Thread: D4 - 2 Year Service Cost

Originally Posted by scarry

What i can't work out is how our work Hiaces,which are loaded,almost on GVM all the time,do mostly around town work,have always done over 300k before the brakes need touching.

In fact a mate of mine,in the same industry as us,just sold his at 350k,still on it's original brakes.

Sure, they are manuals,don't tow anything,and don't have much power,but the brakes are very good,yet seem to last for ever.

My D4 has done around 50k and the pads are around half worn,front and rear.The D2's i had always needed pads at less than 100k.

I regularly see d3 and 4's with no pads left at 50k. You must be a light braker ☺

Yep as Justin mentioned, D3 / D4 doing brakes round that 50K or up a bit seems the norm.

But I see this with any vehicle (I do Jeep as well) that has stability control and traction control if driven hard.

While light vehicles such as small run arounds or vans (small) such as the hiace will generally be better on brake pads, bluntly.... 350K on original pads? couldnt believe that to be possible, I'd believe 100K before needing pads, no Hiace I ever worked on up north ever had pads last that long.

I don't see brake pad wear as a vehicle fault, I think its fair and reasonable if you drive a 2 ton plus "block of flats" hard its going to wear out pads. If the pads are too hard then excessive rotor wear will also occur. I'd rather chew out pads more than wear down the rotors excessively.

What I also see a lot of is vehicles coming in with new brake pads, yet when I measure the brake rotor thickness they are undersize, to me its pretty inexcusable for a repairer (or home handyman) to slap on pads and not measure brake rotor thickness or test the brake fluid for moisture content as per the Australian Standard (which is to a max of 4% moisture content).

regardless if its a repairer or a home handyman, its not acceptable to be ignorant of how brakes actually function and why its therefor important to measure rotor thickness and test the brake fluid on regular service intervals.

Regards
Daz

I have no problem paying a decent labour rate so the tradesman/ technician /mechanic can take home a decent pay packet. And yes those flash dealer workshop's cost real money.

But what gets my goat is the outrageous mark on consumables and parts. 30 - 50% on their buy price should be ample, not move the decimal point.
What would a dealer pay for oil in a 1000 litre drum for example.

Originally Posted by DazzaTD5

Yep as Justin mentioned, D3 / D4 doing brakes round that 50K or up a bit seems the norm.

But I see this with any vehicle (I do Jeep as well) that has stability control and traction control if driven hard.

While light vehicles such as small run arounds or vans (small) such as the hiace will generally be better on brake pads, bluntly.... 350K on original pads? couldnt believe that to be possible, I'd believe 100K before needing pads, no Hiace I ever worked on up north ever had pads last that long.

I don't see brake pad wear as a vehicle fault, I think its fair and reasonable if you drive a 2 ton plus "block of flats" hard its going to wear out pads. If the pads are too hard then excessive rotor wear will also occur. I'd rather chew out pads more than wear down the rotors excessively.

What I also see a lot of is vehicles coming in with new brake pads, yet when I measure the brake rotor thickness they are undersize, to me its pretty inexcusable for a repairer (or home handyman) to slap on pads and not measure brake rotor thickness or test the brake fluid for moisture content as per the Australian Standard (which is to a max of 4% moisture content).

regardless if its a repairer or a home handyman, its not acceptable to be ignorant of how brakes actually function and why its therefor important to measure rotor thickness and test the brake fluid on regular service intervals.

Regards
Daz

Mate,i have three on the road now,all bought new,all well over 250k on the clock,brakes have heaps left,and all weigh around 2700kg on the scales,not light at all.The others with over 300k passed roadworthy,have been moved on.

If you don't believe me,you can have a look yourself.

In fact if you want the phone no. of the mate who's did 350k,send me a PM and you can call him.

And two are driven by guys in their twenties,but they aren't flogged.

JC is correct,i am pretty easy on mine,as i am with most vehicles

No one is saying brake pad or for that matter rotor wear is a fault.It is a normal wear and tear issue for any vehicle.

