Brakes and suspension work

[SR-Manuel]

Just had the car serviced and the garage has flagged up a few issues.

Rear brake pipes corroded and both sides front to rear pipes corroded.  All need replacing.  Anyone had this work done and what was the cost?  

Also worn bushes in the front suspension arms.  Really surprised at the quoted price for this but was told that they replace the suspension arms rather than just the bushes. Does this sound correct?  I would have though the brushes could be replaced rather than the full arm.

Thanks!

[olddriver]

Brake pipes on my Corolla cost me about £200 in an independent garage, I think that they used Cunifer, I can't remember but I know that we had a discussion about it and they didn't use Toyota parts.

[furtula]

9 hours ago, SR-Manuel said:

Just had the car serviced and the garage has flagged up a few issues.

Rear brake pipes corroded and both sides front to rear pipes corroded.  All need replacing.  Anyone had this work done and what was the cost?  

Also worn bushes in the front suspension arms.  Really surprised at the quoted price for this but was told that they replace the suspension arms rather than just the bushes. Does this sound correct?  I would have though the brushes could be replaced rather than the full arm.

Thanks!

Garage does easier and more expensive job instead of what's cheaper for you, no surprise.

Other thing could be it's really hard to get the bushes out, which i doubt, but it's a possibility if you are close to the sea.

Have you checked the pipes? It's not unheard of to have this happen, but could also be light corrosion, i'd still check myself if possible.

 

[Notoyboy]

It will be quicker for the garage to replace the suspension arm, rather than just replace the bush, so it's a matter of balancing the extra cost of the arm against the extra labour needed to replace the bush.  Dependent upon type of bush, it can be quite a struggle getting the new bush inserted, speaking as a DIYer.

A long time back, copper brake pipe was available, but the modern pipe is Cunifer, which is an alloy of (mainly) copper & nickel.  A lot easier to bend than steel pipe, although some OE steel pipes might be pre-shaped.  I've only ever used Cunifer, which the garage will buy as a coil, and cut to length, and shape it as required.  Cunifer will outlive the car!  

[SR-Manuel]

On 12/10/2019 at 3:11 AM, olddriver said:

Brake pipes on my Corolla cost me about £200 in an independent garage, I think that they used Cunifer, I can't remember but I know that we had a discussion about it and they didn't use Toyota parts.

Which ones? Fronts? Backs? from front to back?

On 12/10/2019 at 8:36 AM, furtula said:

Garage does easier and more expensive job instead of what's cheaper for you, no surprise.

Other thing could be it's really hard to get the bushes out, which i doubt, but it's a possibility if you are close to the sea.

Have you checked the pipes? It's not unheard of to have this happen, but could also be light corrosion, i'd still check myself if possible.

 

I had a look at the rears and they look like they need doing.

On 12/10/2019 at 10:39 AM, Notoyboy said:

It will be quicker for the garage to replace the suspension arm, rather than just replace the bush, so it's a matter of balancing the extra cost of the arm against the extra labour needed to replace the bush.  Dependent upon type of bush, it can be quite a struggle getting the new bush inserted, speaking as a DIYer.

A long time back, copper brake pipe was available, but the modern pipe is Cunifer, which is an alloy of (mainly) copper & nickel.  A lot easier to bend than steel pipe, although some OE steel pipes might be pre-shaped.  I've only ever used Cunifer, which the garage will buy as a coil, and cut to length, and shape it as required.  Cunifer will outlive the car!  

That's what I kind of thought, quicker to replace the whole arm rather than each bush.  By the time they have removed and replaced the labour time will be the same as a new arm.

[olddriver]

2 hours ago, SR-Manuel said:

Which ones? Fronts? Backs? from front to back?

 

From front to back, although they couldn't get at the bits of the pipe/s over the tank, and I had already replaced the short U pipes, that I bought from Toyota, adjacent to the rear cylinders.

[olddriver]

On 12/10/2019 at 8:36 AM, furtula said:

Have you checked the pipes? It's not unheard of to have this happen, but could also be light corrosion, i'd still check myself if possible.

 

My car was probably 15 years old at the time, and one of the front to back pipes actually burst during the mot test, and it was a female tester!