servicing costs

chris beard · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 1

I recently had my 07 plate mercedes a class serviced at 37k i was told spark plugs and rear brake pads needed changing would have thought spark plugs would last longer and considering 90% of braking is done through front wheels why did rear pads need changing was i ripped off?

Smarty · Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 6

It is hard to say, but I would ask for the old parts back next time so you can see for yourself. Either that or mark the parts expected to be maintained in some small way.

It does depend on the condition of the part, if they were in from new and it was felt by the mechanic that they needed changing to keep the quality of the vehicle to its obvious high standard, then I think they did the right thing.

None of us like to pay for anything extra but if your car misfired or slipped on the parking break you would criticise the garage for not doing enough.

Smarty 8)

DONFRAMAC · Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 127

Only platinum-tipped spark plugs can be expected to give very long life:---- eg 63000 miles is typical, and well worth paying double the cost of ordinary ones, as they burn clean quickly, but cannot be adjusted for spark gap as the centre electrode is small and fragile.
Your rear brakes obviously are discs, and at the rear these don't get enough use to keep the calipers and pads moving laterally, as they get very crudded up due to road salt and grit. they really need annual stripping/cleaning which is one of the main ommissions in modern servicing schedules:---- just a cost-cutting exercise, which results in only one pad per disc getting worn, and a skimming of the un-worn surface being a likely requirement.
My wife's Corolla 1.4 T2, had rear discs, with small hand-brake drums in the hubs. Both rear discs had to be skimmed at 15,000 miles (1 year), and the Toyota dealership were oblivious of the need for annual strip/clean/adjust/lubricate with copper-grease.
Since then we have had both our Toyotas given a proper seeing to once a year.
Caliper-operated handbrakes are not very powerful, compared with drums, but can be improved by bedding in the pads by pulling on the hand-lever, when coasting at speed, repeatedly, until good retardation is evident.