or slip and damage some other component, or rigid brake line.

Too many 'ifs'.

My list of "can repair my brakes" gets smaller all the time.

Found car brakes easier to do that bike brakes, its just a miserable time of year to be doing it yourself, I think.

[EDIT] Thinking about it, pushing the pistons back in to accomodate the newer and therefore thicker pads, needs to be done with care. In my manual it says you can damage the seals in the master cylinder (which is not something I ever considered in the past) if you just let it backflow. You have to clamp/pinch the line, and let the excess fluid bleed out at the nipple.

Fuck trying to explain that to kwik fit.
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[Flip]

A friend of my brothers had his tyres done there recently. He told him that he noticed the brake pads were shot and and needed replacing. He said OK replace them. He was given a bill and in return produced a receipt for free pad brakes for life (or whatever) that were only fitted 2 months previous. New brakes were fitted (for free) and the bloke was dragged into the office. I have no idea of the price though.

[Raffles]

You are NOT going to get away with just brake pads at Kwik Fit. When their ''technicians'' inspect your brake pads they will invariably notice that you need new brake discs, wheel bearings, shock absorbers, steering rack etc.
Avoid Kwik Fit like the plague.
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[Flip]

[mistergixer]

[swiftb]

should be able to pick up a set of pads for around £25, very easy job to do. Id imagine Kwik Fit ramp the price up a little if theyre offering free pads for life, there a money making organisation and not stupid, free pads for life 'sounds' good but in reality most peoples pads probably outlast the amount of time they own the car.
DIY.

[mistergixer]

[Kickstart]

Hi

I have heard it (and also that it can damage the seals in the ABS) but not sure I believe it. Pressure when pushing the pistons back is a fraction of that used when you stand on the brakes hard.

However the other claim is that pushing the fluid back can push debris back into the ABS pump which can be damaged by it.

Easy enough to crack off the bleed nipples when you push the pistons back.

And with rear disks with a handbrake where you need to rotate the pistons back in I find it easiest to just take the calipers off so I can put them on the floor then push down hard while rotating the pistons.

All the best

Keith
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[jimspeed]

damaging the master cyl seals can happen mainly on vauxhalls and we replaced many mk3 astra master cylinders that had been buggered up by the likes of quick fit/fast fit etc, its not really a problem for most cars now tho but we tend to clamp the flexi pipe and open the bleed nipple to allow the fluid out of the caliper as it then means fresh fluid is being introduced into the sytem too.
as for letting quick fit do any sort of brake work.......
if you are not happy doing them yourself find yourself a small local garage to to it most will be happy to fit them even of you supply the pads yourself,
some abs modules now require plugging to diagnostic equipment to bleed if the become air locked too just for giggles
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[swiftb]

as jimspeed said astra-f's are renowned for 'flipping' seals in the master cylinder. The way we used to prevent this was to bleed the brakes with a pressure bleeder. Only car ive ever had it happen on to me and it was saved by same said pressure bleeder. The usual lid of reservoir and slowly forcing pistons back rarely causes any issues.

EDIT: (pressure bleeder not vac bleeder)

[jimspeed]

astra-f thats the one I can never remember which are which lol, cav's too. some were ok with a vac bleed but a lot we threw away (well expensive too something like £110 each or something back in the day)
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Hyosung cruise 125(passed test on, sold) Kawasaki el 252 (better than expected but sold on) Kawasaki GPZ500S first "big"bike.(sold) ZZR600 E5..Z750 2007,ER5, currently on a 2008 Enfield bullet electra x and loving it..
,"Alpha-9: Is there any correlation between dyno rod and dyno kits?"

[binge]

Pads for life at kwik-fit is a genuine offer.
Providing the disks are above the manufacturers minimum spec, then they will replace your pads free of charge.

I dont know where a lot of you guys take your cars (In terms of Kwik-Fit garages), but some of the stories I hear on this forum are somewhat comical, if a little hard to believe.

