Brake Service

[danchip]

I took my car to a local garage as the brakes were making a grinding noise, they had a look and said the pads and discs look fine but they could do with a service, they would strip them down and clean everything.

My wife took the car to kwik fit for "free" brake test. She told the guy there about the other garage saying about servicing them and the kwik fit guy said he'd never heard of cleaning brakes.

Has anyone ever heard of servicing/cleaning brakes

[tonyav]

A new one on me, I'd just fit some new pads if I were you.

[TWR]

What would be included I think is to Renew brake fluid, Visual checking of the pads / Disc . Caliper Function / Brake Rubber Hoses.

[derekpara]

If you have rear drum brakes then there could be loose rust/dust in the drums.

This will produce a sort of scraping noise, although rear brakes play a minor roll in normal breaking.

I've removed rust/dust many times on all sorts of cars I've owned and that has cured the noise.

[gingejbee]

Not surprising that Kwik-fit hadn't heard of cleaning brakes...they don't have much idea, in general.
My latest (2nd year) service included "brake strip and clean" and a brake-cleaning product was used. A bit like this....

http://www.halfords.com/motoring-travel/engine-oils-fluids/brake-clutch-fluid/halfords-brake-cleaner-500ml