Well, I've never had this happen before...

That nasty graunching noise that tells you that it's time to buy new disk pads happened the other day. Of course, it also tells you that the 'worn out brake pad warning light' also doesn't work.

I used the brakes very gently until I could get hold of a new set of pads, but (there's always a but isn't there?) on stomping them rather hard when someone pulled out in front of me, there was a rather strange 'clonk' from somewhere down near my right foot. Pulling away was accompanied by an ominous clonking, rattling sound.

I stopped and peered around the front suspension and brakes behind the right hand front wheel, but could see nothing amiss. The gentle drive over the mile or so home was accompanied by horrible noises.

On removing the front wheel, all became disturbingly clear.

The brake pad that had been making the nasty noises had become partially dislodged from it's home, allowing one corner of it to rub gently against the disk, where the actual disk meets it's hub. It had been gently carving it's way through the cast iron until I had applied the brakes a little heavier than usual. The initial clonk was in fact the disk separating from it's hub. When I moved the caliper out of the way, the disk was completely detached from the rest of the car.

Time to upgrade my order to include a pair of front disks along with the pads.



The photograph above shows a new disk on the right, alongside the interesting old two-piece version on the left. It's a little rusty because it had been lying around in the rain for a couple of days before I took the pic.

The new one is a lot quieter.

The car stops a little better as well.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that a pair of pattern disks were, at £55.00, about the same sort of price I used to pay Citroen dealers for a set of pads. They are not genuine Citroen, but I am happy to trust Quinton Hazel as I've been buying their stuff for years and years and for a large variety of cars.

The story of the pads was even stranger than the disks though.

On the side with the busted disk, one pad was completely worn away leaving only its metal backing plate, but the other looked brand new. Now, I'm used to seeing one pad worn more than the other, often due to a sticking piston in the caliper, but to have one completely gone while the other was almost as thick as the new one, well, that's a bit strange.

Things got even stranger when the pads on the other side turned out to be both almost new.

Why would someone change three out of four pads, then replace one of the almost completely knackered ones?

Answers on a post card, please. I am also open to offers for three totally unused XM front pads, still in their box ...