Robert Pepper
Every so often your brakes will wear out, and as is usual with any vehicle component the extra stress of off-roading means more frequent replacements. Brakes are no exception, as a touring off-road weighs more than a standard car, and then you’ve got grit and mud getting in the discs as well as extra use downhill. Traction control also wears a little, although that has much less effect on brake wear than might be thought. This is because when a spinning wheel is braked to transfer torque to the other wheel on the axle there’s little force required to slow the spinning wheel – unlike the force required to brake a two or three tonne 4×4.
Anyway, off with the wheels and it was clear the Discovery needed a change of rear discs, and any time you change discs it’s a good idea to change the pads too. So that was done, but the electronic brake sensors weren’t the right ones so I left those off, and decided to just live with the dash light saying, now incorrectly, the pads were worn. So all was well until Mrs P reported a “funny noise” under braking.
It sounded from her explanation that the brake pads were worn… but surely not, how could she burn through them in a couple of weeks? I mean I know she and her mates like to turn the school run into an autotest, but it didn’t seem right. I did a little test drive and noted the noise was always there, regardless of whether the engine was running, and it varied with speed, and it was coming from the back axle.
SPEC
Make: Discovery 3
Mileage: 81,945
MPG: 23.3
Recent costs: Nil
Arrived: March 2012
You can read more about this Discovery in the January 2014 issue of 4×4 Magazine – available here
