Just sold my Climbing 4x4, mainly used around the city with plenty of braking.
At 32,000 miles the front and rear discs were nice and shiney.
Looked at my Cross, less than 3000 miles but mostly on salty motorways.
All 4 discs are looking dull and pitted.
Not a big issue as I will replace discs myself when required but just take a look at your discs and report back.

Had the car been sitting a while or just been washed when you were looking at them?

The material that brake discs are made from turn that brown coloue when in contact with water of left to sit a while.

Go a small drive and apply the brakes and it should clear them up.

No, it's not the light brown corrosion seen after washing but the deep corrosion seen after a long time.
This car spends a lot of time doing nowt then goes for a good long run. Good for the engine and DPF filter but not good for the discs.

doctorchris said:

No, it's not the light brown corrosion seen after washing but the deep corrosion seen after a long time.
This car spends a lot of time doing nowt then goes for a good long run. Good for the engine and DPF filter but not good for the discs.

Click to expand...

Do Panda Diesels have DPF's?

S-X-I said:

Do Panda Diesels have DPF's?

Click to expand...

All new diesels do as standard now iirc

stumbled across these guys..Brakes4U CO UK....VERY CHEAP....
normal front discs for a 100 hp £28 + p/p
WORTH A LOOK....
just checked 4x4 are £28
sounds like a deal.

Certainly does!

Spent yesterday sitting around our 'local' dealers (Piccadilly in Knaresborough) for the car (Panda 4x4) to have its annual service and first MOT.

It failed the latter on ''extremely pitted' front discs. Somewhat surprising given the mileage (28500 miles). I don't drive like a granny so a bit of a shock, but more was to come...

The price to change discs (and pads obviously) was £189.15 which wasn't what I was expecting. And of course they have you over a barrel. you need an MOT, you don't want to be messing about getting quotes etc so you gulp and say to go ahead. Wish I had asked to see the discs to see for myself, but only thought of it on the way home.

At least mine is a 'company' car so I am not paying for it, but we are a charity so it is a bit galling to spend so much. Then again they also had an advisory notice on wearing bush, which I queried under warranty, they agreed was a warranty item and all booked in for next week. They should have thought of it themselves mind you, but at least I asked (the warranty expires on Friday!) and got it.

An 'enhanced' service (includes changing the spark plugs), MOT and the front discs / pads all came to £389.15 inc vat etc

I suppose that's been the only cost in a year, apart from the tyres so maybe not so bad these days?!

Most Easterly Pandas said:

All new diesels do as standard now iirc

Click to expand...

(dpfs)
I thought one of the advantages of the panda MJ was that it didnt, or have a dual mass flywheel!

james_f said:

Certainly does!

Spent yesterday sitting around our 'local' dealers (Piccadilly in Knaresborough) for the car (Panda 4x4) to have its annual service and first MOT.

It failed the latter on ''extremely pitted' front discs. Somewhat surprising given the mileage (28500 miles). I don't drive like a granny so a bit of a shock, but more was to come...

Click to expand...

When I took my 4x4 Climbing in for its third service the dealer tried to persuade me to have rear pads replaced (fair enough, they were near the wear limit) but also wanted to replace the rear discs due to "severe corrosion".
I declined the work and replaced the pads myself. The disc corrosion was only on the edge of the disc and I knocked the loose stuff off with light hammer taps, then gently used a file to clean up the surface.
No problem when I took the car in a couple of weeks later for MOT at my local garage.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

All new diesels do as standard now iirc

Click to expand...

Only engine #169A1000 (75 hp) has DPF. UK multijet "dynamic" pandas do not have this one, they are 70hp #188A8000

This even in the manual. "Engine #169A1000, body #169AXD1A 06/B (version with DPF)"

Is the extra corrosion an effect of a much worse than 'normal' winter, I wonder. Here in Hertfordshire they spread so much salt that I had beautiful crystal structures growing out of the holes at the top of the front suspension towers under the bonnet! I've given the whole thing a damn good pressure wash since! Where councils were getting very low on salt its possible that they used less 'pure' salts, or salts without 'protective agents' in them. Herts CC use something called Safecoat, which is salt mixed with a molasses by-product. This claims to reduce corrosion (as well as de-ice better and cause less damage to the roads). I wonder what's used in your area.

My brake discs seem fine though (bear in mind they get 50 miles of driving a day, so any 'light pitting' will soon be cleaned off before getting a chance to really eat into the discs).

I've not replaced the rear discs yet (pads have been). But the fronts were very eay to do, and even after buying real Fiat parts from the dealer, it wasn't expensive -- no where near James_f's bill

HH / Pete

I'm pretty sure that all the salt and grit used this Winter has contributed. In addition, the Panda Cross calls out to driven more sedately than the Climbing so the brakes are used less, particularly as I do mostly long journeys at a constant speed now and rarely drive in the city.
This sedate driving style is also reflected in there being very little front tyre wear so far.
When I say sedate, I don't mean slow, I keep up with the traffic and am up to the speed limit whenever possible. It's just that the Cross, being heavier and taller and with more weight at the front, is not as chuckable as the Climbing. In addition, as the Cross is more powerful, it's easier to get back up to speed after corners, roundabouts etc.

I'm glad to see that Diesel-engined Pandas do not have a DPF. It seems that in the 70PS tune, this engine can meet the emissions requirements without a DPF.
Hence, I don't need to worry about the odd short journey clogging up a DPF and it's one less expensive item to go wrong.

It's an interesting thread and on previous cars I've certainly noticed the rear discs developing corrosion around the circumference but nothing on the discs themselves. Had the wheels off the 100hp last weekend to rotate them front to back and took the opportunity to inspect the brakes (after 11 months and lots of miles of abuse ) and was surprised to see that the pads still have plenty of meat on them and the discs are barely worn at all and still nice and shiny with no corrosion.

I wonder if the fact that your car sits around after a long run might mean that your discs are not being cleaned of contaminants as frequently which leads to corrosion setting in, especially after a winter with lots of salt/grit being put on the roads?

Chris

Chris, I'm sure you are correct, my car is not in daily use so corrosion can set into the discs easily.
The rears are particularly susceptible as the braking effort transferred to them is less than to the front.
I'm not bothered, I know how to replace discs and won't need to pay Fiat dealer prices when the time comes.