Garage tried to con me into replacing 'worn' brake pads - why didn't the wear indicator come on?
I recently took our 2015 Volkswagen Sharan for its 38,000 mile service at a Volkswagen garage. The car has been carefully driven, but Volkswagen reported that the pads and discs need changing 'immediately' as they were 80 per cent worn and the front discs were lipped. As I hadn't seen the wear indicator, I asked the service agent whether the car had wear indicators. The service agent said the wear indicator would come on in the next few days. The body language and tone of the exchange indicated to me that the service agent was selling rather than being completely open. Over one month and 1000 miles later, no wear indicator is showing. The brakes seem to be working absolutely fine. I feel badly oversold by the dealer. When the pad wear indicator comes on, should we just get the pads changed? Or, does the lipping justify changing the disc as well?
What garages do is anticipate the need for things like brake discs and pads before the next service. You took it in at 38,000 miles. VAG's Longlife Servicing can be at up to 28,000 miles. But even if you are sensible and take it in every 10,000 miles or every year, whichever comes first, the chances are very high that the discs and pads would need replacing before the next service and that's why they try to get everything done in one go. Say you were to set off on a 3000 mile pan European journey and, with a fully laden car, the brakes failed somewhere in rural Spain. You might then blame the dealer for not alerting you to the wear on the brakes.
Answered by Honest John on
