Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Main dealer health check says

Front brake discs rusted on inside
Rear brake discs rusted, replace soon

Skoda Superb, 5 years old, 40k miles. I'm saying they will last another year / 7k miles. Seem reasonable?

Edit: it's only 5 years old. Where did I get 7 from?!

Disk brakes rust and are cheap. Get the pads done at the same time. Mine need doing on my VW - 7 years old but only 33k miles. Sounds about right to me.

Question for car stereo/ wiring buffs..
I recently had a modern car stereo installed in my 1975 Citroen DS. When the engine is not running it’s fine - very clear with no interference however when the engine is running the radio and iPhone connected by usb regularly cuts in and out or “lags”as my 12 year old puts it. Is this likely to be a voltage/ fuse issue? Any ideas? Cheers p.s.
People who installed it are trying to charge me £50 an hour to work out what the issue is.., I feel they should be troubleshooting as part of what I paid for them to install it but there you go...

Dealer health check vs an MOT tester will be two different things.

They will probably last a lot longer than 7k miles (depending on how much you drive and how / where etc). Rust is normally lack of use!

I'd probably run them until they fail an MOT. (you may not want to do that though.)

My Subaru has had an "advisory" on it's rear brake pads for 3yrs on a trot and i've never changed them and it's never actually failed on them.

yeah, it had zero advisories or fails on the MOT which was done at the same time. I didn't get the discs replaced.

I have found in some instances that when I used main dealer for servicing and MOT their "pre-mot health check" was a mechanism to just sell parts earlier than you really needed.

My guess is that your alternator is emitting a lot of radio interference. The solution would be to electrically shield the engine from the stereo.

I’d also try to ensure that no unshielded wires for the stereo are near to or run parallel with vehicle wiring, and I’d also ensure that the stereo has its own, unshared and thoroughly cleaned/checked ground.

My stereo problems (interference with engine running) were due to a shared ground.

A good solid earth connection would be the first place to start. Then check for parallel wiring - just reiterating what @Dammit said.

Although, normally these would cause interference or a whine/hum that changes pitch with engine revs. Not specific to usb "lag" I wonder if it's borderline on the voltage?

Also, yes. Correct function should be included in the original installation fee.

As you had an MOT at the same time and brakes not mentioned. Don't worry about it.

Is the USB connection on the head unit?

yes it is - the radio fm/am cuts in/out as does the iphone played through a cable into the usb port.

Weird thing is when i sloppily wired up the stereo before it was done "professionally" there was no interference at all.
It has two new front speakers and two in the rear parcel shelf - when previously it just had two crappy ones in the front.

Can you record the fault? Might make it easier to diagnose from afar.

Does the cut out line up with any type of audio event? To me it sounds as if you’re borderline on power and something is sagging it enough to cut the audio but not turn the whole unit off. 4 speakers could well draw more power than before (especially if low impedance
) and contribute.

Hi there, not sure what you mean by audio event?
I’ll try and upload an example but not sure how 🤔
Voltage (I know zero about electrical circuits) seems to make sense though..
The place that did the work have agreed to have a look to try and work out what is causing it..

As in particularly loud or bassy sounds (both things that require power to produce).

Were all the speakers wired in?

Anyone want a learner/first car/banger? Passed this on to my sister and shes now selling it. Runs decent and will get you from a-b. Shes asking £350 and based in SW

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Madness.

Just hired one of those for a week in Portugal at the same price.

A 1999 polo? Id hope theyd give you something better haha

Think they have a following. Where in the south west.

If I was local I feel like I’d buy this just because it’d be rude not to, lol.

Alright. Prolly 10 years younger. Still.

Is the "T" number plate worth something?

SW18 sorry should have been clearer.

I'm thinking that.