Brake master cylinder- £250 supply and replace?

[Sir Brixalot]

Oh No, the Yellow Peril Has just failed MOT. Lots of welding, corroded break pipes, leaking shock and corroded brakes - will get full list of failures tomorrow but the garage is talking in the region of £900!!!!. Also brake master cylinder is leaking. I have been quoted £250 to supply and replace the brake master cylinder - does that seem about the right price? Thanks

[T25Convert]

Hi,

The cylinder itself is £70.50.
http://www.brickwerks.co.uk/shop?page=s ... gory_id=47

Fitting isn't too hard a job as I understand it, remove dash pod and instruments, and there it is.

You will also need several litres of new brake fluid, and the whole lot will need bleeding, but if all the brake lines are being done, make sure you don't pay for it twice!

To me it seems a bit on the pricey side, but I'm tight and tend try to do it myself wherever possible.

Post up the full list as £900 sounds like it should pay for the brakes and a whole lot of welding with some change, or though others may disagree.

Good luck!!

Cheers,

Alex

[Cruz]

Can't vouch for the quality of the GSF cylinder

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-TRANSPORTER-T2 ... 54ff3e1cfe

[bigherb]

I have been quoted £250 to supply and replace the brake master cylinder - does that seem about the right price? Thanks

It would be if they priced it up using VW parts or you supply the parts and they fit it but if it fails under warranty you then have to pay to have it replaced again.

[AdrianC]

Can't vouch for the quality of the GSF cylinder

They've got it on their own website, as FAG brand - £36.50+vat, so £43 and change. IIIRC, they're a german brand (although probably not german manufactured) and do some OE parts (mainly bearings) for VW, so it shouldn't be too shonky. Shouldn't be. It's GSF. All bets are off...

[Red Westie]

FAG is a top notch brand.....what is it that everyone has against GSF, they usually have several brand options it's just that the average punter always go cheap and are not prepared to pay top dollar for a name. Those in the know want the better brands but slag GSF off for stocking what punters want...cheap!
All I can say is ASK for Bosch/Beru/NGK etc and most of the time they can oblidge.
The difference between someone like Brickwerks and GSF, is Simon (at Brickwerks) has aleady done the vetting as he sells what he fits so there is no lottery. You just have to know your brands or make sure you ask the right questions.

As for the master cylinder replacement cost: Parts (master cylinder which ever you choose) plus an hour and a half to fit/bleed so under £150 all in....like others have said, do at the same time as the brake pipes and bleed once.

Martin

[AdrianC]

what is it that everyone has against GSF

Personal experience of hanging around a mate's Citroen specialist workshop over several years. The amount of stuff they delivered that was either just plain wrong or of unbelievably poor quality...

it's just that the average punter always go cheap and are not prepared to pay top dollar for a name.

Sure - but there are parts that are _such_ poor quality that they shouldn't be sold. They're a false economy.

[andisnewsyncro]

Had mine done before Christmas; Cylinder £68, Labour £45, Fluid £4 = Total £117 + vat.

That's at a garage that I've used with various vehicles over the years though, and they know us and the van quite well. It was booked in for its 4th MOT with them and started to leak the day before . It was far too cold and snowy for me to attempt it and I was told that they're easy to get out but not so easy to get back in again...

[Sir Brixalot]

Thanks guys. Big difference from £117 to £250. Still waiting for proper breakdown of costs but this information will give me more haggle leverage.

Turns out that its the clutch master cylinder, quoting £160 so a lot better, leaking shocks, brake pipes just need securing but loads of welding - now quoted £700 all in.

[billy739]

shame your not closer to gloucester
can weld and have the parts in stock!

[Ian Hulley]

GSF are a great firm ... at least they are round here. We have good staff and most of the stuff they keep is fine. I'm sure we all know about their issues with the cheaper bearings (which incidentally were all they had in stock 3 weeks ago) and the senders which seem particularly weak.

I guess if Brickwerks had a shop in Derby I wouldn't use GSF as much but the lads there are great and they've now started to send missionaries over the border to Nottingham branch

Ian

[Sir Brixalot]

shame your not closer to gloucester
can weld and have the parts in stock!

I've plumped for it. I bought a bronze Micra for the Mrs from Gloucester so its not too far. I'd rather some one from the forum made a few quid - if I'd seen this earlier I'd have made the trip. Tried hard to haggle the price down more but was told take it or find someone else so I think I'd pushed as far as I could. Probably sell it with a years ticket and much better nick than when I bought it and get a newer one with cheaper parts

[Red Westie]

I have to be careful here....don't want to get anyone in trouble but the guy I deal with at GSF tells me warts n all whether the part is good or not. This morning he put me off a radiator thermo switch saying it looked like a cheap eastern block make.
Bearing in mind that there are so many pattern parts available, some good, some bad, it really is just a case of being picky, always ask for the make and whether there are alternative choices.

Martin

[horizontal kipper]

You are lucky if you live in the nottingham or derby area as you have john at derby or jabba (glyn) now at notts, gsf stars of the midlands. shame the same carnt be said about leicester

[Simon Baxter]

Beware of the GSF "FAG" branded cylinders.
They used to sell FAG, well, the sold FTE, which is a sub brand of FAG.
But GSF don't sell them anymore although they would lead you to believe they do with all the top brands on all their promotional stuff and whats written down the sides of the van.
What you actually get from GSF when you order a FAG (but really FTE) T3 brake master cylinder is a unbranded blue box with a cheap looking master cylinder inside.
The box has a small paper sticker with the OE part number on followed by "7RL" which for avid readers they will realisie that this is a Vibring item, GSF's own cheap "pooh" Chinese wank that they get made in the far east.
Avoid at all costs, or live to regret it.
Recently I have seen "Jopex" branded items, which is one of the brands of JP Group from Denmark i think, somewhere like that, they are buyers and reboxers of a lot of cheap "pooh" too, which GSF (and others I must add) love.

Now, JP Group are interesting as they do have some good parts, Gemo cables for instance, however I fear that that relationship has come to an end judging by the recent JP Group cables I've seen..
JP Group also do seem to do a lot of silly little parts that other people don't, anyway, they won't sell to be as for the limited amount of parts of theirs I would stock I can't reach the minimum order requirement and I refuse to pad the order out with the other garbage they seem to have.

The ever constant changing supply of the low end of VW aftermarket parts...

JP