My front brake pads need replaced (2mm inner, 5mm outer) as pointed out by Arnold Clark Mazda when it was in for service & MOT.
They’ve quoted £171 inc. fitting, which seems extortinate to me (Mazda genuine parts, obviously). The problem is I really struggle to get to a garage during the week and AC are open on a Saturday.
Is £171 crazy? Should I try Kwik Fit or Harlfords instead? Any of these names makes me shudder, but when all local trusted garages refuse to open on a Saturday I’m forced to use them.
Don’t be so sure just because it is a main dealer they will use mazda parts my main dealer robbed me last year for wiper blades that they told me would not pass the MOT as they were split strange because I made sure they were not split before I took it in they also wanted £50 for a fog light bulb but I told them leave it as it was not an MOT failure.
When I got home I realised that they had left the wiper blades in a box in the car the box was a German manufacture and the old blades they had left me were clearly not mine, never using them again.
My brother used a different main dealer this year and I was going to use them but he took his 25th AE in for service and MOT and on his first run out with the 25th AE group his metal sump guard fell off under the car sparks shooting every where he had to jack the car up at the side of the road to get it off, 5 bolts had fallen out and 1 was left.
He took the car back to the dealer and they just took some bolts off another customers car and bolted the mangled plate back on, they had not bothered to tighten it up when they first did it. I wont be using them either.
It is a simple sump cover, a sump guard is a strong item to prevent damage to the sump if it hits a rock sleeping policeman etc. The sump on the NC is no where near the ground and does not need a guard.
The Mazda pads are £66 plus VAT for the 1500cc car and £85 plus Vat for the 2000cc car and they are a kit with the various clips and shims. Add on an hours labour at dealer rates and that is a reasonable price compared to any other dealer price.
if you are not prepared to pay that have, your car serviced by someone else which the law protects you by forcing the manufactuerer to protect your warrany by getting the car serviced by a competent garage and using parts of a similar quality to the manufacturer.
If the price is such a concern spend your time getting a local garage to fit them for you. Sorry but this is just special pleading here. There are plenty smal dealers in Glasgow that will do the job just try harder to find one.
The dealer labour rates are probably high. But looking from another angle why use genuine Mazda parts? Here are some prices from MX5Parts for 2.0 ND.
Genuine Mazda pads £77.77
EBC Ultimax (Guaranteed to meet or exceed OE specification) £25.48
EBC Greenstuff (Exceed OE specification and wear extended by 100-200%) £45.85
EBC Yellowstuff (Suitable for road or track use) £58.57
I doubt if Mazda make any pads themselves. They probably order them from the lowest bidder, probably not even Japanese. I would rather have a recognised brand as opposed to an unknown sourced item in a Mazda box.
Thanks folks! I hadn’t even asked about the specifics of the aftermarket alternatives as, to be honest, I didn’t expect the OEM parts to be more expensive than, say, the Brembo pads I’ve looked at. I expected the ‘Mazda’ parts would have been middle-of-the-road and the big brands to be more expensive still. I figured it was mostly the labour.
Still struggling to find a respected/rated independent that’s open at the weekend, and I’m not the only one as I’ve asked around as well as done my own research. I have managed to find one, and that’s Cumming Automotive Ltd, and even then they’re only open for four hours on a Saturday
Try phoning around other main dealers and other garages for their best price and then see if AC will match it. Some main dealers will do a price match so it’s worth a try.
I know what a sump guard is I used to do club rallying sorry I used the wrong word but my point was that a main dealer forgot to tighten the bolts up causing damage and it was lucky it did not end up through the window of the car behind.
For Pete’s sake…, that’s like having McDonalds give you a signed affidavit every time you buy a Big Mac… that Colleague 27xxnn ‘Dave’, washed his hands the last time
he went to the toilet.
Having said which… I remember reading , when Mr Arnold Clark died last year…, there was a thread on the Scottish football forum, Pie and Bovril…,
where posters recounted their experiences.
Someone had heard that, apparently, the Arnold Clark salesmen got together and decided to take a day off from being ar*eholes, out of respect for the old man.
From my point of view, it’s a very positive move for a place like AC where many non-enthusiasts go. And I bet it was in response to actually listening to customer feedback, too, where customer surveys probabaly showed trust was low.
The most common worry non-car people have going to a garage is they’re going to be hit with false reports of ‘this needs replaced’ and ‘that is broken’ while not being familiar enough or being able to access areas of their cars to challange it. They just have to accept the machanic’s word.
So now the mechanic gives you a guided tour of his findings/recommendations. He illustrated the brake wear. He also showed the actual tire tread measurements displayed on the digital meter ec. It will give plenty of people peace of mind and trust in their services. Sure, if they really were incined thy could swap out old parts for the sake of the video, but that’d take more effort.
I was at McConechy’s and waited while they inspected my car. The mechanic asked if I wanted to come into the garage to see the issue. I have no idea whether that’s within their safety regs or not, but it was interesting and reassuring to see. AC are offering that, but in a safer way that doesn’t require you to be in attendance. I hate to be definding AC, but I can only see the positives for the customer. A Big Mac is a lot less complicated and expensive compared with a car.