Well done lads, some good money saving work there.

Realised it's been 5k miles since the last engine oil change so treated the Scoob to new oil and filter whilst down under, always got oil and filters in stock.

Incidentally, i had a good look at the subframes where i treated them with Bilt Hambers finest, sure enough no sign of any rust poking its ugly snout out, standing up to normal road grit abrasion well.

All looked good otherwise, then washed the fleet to finish off, all covered in dust, gawd nose where that came from.

By the way CSG, part of my car buying ethos is that they must be simple enough (or well enough designed to be simple) to maintain or mercs which i leave to my indy, keep that Polo serviced and looked after and keep away from moderns..:-)

Edited by gordonbennet on 06/04/2015 at 21:17

Funny that GB, I only intended on changing the engine oil and ended up giving the brakes a looking at.

Did you give the open areas a light coat of cavity wax before applying the UB wax? I'm not going to treat the Astra to rust protection, when it gets rusty I'll have an excuse to get rid of it then.

The open areas were well rubbed/wire brushed down and the heaviest rusted areas (subframe), sprayed with zinc primer then painted with that 2 pack epoxy paint, then an overcoat of proper UB wax...the cavity wax only went in the cavities.

Opposite for me, didn't intend to change the oil in the Scoob, but then saw the mileage writ in indelible under the bonnet from last time, so oil change it was.

Got a week off next week so hoping to make a start on the Landcruiser rustproofing, now it's all serviced up to date.

Took the old MB to work today, filled up with LPG (60ppl eat yer heart out Osborne..:-)), then came home via the long sweeping bends on the back road with all the windows and sunroof open, most enjoyable.

I'm quite heavy on my car brakes, so they don't last everso long, but to put that in context and if anyones intersted my lorry tractor unit had its first new set of drive axle pads @ 280k kms, the steer axle renewed @ 300k ish kms, the mid lift axle still has 60% @ 330k kms, all original discs.

With care, discs should last 100,000m and pads 50,000.

Not that simple is it.

If you use the car only on the motorway that is possibly true but people who use their cars mainly in town with the frequent braking that entails will be lucky to get 1/2 that.

Take an old Golf I had. I mixed use the fronts would do 35,000 on a set of pads and the discs would be down to the minimum in 70,000 miles. Yet the wife had a Golf which had less town usage, the pads lasted 60,000 miles and the discs were OK to do the same again.

More powerful heavier cars tend to get though brakes quicker as you would expect.

Real obsessives should loosen the bleed nipple and squeeze out a few mls of brake fluid.

Sensible people bleed their brakes every 2 or 3 years.

"Real obsessives..."

Sorry. I had to smile.

It may well be that the discs for Polos are specified by bean-counters rather than engineers, a regrettably common practice these days.....

....especially perhaps at the cheap end of the model range. I think all the discs and pads on my 2005 flagship Audi A8 are original. There was no evidence of replacement in the service history when I bought it at 49,000 miles - but admittedly it is only at 68,000 miles in my five years of ownership. Front pads now down to about 3mm - at least another year or two's use left.

PS - update on my old post above - Focus front discs and pads replaced Sep 2017 at 125,100 miles. Rear drums remain uninspected since Jan 2007 when wheel bearing and brake cylinder (?damaged during bearing replacement) replaced. If it works, don't mend it.

The OE discs on the 2007 Hilux we owned were more resistant to corroding than almost all aftermarket discs i've fitted, can't say as i'd want them by choice though, nowhere near the bite that normal cast iron rust-fast discs offer, i sourced anf fitted Mintex pads to it (the only aftermarket made as new model) with the vehicle not 12 months old which improved things somewhat.

Never had the extreme corrosion issues noted in this thread (though i've found horror stories lurking under vehicles i've worked on many times, full main dealer serviced vehicles included), and my brake fitments have almost always been aftermarket parts where known trusted makes available so chances are the same makers of OE Polo brakes have cropped up in my life without falling to pieces, its keeping that salt at bay as well as making sure everything works by regular proper servicing that i'm convinced makes all the difference.