RRVSE,

you can visually check your pads (depending on which wheels you have fitted) without removing the wheels.

Just angle the front wheels on full lock and edge the car forward or backwards until the edge of the pads are visible. You may need a decent torch to shine in there.

I can also check the rear the same way but have to bend my neck sharply against the bodywork to see the pads as the rear axle doesn't stear.

Front pads on a FF last me on average 15k, rear pads 20/25K (with a few k miles life left in them). I usually get two sets of pads to one set of discs. I am not light on the brakes either. Lots of stop start driving, tow a very heavy stock trailer and off road her two or three times a week in the shooting season...


Prices paid for brake work :-

front pads £100 fitted incl VAT
Fr Pads and discs £279 fitted incl VAT
Fr pads & Fr discs and rear pads fitted (no discs on rear) £307 incl VAT

Take the VAT off, factor in genuine parts (with sensors) and I think those prices are reasonable.

Thes are all main dealer prices, if the vehicle was older and higher mileage I would probably go the independent route, but on a vehicle only two or so years old it isn't worth the risk to me / hastle with warranty claims and I get a nice LR vehicle when she is in being worked on. Mind you we do have some clout with the LR dealer as we run a small fleet - 8 vehicles.

wow wish mine cost that

rears went on mine a few months ago only thing that has in the year I have had it though. but the cost for rear discs and pad fitted inc vat was approx £650 main dealer Gordan Lamb Chesterfield Sytner Sheffield was about 5% cheaper

any advice/tips on how to get cheaper prices out of these dealers.

cheers

Polux wrote:

wow wish mine cost that

rears went on mine a few months ago only thing that has in the year I have had it though. but the cost for rear discs and pad fitted inc vat was approx £650 main dealer Gordan Lamb Chesterfield Sytner Sheffield was about 5% cheaper

any advice/tips on how to get cheaper prices out of these dealers.

cheers

Polux wrote:

wow wish mine cost that

rears went on mine a few months ago only thing that has in the year I have had it though. but the cost for rear discs and pad fitted inc vat was approx £650 main dealer Gordan Lamb Chesterfield Sytner Sheffield was about 5% cheaper

any advice/tips on how to get cheaper prices out of these dealers.

cheers

Do it yourself for under £100? (It's really not that hard) Or pay 2 hours labour for an independents time? 

If you are loking for aftermarket discs for a Brembo braked car, as far as I could find several companies list them but carry the same listing for a 'pre 05 car. They are not the same/ interchangable! My dealer quoted me £55 for front discs and £44 for rears, all per disc and +vat but minus discount. A fair price, I thought, especially as I couldn't get them anywhere else,
Ivan FF RR S/C (Gone)
TVR Chimaera 500(Gone)
TR7 V8

Hi Vogue, thanks for the comments, the price doesn't seem as bad now and at least I got 18 of the 30,800 miles out of them.
Polux, when I went to get my car , the price was around £580 initially so I just expressed my shear shock at the price, at which point the Service guy immediately did me the parts at trade ( 15% /20% off ) and this dropped my bill by £40 down to £540. You can of course now go to any VAT registered garage and have warranty work etc done and they claim it just like the main dealer does, it's just that with the complexity of the electronics on the Vogue SE, I want someone whio has been trained on the specific cars to do the work and negate any risk of incorrect fault analysis.
Cheers Steve

Main car : FFRR L405 Vogue SDV8
Other car : Vauxhall Lotus Carlton
Past cars : FFRR L322 Vogue TD6 SE (Sept 2006 MY07) ; LandCruiser SWB ; 4-Runner ; Supras; XJS V12 LeMans

Unfortunately going to a Land Rover dealer doesn’t necessarily get you a better experience. Last time I went to one to get the diff recall done they broke my steering wheel.

I’ve caught dealers out on blatant lies before, trying to con me out of money and when questioned they just get really .

It’s difficult if you cant do the basic diagnostics yourself though because you cant tell when you’re being shafted.