[flipsyde]

After my ICE trip to Bangalore I realised that the brakes on my Corolla were acting really funny at high speeds. When I slam the brakes at 120kmph+ the car tends to shift to the right.

Gave it to Lanson Toyota yesterday and they tell me that the Brake Discs at the front and the rear of the car have worn out. Along with that they said my front brake pads and caliper pin also needs replacement bring the grand total of repairs to Rs.15,000/-

Here is the cost break up -

Front Brake Disc - Rs.1800
Rear Brake Disc - Rs.5200
Front Brake Pad - Rs.3400
Front Brake Caliper Pin - Rs.1800

Now at these prices when I check on the internet, I'm able to get EBC Performance Brake Pads and Discs for two-thirds the price. I know getting them shipped here maybe difficult and quite often expensive. Can someone suggest me any cost-effective solution to this??

Should I just get the OEM ones?? Should i try cheaper but similar quality aftermarket parts?? Should I try getting the parts shipped from abroad??

I got the car back from the service centre without carrying out any of the repairs. Should I take a second opinion from any other reputed mechanics in the city??

[praJEEP]

First of all why are they telling you change the discs upfront ? are they bent in any manner.

[esteem_lover]

Get a second opinion from Electra. Even if you have to replace your pads, electra is the right place for performance products.

[nitrous]

Dude, easy peasy,man.
First,get the hell out of Lanson Toyota for a simple brake replacement job.
Source the OE discs and pads from the open market. And get it fitted at a competent garage.
I'll help you with both.

[hrag]

How much has your car has run so far?

[flipsyde]

@Prajeep : I have no idea if its bent but the service advisor tells me that they have faded beyond the recommended level.

@E_L : You won't believe it John, thats the first place that came to my mind when I thought performance parts

@Nitrous : What would I do without you!!

@Hrag : Run around 58k kms. I purchased it from its previous owner around 3k kms back

Just another additional information. Seems the front disc pads currently installed in the car are non-OE and is of slightly more thickness than the once which are recommended hence the heavy wear on the front disc rotors or thats what the guy at service tells me.

[Revvhead]

Worn Discs???

How old is the car, how much has it run

and can they give you the values for clearances/thickness of the original and the allowable wear on the discs? amnd obviously the measurements of the current thickness

[flipsyde]

@Revvhard : The car is 5 years old run 58k kms. I haven't asked them about the exact values but I can find out the same tomorrow.

[autopsyche]

Just get the discs machine-turned once if it has scratches and uneven wear, they should be good for much more kms... unless it has wrapped under overheating or somehting you should be fine with a simple machining work.

[Jaggu]

5 years, 58k kms with non OE pads, I say replace or upgrade. Not worth the risk of machining the disc.

As far as I know Toyota brakes are good, so don't bother too much with upgrade if you do sane speeds. Better investment would be nice tyres one up size.

[flipsyde]

@Autopsyche : Will get that done. Hopefully I will get a second opinion from ELECTRA or the other person Nitrous said he'l take me to.

@Jaggu : I don't think the non-oe brake pads have been on more then 10-15k kms. Nevertheless OE Toyota brakes should be my first choice. I just want to make an informed decision. Don't want to take the plunge unless the replacement is absolutely required.

[DocG]

Originally Posted by flipsyde

@Autopsyche : Will get that done. Hopefully I will get a second opinion from ELECTRA or the other person Nitrous said he'l take me to.

@Jaggu : I don't think the non-oe brake pads have been on more then 10-15k kms. Nevertheless OE Toyota brakes should be my first choice. I just want to make an informed decision. Don't want to take the plunge unless the replacement is absolutely required.

Dude I have 2 AT Corollas, both are 3 years old. 1 has done 48K on the odo [dad's car] Mine has done 63K on the Odo. I replace all 4 discs, and pads every 30K-35K KMs.

The stock brakes are great for a stock car, stopping power has never been an issue. My car now has it's second set of brakes, since the 60,000KM service. I even got all 4 callipers replaced in the last service.

Call me crazy, but I'm very finicky about my brakes, they have to be good, else you don't get a sense of confidence. Also at the speeds which I do and my daily 25KM highway drive, stopping prowess is essential.

I will advise you to go in for OEM brakes, and not aftermarket ones, the guys at Toyota are picky, and may even refuse to work on your car in the future. Also spend a few extra thousand at an authorised service centre if you wish to develop a good rapport with the service staff there [It helps, my window was fixed at my resisdence today, took a whole day, but 3 guys from Toyota were here, and dilligently worked from 8AM, they even washed and polished my car ]

Hope I could be of some help,
cheers:
PS: I don't remember how much the brakes cost exactly, but yeah I paid somewhere around 15K too

[autopsyche]

Wow, thats a lot of braking you must be doing doc!

My corolla has 40k kms on the odo and all i have done is replaced the brake pads once at little before 30k, otherwise the braking is as perfect when the car was out of the showroom. And I see no signs of changing the discs for a long time to come.

[MM440]

Try to visually inspect the wear patterns on your front brake discs, if the imported ones are of a better quality than the ones available locally then buy them.
The ability of the materials used in the discs will determine their braking performance. If the cost of replacement by imported parts far exceeds the quote given by the Toyota dealer then think of importing, if not stick with the original,that way you will have the Toyota network not holding out against you for modding the car in a way which affects the warranty.
cheers
jammy

Originally Posted by flipsyde

After my ICE trip to Bangalore I realised that the brakes on my Corolla were acting really funny at high speeds. When I slam the brakes at 120kmph+ the car tends to shift to the right.
.
.
.
I got the car back from the service centre without carrying out any of the repairs. Should I take a second opinion from any other reputed mechanics in the city??

[JRD]

hey flipsyde,
there must be some explanation as to how your discs are so worn out in 5 years at 58k. my corolla is 4 years old with 68500 on the odo (non abs first gen corolla), I had a free replacement of the rear discs and front left disc because of a factory defect of uneven wear and overall strange on road behavior. This was in 2005 when the car was 1 yr old. After getting that done, the car has run 50-55k on those brakes. The disc cutting has been done just once and ofcourse the brake pads have been changed but nothing major.

What I would suggest is, ask your dealer to do a thorough check on your braking system. Whether the pressure of the brakes is even . Since your car is also a non-abs first gen version, may be there is a factory defect with the brake master cylinder or the booster.

Just to ensure that this doesnt happen again after another 30,000kms. And oh yes i would suggest the OEM brakes, 15k is not so bad for a 11 lac car.(at 5 years)