Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DH declined new brake pads on my car! .

80 replies

Whatjusthappenedthere · 22/11/2018 13:34

My car is in for a service. Garage has my number as it’s my car but rings DH to ask if they can change the break pads as they are 70 per cent worn. I drive 500 miles a week. He says no, leave them for a couple of months. Service member mentions the car is booked back in for January when they ring me to say it’s ready to collect.
Any how, I have authorised the garage to replace my brake pads today. I will then pick up my car and pay for them from my own bank account. Clever me.Hmm
AIBU to feel very annoyed on a number of levels with DH and garage. Twats the pair of them.

OP posts:
MaxTeyon · 22/11/2018 14:15

I would rather have Dec/Jan when the weather is bad with new brake pads than wait till the better weather to replace them

Please explain why? You’re just as clueless as the OP.

Original poster
Whatjusthappenedthere · 22/11/2018 14:16

Seriously? Is is ok to do another 4000 miles of rural driving with only 30 per cent of your break pads left. wishes she never started the thread

OP posts:
mum11970 · 22/11/2018 14:21

You say yourself the car has done 58,000 miles on 70% of the brake pads, that works out as 17,400 miles left on the remaining 30%. 4,000 is nothing. Simple arithmetic.

chemenger · 22/11/2018 14:21

You have nearly a third of the pads left, no need to replace. If it’s taken 58k miles to use 70% then the next 20% will last until January surely? You have 16k miles to get to 10% I would think.

MaxTeyon · 22/11/2018 14:22

Seriously? Is is ok to do another 4000 miles of rural driving with only 30 per cent of your break pads left.

Why on earth do you think it wouldn’t be? If you normally get 10k miles out of a set of pads then clearly you wouldn’t manage another 4k but we’ve already established they’d have been good for another 10k.

Sirzy · 22/11/2018 14:24

I do think some garages rely on people blindly going along with them. A lot of extra money to be made by constantly replacing things before they are due

howabout · 22/11/2018 14:24

"Your brakes with their thin pads will be more prone to fade than on new pads, and you will have more pedal travel.

There's not a lot of merit in trying to take the last millimetre off a brake pad. If you run them down to the backing plates you will definitely screw the discs, and you will have no braking at that point. If you are the sort of person who is happy taking the wheels off and changing his own pads, you could run them down a bit further by giving them weekly inspections, but if you like to have other people do the work what's the point having to take the car back to the garage?"

Taken from some petrol head forum but largely my thinking. If I am doing 500 miles a week on winter roads I want reliable, responsive breaks and not to be out inspecting them every other week - especially for the sake of a couple of months.

BarbarianMum · 22/11/2018 14:24

Yes seriously (see above).

Gileswithachainsaw · 22/11/2018 14:25

Does it matter if they were brand new pads and op wanted them removed and replaced? That's her decision about her car and not down to the garage to "clear" with the dh.

FlamingJuno · 22/11/2018 14:26

I hear you OP - it's not really about the brake pads is it? I took my car for a service to a place where DH takes his - that was my first mistake. Cutting a long story short, they refused to let me take my car home when the service had been completed and had been paid for by me until DH had confirmed to them that it was OK. This was because I wouldn't let them do some of the many extras they were trying to sting me for. So wrong on so many levels.

Needless to say, I've never been back there and neither has DH.

BlackrockMum · 22/11/2018 14:27

think you made your own argument that the pads did not need to be changed now, 58k for 70% wear means even with your concerns you easily had 5 k plus miles worth of driving left in them, but really you need to check other factors like if the breaking is jerking or squeaking, but when it comes down to it its your car you decide, and equally had it gone the other way and your dh said change them i'd say that still your choice, i'm sure he just thought he was helping

Original poster
Whatjusthappenedthere · 22/11/2018 14:30

Ah well, at least if anything happens in the next 4000 miles I’ll know it wasn’t my brake pads fault. wishes the ground would swallow me up now please. Confused

OP posts:
LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 22/11/2018 14:31

You do use your brakes a lot, OP. 70% in 2 years? Shock

Whom does the garage usually contact? It's they who have mis-communicated with. Your husband hasn't done anything wrong and he hasn't put your safety at risk if that's what this is about.

