I saw a short on this cowboy garage that charged $8000 for pads and discs on a Hellcat. Then they tried to justify the cost. Half of it was for the pretty ordinary steel discs and pads (don’t believe they paid $4000 for them) and then they justified the $4000 of labour as being $300 for the tech, $300 for the shop as profit and the rest as running costs and taxes
Your fleet running reports
Re: Your fleet running reports
I’d still buy the £400 socket set. Brake even after the first time. See what I did there
I saw a short on this cowboy garage that charged $8000 for pads and discs on a Hellcat. Then they tried to justify the cost. Half of it was for the pretty ordinary steel discs and pads (don’t believe they paid $4000 for them) and then they justified the $4000 of labour as being $300 for the tech, $300 for the shop as profit and the rest as running costs and taxes
I saw a short on this cowboy garage that charged $8000 for pads and discs on a Hellcat. Then they tried to justify the cost. Half of it was for the pretty ordinary steel discs and pads (don’t believe they paid $4000 for them) and then they justified the $4000 of labour as being $300 for the tech, $300 for the shop as profit and the rest as running costs and taxes
How about not having a sig at all?
Re: Your fleet running reports
Like the 7-point specialist socket I had* to buy to remove the E-Tron front calipers?Delphi wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2026 11:26 am
Modern cars are (I suspect intentionally) difficult to work on. Apparently, many manufacturers are fitting security bolts to things like brake calipers so you need a custom socket set at £400 to be able to do them. Why let customers DIY their brakes for £100 when you can bend them over to the tune of £700 for the same job.

* I realised after purchasing that I could have removed the conventional hex caliper carrier bolts, and removed the caliper still-attached to those, but
A. That was a little more fiddly
2. I’d bought the specialist tool, so sure as fuck I was going to use the bastard
Re: Your fleet running reports
Following The Script...Mito Man wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2026 11:56 am I’d still buy the £400 socket set. Brakeeven after the first time. See what I did there![]()
I saw a short on this cowboy garage that charged $8000 for pads and discs on a Hellcat. Then they tried to justify the cost. Half of it was for the pretty ordinary steel discs and pads (don’t believe they paid $4000 for them) and then they justified the $4000 of labour as being $300 for the tech, $300 for the shop as profit and the rest as running costs and taxes![]()
See what I did there...
- Rich B
- Posts: 11946
- Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:22 pm
- Currently Driving: T6.1 VW Transporter combi
S1 Lotus Elise
Re: Your fleet running reports
i did a small but very effective job today to neaten up the van. The side bars are just powder coated metal, and when chipped they rust - badly! On the drivers side there was a patch that had spread and was making the whole van look tatty.


Thankfully brand new bars are only £150 delivered so not really worth even trying to repair the old ones. They arrived last week and i’ve just been out to fit them. Luckily i got ones with the exact same fittings as the old ones so i didn’t bother replacing the bracketry which was fine, and aside from one bolt that put up a fight, it was pretty easy and only took about 45 mins.


Massive difference imo.
i have a couple of other bits to do on the van, then it’s onto the Lotus - it needs checking over again after the winter and the decat going back on. It’s a nice day for it!


Thankfully brand new bars are only £150 delivered so not really worth even trying to repair the old ones. They arrived last week and i’ve just been out to fit them. Luckily i got ones with the exact same fittings as the old ones so i didn’t bother replacing the bracketry which was fine, and aside from one bolt that put up a fight, it was pretty easy and only took about 45 mins.


Massive difference imo.
i have a couple of other bits to do on the van, then it’s onto the Lotus - it needs checking over again after the winter and the decat going back on. It’s a nice day for it!