I just wanted to have my brake pads replaced — nothing serious. Then they called me to say that the rotors were worn out and mentioned something else, and suddenly the bill was much higher.While I understand that additional problems can be discovered during repairs, it always feels like the situation escalates too quickly.How can you tell when it’s really necessary and when they’re just trying to push you into having extra work done? Another question: has anyone ordered parts from Autodoc before? How quickly do they deliver?

This poster said they delivered in a couple of days.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on ordering car spark plugs - General Chat - Ford Owners Club - Ford Forums

I always do discs with pads anyway

After a few years, discs may need skimmed but replaced? Something's not right if they've worn that badly.

No, no, no. Discs today are largely ventilated, made to be as light as possible to save fuel, cost and most importantly, unsprung weight.

The cars that they stop are much heavier and more powerful and the brake pads are therefore harder and more abrasive.

Ventilated discs cannot be made any thicker than they are because they would crack or warp; the design and metallurgy are pretty complex. they are designed to be a wear out replaceable component, like a tyre.

Considering the work they do, discs last very well and the replacement cost is modest for what you get.

5 hours ago, Nitrowing said:

After a few years, discs may need skimmed but replaced? Something's not right if they've worn that badly.

You don't skim vented discs, they just end up warping.

New pads take forever to bed into old discs

And way before the new pads have worn out the discs will be shot.

That's why I always change the discs and pads together, start afresh, like they are when they're new.

Discs have a wear limit and are perfectly fine to skim to this level. Do some reading.

Thank you Gareth, I have not only done some reading but also more than half a century of working on motor cars. The wear limit is just that, not a skim limit.

With only 40 years of working on classic cars and bikes, I'll bow to your knowledge.

Well, replacing brakes can be expensive but it fully depends where you take the car.

The previous owner of our Focus MK3 ST had both the front and rear discs replaced at the Ford dealership. They installed the original/factory fitted FoMoCo (ATE) discs and pads and not the horrible, much cheaper Motorcraft discs and pads. The invoice showed a whopping €2.600,- just for replacing the discs and pads.


When I do the exact same job myself it will cost less than €500,- for parts (high carbon ATE discs with low dust ATE ceramic pads) and a few hours to install the parts.


Regarding the skimming of brake discs: Everyone may have their own preference, but I do not consider this to be worth the time I have to put into. Most discs are quite inexpensive anyway and (especially on performance cars) you ususally have to remove quite some material to remove all hard spots.

On the subject of Skimming the official Ford specification for Disc thickness on my car is that they are replaced when they have lost 2mm of their original thickness, that's only 1mm from each side.

The chances that the Discs will not have lost that thickness through normal wear at Pad change time is very small.

For context the original thickness of the ones for my car is 27mm overall for the Vented Front ones and 11mm for the Rear ones.

@JW1982 +1 on horrible Motorcraft. Installed some Motorcraft shocks the other day. Correct OEN but there were marked differences from original Ford (which M is meant to be like). Won't bother with M again, just buy Sachs or similar. Shocks perform OK but I had to get creative to get the dust covers on and weather tight at the bottom. Unimpressed by M.

Motorcraft is not original Ford.

Under the Motorcraft brand name Ford offers a selection of approved aftermarket parts. These parts are a cheaper alternative to the original Ford (FoMoCo) parts.


Offering lower-cost alternatives was originally intended to keep owners of older Ford vehicles returning to dealerships for maintenance and repairs.

On 4/24/2026 at 11:58 AM, Nitrowing said:

Discs have a wear limit and are perfectly fine to skim to this level. Do some reading.

I'm not reading anything.

I do what I want.

I don't skim vented discs because they get too hot and warp.

I don't fit new pads to old discs because by the time the new pads are halfway worn the discs are knackered and you've wasted money.

I don't fit old pads to new discs

I always fit new discs and pads together, like the manufacturers do in the plants

You can do what the hell you want

Read that

11 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

I'm not reading anything.

I do what I want.

I don't skim vented discs because they get too hot and warp.

I don't fit new pads to old discs because by the time the new pads are halfway worn the discs are knackered and you've wasted money.

I don't fit old pads to new discs

I always fit new discs and pads together, like the manufacturers do in the plants

You can do what the hell you want

Read that

"A fool and their money are easily parted"

12 hours ago, Nitrowing said:

"A fool and their money are easily parted"

Exactly, that's my point.