30% pads = more than enough to cover your mileage for 2019.

Next time, take your car to a garage and make sure that your number is the only one they have.

sossages · 22/11/2018 14:33

I know nothing about brakes but would be very pissed off with both the garage and my DH. If he didn't want to just tell them to call you, he should have checked with you before answering (and that was his opportunity to make his argument that it wasn't necessary). Ultimately you as the driver are responsible for your car's roadworthiness so decisions about it must be yours.

More generally this is patriarchal bullshit regardless not a neutral misunderstanding/difference of opinion. I don't imagine that in a million years they'd have called you about a decision on his car.

TheChickenOfTruth · 22/11/2018 14:33

Personally, I would never speak for my husband on an issue which affected him far more than me. If the garage called me by accident (somehow), I would say "I will check with my husband and ask him to call you back", then I would call him, give him my recommendation (ie, don't replace them yet) and let him make the decision for himself. Because he's a grown up and his opinions and concern for his safety are as valid as my opinions.

And I don't take risks when it comes to my brakes or tyres in the winter, personally. I'd rather spend an extra bit of money when I've got it and have the peace of mind. I might forget to do it come January and then I'd be in trouble!

MaxTeyon · 22/11/2018 14:34

Your brakes with their thin pads will be more prone to fade than on new pads, and you will have more pedal travel.

Fractionally. Modern cars are virtually impossible to brake fade in normal use and by the OP’s existing use pattern she’s not driving in such a manner that it’s likely to occur. In the OP’s circumstances it should have been left to be checked again when booked in for January and an assessment made then as to whether or not they’d last until the next scheduled visit. They would not need checking weekly. If not then probably a good time to replace. As an aside most cars have some kind of pad wear indicator anyway, be that electronic or audible.

Original poster
Whatjusthappenedthere · 22/11/2018 14:35

And I know I’m just trying to talk myself out of a hole here but when certain tools I use for my trade reach 70 percent worn they must be ditched. But that’s because of the risk metal fatigue I guess. Blush

OP posts:
MaxTeyon · 22/11/2018 14:40

And I know I’m just trying to talk myself out of a hole here but when certain tools I use for my trade reach 70 percent worn they must be ditched.

And that is totally inapplicable to brake pads unfortunately.

BackToBeingMe · 22/11/2018 14:41

@MaxTeyon are you a mechanic? In an automatic car how long would you expect the pads to last? I understand you brake more in an automatic so the don't last as long but what would you say the average was?

Original poster
Whatjusthappenedthere · 22/11/2018 14:42

DH has just e mailed me the little walk around video they do as part of the service info ... because they’ve mailed it to him and not me.Hmm.... any how, I have for the first time ever seen my break pads. I get it now. To late to stop them being changed mind you. ( but they did look a bit thin if you ask me ) .

OP posts:
Uncooperativefingers · 22/11/2018 14:42

OP, I've calculated you probably have 10 months left on your brake pads. 100% use is at the legal limit (ie your brakes don't just stop working at that point), although I wouldn't push it up to the wire personally!

If have done 58000 miles in 2yrs and used 70% of your brake pads then you use 1% of brake pad every 828.5 miles so you can get to approx 82850 miles before they need changing. Which is approx 10 months with your current usage (2416 miles per month).

Obviously this assumes repeatable driving conditions, same route, same milage etc, which is why I wouldn't wait a whole 10 months, but does show you have plenty left!

Notice the garage always says "you've used 70%" rather than "you have 30% left"...

Original poster
Whatjusthappenedthere · 22/11/2018 14:43

Maxteyon sounds like they know what they are talking about. I feel quite stupid now Blush

OP posts:
Uncooperativefingers · 22/11/2018 14:44

Oh and they do look thin, but they are very hard! (So wear resistant)

Ali1cedowntherabbithole · 22/11/2018 14:44

And that's what garages rely on. Don't feel bad OP. It's them, not you.

BackToBeingMe · 22/11/2018 14:47

Op don't feel silly I have let the garage convince me brake pads last for 15,000 max which is less than a quarter of what they should last according to this thread.