A4 Avant B7 rear disc removal

[Mini Hog Dog]

Hi, I am told by my dealer that I need new discs and pads at the rear, 77,700miles, the fronts are ok and have not been changed before, so I am bemused as to why the rears would have gone home first, Is it easy to DIY ? any requirement to change or remove bearings to get the discs off ?
I have done this job yrs ago on other car makes with no probs, is there any
thing I need to be watching out for ? Thanx Rob.

[kite]

I would check that they really do need changing...

[Mini Hog Dog]

Thanx, I can take the wheels of and have a look, Do you know what min disc thickness is ? The dealer if they are correct tell me mine are down to 12.1 mm , presumably the pads have a ware idicator ?

[kite]

I have no idea what the min should be, no wear sensors in the rear pads...

[Ben]

Was it a service you went in for? And the next service is due perhaps 20k miles time or 2 years on longlife perhaps. the dealers will say they need changing as there won't be 20k left in them plus they get more custom and sell a set of pads also. It is probably this example that earns dealers the *******s badge. They will probably be ok for 15k in my example. Inspect them yourself and if in doubt, only change them when the pads are due.

[Mini Hog Dog]

Hi Ben, you are so right, yes a long life service at 77,700 with a cam belt, I opted for a water pump when offered and thought it a good insurance against sods law ! , but your take on the pads and disc make sence, I did ask them if it would pass an MOT in one month, they said not, but I bet they are trying to sell more bits, they have me though by the vunerables though, coz if I dont change them, I guess they will fail the car when it goes in for its MOT ( free with the dealer on a loyalty card) Thanx anyway.

[Issac Hunt]

Not all dealers are trying to rob you.

As rear brakes do much less braking than the fronts maybe the rears are suffering from 3/4/5 years+ of corrosion and minimal use. You need to inspect them and see what state they are in.

Excessively corroded discs/pads will fail an MOT regardless of how worn they are.

[Ben]

My dad had exactly the same scenario with vw and his touareg.