Not been with the company for around a year now, but for the 5 years I worked in, and supervised a number of different centers around Kent, I didn't once come across anything as bad as some of the things I hear on this forum.


Anyway, as long as you ask to see around the car, they will happily show you the disks, measure them in front of you etc.

One thing that used to truely FUCK me off with some customers though, was with brake disks.
Of course, as a company, it was, and still is their job to up-sell. That doesnt necessarily mean rip off, it just means up-sell... advise...

A lot of the time, it's down to the fitters capabilities of putting their point across to the customer, as apposed to what they are actually trying to say.


If I was doing brake's on the front of a car (Or rear), And the disks were literally a fly's knackers above the minimum thickness, then I would advise the customer has the disks changed too. Simply because the disks will be way below minimum before the pads wear out again. Which of course can cause the rotor to crack etc.

Rule of thumb, is generally expect 2 sets of pads, to one set of disks.
Not strictly true on some cars, especially bigger motors. And also automatics, as they eat brakes, usually fuck the disks before they wear out, purely as they get so hot.



But yeah, back to the topic. Although a set of pads will cost between £60 and £100 at Kwik-fit. They are indeed covered under the lifetime warranty.

I'd personally go to unipart, or euro-car parts, and then fit them yourself.




Keith, I prefer to use my wind-back tool when doing brakes on cars with wind back rear (or front on certain citroen's) calipers.




Ben

[defblade]

[Kickstart]

[jimspeed]

[SoND]

[Phoenix]

[mistergixer]

Cheers for the advice chaps. Think i'll just do it myself, as usual.

I was only really wondering if it was a good enough deal to be worth avoiding the 'arse' of DIY - at the moment the unsurfaced 'carpark' (corner of a field) where we park is like the last days of the battle of the Somme after all the wet weather recently.

It won't surprise me if i develop trenchfoot during the hour or so it'll take me to do the pads, that's how soggy it is underfoot.


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Space Monkey #7
Don Eladio is dead. His capos are dead. You have no one left to fight for. Fill your pockets and leave in peace. Or fight me and die!
Mistergixer's videos on YouTube

[Des]

I am another former Kwik Fit customer that will never go near them again. After 3 very bad experiences with them, they will never get another penny out of me. I know a few people that say the same, and my sister got caught out by them once with the old "squirt some oil on the shock absorber" trick.
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[MinhDinh]

Basically, Kwik Fit offer free stuff like any other company to get you to come in, which is a point where they try and make money off you for finding other things that are wrong.
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[Robby]

The thing about damaging the ABS pump by pushing back the pistons may be true, but opening the bleed nipple gets around it. Not really a problem for me, seeing as I nearly always change the brake fluid at the same time as pads. Generally do discs as well. New discs, pads and fluid means you can pretty much then ignore the brakes for ages, and they're so much sharper.

[Groove]

I used quick fit for their £30 oil and filter change.

They do also do a free check of your car which is meant to include air pressures etc.

While i watched him change the oil (and filter!) and poke around the tyres and shine a light around the suspension all he came back with was the back 2 tyres only had around 2mm of tread on each.

I do have a few suspicions though as although i do not know the age of the tyres, i can tell they are different makes and surely fitted at different times so should not really have the same tread.

I also know that one of the rear tyres seems to have a VERY slow puncture and that the pressure was low in that tyre but he has marked it the same as every other tyre!

He asked me if i wanted prices for the tyres, i said no.

Not bad for a 12 year old car with 190k on the clocks i was expecting a list!
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[Drew]

Thing I hate about these companies is how tight the tighten the wheel nuts.

They set the torque wrench to 110nm* (or whatever), whack the nuts on with a windy gun tightening them to 200nm*, and then use the torque wrench. The torque wrench clicks off (obviously) and these idiots now think the wheel nut is at the correct torque.


*all numbers are just random guesses for example purposes

[andyscooter]

my old mans car went there once

they used an air tool to put the allan head bolts back in the caliper

and it was done so tight the heads rounded off

two years later we went to change the pads and couldnt get the caliper apart
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