That fool pays almost as much as a set of discs to have the discs skimmed, which you needed to remove and refit to skim.

Then buys new pads

Then either the skimmed discs warp 10-15,000 miles in and the new pads you bought go in the bin

Or the old discs that you foolishly couldn't be bothered buying are so heavily worn that the new pads you bought are going in the bin.

So, yeah, you're right. A fool and his money are parted easily.

New discs, new pads, full service life

Thank you all for your comments about the wheels. Unfortunately, however, no one has shared their thoughts on Autodoc's delivery service. I'll keep looking for more information.

20 minutes ago, PlainText said:

Unfortunately, however, no one has shared their thoughts on Autodoc's delivery service. I'll keep looking for more information.

Yes they have. They delivered your spark plugs within a couple of days!

I'd like to hear your thoughts on ordering car spark plugs - General Chat - Ford Owners Club - Ford Forums

On 4/30/2026 at 10:23 AM, PlainText said:

Thank you all for your comments about the wheels. Unfortunately, however, no one has shared their thoughts on Autodoc's delivery service. I'll keep looking for more information.

I've never had an issue with auto doc, though I haven't bought brakes from them as yet

Through the Years I bought lots of parts from Autodoc for a large number of different cars.

Brake discs, brake pads, parking brake cables, ABS sensors, engine oil, transmission oil, oil filters, sump plugs, wheel nuts, engine mounts, transmission mounts, springs, etc.

All without a single problem. All parts arrived quickly and undamaged. However, I do not use the parts selection based on license plate number. I only use reputable brand names and cross reference against the Ford Finis numbers from Ecat.

I got my replacement headlamps from Autodoc, wanted to stick as close as possible to OEM and they were Hella who took over OEM for headlamps at least from Visteon

Also double and triple checked the FINIS numbers vs Hella specs etc to make sure got correct variants, RHD Xenon’s with black bezels

On 4/28/2026 at 8:19 AM, DaveT70 said:

Exactly, that's my point.

That fool pays almost as much as a set of discs to have the discs skimmed, which you needed to remove and refit to skim.

Then buys new pads

Then either the skimmed discs warp 10-15,000 miles in and the new pads you bought go in the bin

Or the old discs that you foolishly couldn't be bothered buying are so heavily worn that the new pads you bought are going in the bin.

So, yeah, you're right. A fool and his money are parted easily.

New discs, new pads, full service life

I am not sure I agree with your implied argument that new pads should always be accompanied by new discs, surely it should be on a case by case basis ?

Most important thing to learn ? Don't wear out your brakes by using them more more than you have to. I am sure we've all seen the wazzocks steaming past us on the motorway (or wherever) then a few hundred yards down the road their brake lights come on !
And I thought these kind of people say "my anticipation is so good I can speed and remain safe".....

It's probably NOT always the case, no.

But from experience, it's something I've always done

New discs with new pads give a full service life

Some cars, especially (proper) high performance models have ludicrously high brake parts costs, so in those situations I could probably justify the outlay of removing and skimming a disc that costs £2-300 each to replace.

But old pads on new discs are a no-no, whatever the situation.

A hum-drum Ford has dirt cheap discs available, it's just not worth the (brake) performance deficit of penny pinching.

That's why I always fit new pads and discs together.

Every time I have tried to get away with not changing the discs, even on new cars, by the time the pads are half worn the discs are shot and you start getting fade, pulsations or poor performance

So I won't be convinced other wise.

Currently, for a MK2.5 1.6 Focus, GSF has a pair of new front discs for £67

And pads for £25.99

If you're clever with email addressees, you could get another 20% off that

That's cheaper a full tank of fuel at the moment!

So, yes, a fool and his money are super easily parted

23 hours ago, troy45 said:

I got my replacement headlamps from Autodoc, wanted to stick as close as possible to OEM and they were Hella who took over OEM for headlamps at least from Visteon

Also double and triple checked the FINIS numbers vs Hella specs etc to make sure got correct variants, RHD Xenon’s with black bezels

Well, that's great. In that case, I'd recommend placing an order with Autodoc too. A friend of mine was actually looking for replacement headlights.