The main issue is high pad and rotor wear increases vehicle repairs and therefore costs.

I think that because vans have different safety standards, their brakes can last longer.

With my 97 Prado, its had a set of rotors only ... is got a bit over 200K on it, and quite a lot of city miles. Its a petrol auto too (they did not have diesel in 97).

The front rotors on it got vibrations, so they were honed. And hence, they needed replacements eventually. The new ones were Australian rotors, and eventually the rears went ( at around 200K).

But the vehicle brakes poorly. The 150 series Prado brakes well - the previous series did not. I do not know if a 150 will have long rotor life ... probably not nearly as good as the 97 90 series ... good braking IMO is often obtained by using softer rotors.

We should not complain though - because the bigger rotors on the Disco have given better braking - but they've lost the ability to put a 17" wheel on the vehicle, or just the GOE 18" wheel (at the moment at least).



With the Disco, it has to comply with various Euro standards ... which are likely car standards. And its setup for winter work too. So the rotors are likely softer metal than the Japanese can use. Euro tiny cars likes Golfs and Euro Ford Focus's etc burn through their rotors very quickly indeed ... Midas told me that Golfs and the their crossover Tiguan, go through a set of rotors at 40-50k. Often too, third party rotors if harder and hence more durable, will squeal i.e. be a pain to use ...

The Japanese cars IMO have much better braking life. However if one buys a Lexus IS car (an IS250 or 350) that is not a hybrid (hybrids will not need rotors replaced as the rotor brakes rarely function) then expect much short life span. Despite being Japanese, the IS is sporty and hence uses softer rotors, so that it can stop as quickly as a BMW 3 series.

Simple case of performance vs life...

And of course... Physics, swept area, braking style, area of use, mass...

I tow a lot, brake hard and I'm still on factory gear at 76,000km.

I fitted Akebono to Dads D3 at 45,000km because he was told it wouldnt make the next service... I disagreed... But he wanted them changed..

Thought I would post here and bring this old thread up.
So I had my 2nd service done the other day and not feeling happy. Received the call and was busy so said go ahead with the rear brake pads etc, and even when picking the car up, I didn’t really go over the invoice. Looked at it closer when I got home.
Doesn’t look right to me!!☹️
Car has only done 29k, 22k year 1 and 7k last year. Replacing pollen filter on 1st and then the 2nd service seems a bit rich!
Remove and replace rear brake pads then in the description remove and replace front pads??
Replaced brake fluid, tried to look when this needed to be done but could only find a US schedule where it said it should be done every 3 years, so not sure if it’s different for Aus.
Had a leak in the passenger footwell when I went through a brushless car wash where there is massive amounts of water. Let them know, they told me it went through their big machine commercial car wash and no leaks. Description says used high pressure hose??
It has never leaked again since but wanted to get it fixed under warranty.
Anyway, do the parts look right? Anyone else have an invoice handy to compare and is it worth going back to complain? Not sure if they would credit me back anyway.
I even asked the guy about activating the global closing of the windows and he assured me it couldn’t be done for Aus. Yeah I’ve looked into it and can’t be done. He didn’t seem to be interested in helping and seemed like he didn’t want to be there! Read through threads here and it seems to be able to be done. Maybe not for MY16?
Can’t wait to go back to my indi when warranty is over!!
Dave.

My Indie does the coolant,complete flush,with new cross over plastic pipe and float in coolant tank every 5yrs.

Mine was in on Monday,Auto service and metal pan, flush with lifeguard fluid,coolant flush with crossover pipe and coolant bottle,replace one hard turbo hose,full service,oil,oil filter,fuel filter,and something else,$2K.

Which i thought wasn't bad.

Coming up in next couple of services are timing belts,battery is 4 yrs,so it will need doing,brakes are low,and front suspension arms starting to wear.

These vehicles are expensive to maintain,thats just the price you pay,unfortunately.

My work van was in at the dealer for a service the other week,$183.....not bad?
Just a small service,it was.The biggest service is around $450.

But it doesn't go or ride like a D4,far from it.