Yes big time, i go over my brakes every year and twice, spring and before winter, if van over 5 years fit new rear wheel cylinders and shoes, also look at front calipers for seazure wear and disc wear, look at all hoses for cracks.So is a floppy hand brake that doesn’t seat firmly when you let it off, an indicator that something is amiss with the brakes.
Wheels don’t seem to get hot and van seems to pull ok.
Should I be concerned and get them checked out
Front Discs can be very easy to work on. (weirdly, when it comes to vehicle mechanicals, the only thing I really used to do on my own vehicles ARE the brakes!)
. But front brakes really are much more straightforward and you should not need to pay that much for new discs and pads even with fitting. @marchie , I would get a quote from a couple of places to get an idea of prices. Even replacing Calipers does not take long to do.
Thanks, David. I had the Brake Fluid changed in Autumn 2021, not long after buying Brunhilde, and last year's annual service showed minimal water absorption. It's our usual garage doing the work, and the prices/quality are acceptable and can be relied upon, so Steven will only do what is needed, rather than what the book says [he quoted for the full service last year but when he compared the mileage covered in the previous 12 months and did a physical inspection, he did a '16v oil and filter' service instead, rather than charge for pollen filters etc where they had hardly done any work. He relies upon giving an honest service at reasonable prices and the repeat business to stay profitable, and will sort out a 5 minute job without charge as part of genuine customer service [ATS fitted the Winter Tyres but failed to clean the alloys properly, resulting in 2 wheel weights falling off on successive days ... He didn't charge for the first replacement, but took £30 on the 2nd day to cover the cost of removing the other 3 wheels and weights, and giving everythiing a very thorough clean to ensure that the weights would remain stuck in place]Front Discs can be very easy to work on. (weirdly, when it comes to vehicle mechanicals, the only thing I really used to do on my own vehicles ARE the brakes!)
Rear Brakes can be far more awkward though when they incorporate the handbrake mechanisms. I don't know if the Ducato rear brakes need a special 'wind-back' tool like vans such as the VW Transporters do? If they do, it is tricky to work on them properly without those. (WITH the tool, which is cheap to buy anyway, it was pretty easy).
I had to have the rear brakes done on my Ducato around a year ago and it was not cheap
PS. I don't know what you usually do about brake fluids, but it should really be replaced every two years (typical charge is £25 I have found), so if you have not had this done in the last two years, I'd recommend getting it down at the same time as the brake work. Refreshing the fluid at that time makes most sense, esepcially if you DO end up with new calipers. They would charge you for some new fluid anyway to top up, so just get the lot replaced.
