just a quick one as i haven't been to the garage to look at the new pads.... but is there a wear indicator on the front brakes? i was told a year ago that the pads needed changing in 4 -5,000 miles and here i am 12,000 miles later still breezing along....

have got the disks and pads (and i'm at 78,000 from buying new) so haven't done too bad but wanted to change them when i had got my full money's worth!

should probably get a wheel off and have a look anyway but wanted the little light to come on first....
ta
pete

You will be waiting a long time for the indicator, there isn't one. Don't be surprised at being told you need new pads, I was told that in 2012 on a service, they even phoned and asked permission to do them, but as I had taken the wheels off two weeks prior, I knew they were ok, three months later the same dealer offered me a FOC Winter Check, they advised after they had done the check that I would probarbly need pads at the next service.

Franchised Dealer quote:
Front pads: £182.68 fitted inc. vat
Rear pads: £168.40
15% loyalty discount
£350(ish)

Local Indie quote: (Ferodo pads)
Front & Rear fitted inc. vat
£184


If the Main Dealer was a little more than the indie, of course I wouldn't hesitate to remain a loyal customer but at around double the price of the trusted indie mechynick, who wouldn't? Whereabouts unknown stop going to follow stream until reach civilisation stop message ends

i have recently replaced front and rear discs, pads and brake shoes on both my sons and my own Freelander with genuine LR parts for the princely sum of £280 total. The interesting thing is that in both cases, the offside drum expander had previously been fitted upside down. Had to make a little wedge to hold bottom shoe retaining pin in position whilst refitting the shoe retainer springs but other than that a fairly simple job to do. As seems to be fairly common, all the brake drum expander links were totally siezed up but as new ones were provided with the rest of the brake parts I did not bother trying to refurb them.

As confirmed above, the FL2 does not have brake wear indicators.

However, you don't need to bother taking the wheels off to check the pads (LR dealers generally don't) - just shine a good torch between the spokes to view the outers. At worst you may need to roll the car a little to get the view. Unless you have a calliper problem then the inside pad is likely to have very similar wear as the outer - again you can check it with the wheel in place but its a bit more awkward - a small inspection mirror can be useful to see the inners.

If you prefer genuine when replacing pads, a value option is to buy the LR parts on ebay (usually around £25 for fronts and £20 rears) and fit them yourself or get a local garage to do them. The genuine discs are similarly priced if you need them as well. There is nothing special or difficult about doing the FL2's pads. It takes longer to get the wheels off than change the pads. The handbrake shoes are a little more involved but you don't need to bother with them if its just the pads that need replacing.

A dealer charging £350 is scandalous.

Quick update:

The indie (who was recommended to me by a friend) did my brakes in around 1-2hrs. They now have a loyal customer because as you say Donny, £350 is just wrong in so many ways.

My feedback to JLR franchised dealer, was somewhat predictable. I said that if they offered such minor jobs at circa indie prices, even with the evident profit being made by the indie who knew JLR's prices precisely and who compared their quote to JLR nonsense, they would encourage 'customer loyalty' to the point that it would be impossible to consider using an indie at all. I realise that there is a similar scale of profits being used here but my point is that there is no need to charge as much as they do in hourly rates for such jobs. It's not a job for a mechanic, just that to keep the FSH thing 100% dealer, this would be my motive for using them instead of an indie. We all have 'overheads'. Whereabouts unknown stop going to follow stream until reach civilisation stop message ends

Somebody has to pay for the main dealers posh coffe machine and leather chairs!

That's why they charge so much, their over heads are so much more.

However if they reduced their profit margins a little more people would use them instead of Indies.

Billsy, I doubt you're far from Harwoods of Pulborough. Imagine trying to have that chat with them? I think it would be a nightmare. It's part of the reason I bought my FL2 from Caffyns of Lewes. Harwoods seemed to have an aire about them, if you catch my drift. Whereabouts unknown stop going to follow stream until reach civilisation stop message ends

Already fallen out with Harwoods Crawley service desk!

Never used pullborough but will be taking mine to Tunbridge if it needs any warranty work as not impressed with crawleys attitude!

If anyone ever needed proof that bad reputations are easily won but near impossible to lose, this is their proof! Anywhere that parks new FL2s next to those inbred Evokes, is proof of Darwinian selection. And don't even get me started on what I think of parking Jaguars in plain view of the Landrover forecourt. Whereabouts unknown stop going to follow stream until reach civilisation stop message ends