$900 for brakes?

Q: What does it mean when the "Check Engine" light comes on?

A: The dealership's service manager's boat payment is due.

I just did the T-Bird.

Pads=$165 (for four but the best compounds)
Rotors turned $100 (for all four)
Special tool rental $0.00 (because I bought the parts from them)
Fluid $12.00

So that does not even count my labor and the other tools that I had to use on the job.
$278

And someone is doing that for $270. I bet they are not truing up your rotors. A bad thing and will lead to pads that fail prematurely. If they are then they are low balling the other shops or using cheap pads that will not give you the best stopping or the best life.

You get's what you pay for.

Not saying that the $900 is not out of line but you need to look at parts are being used and what all is being done.

I did new stock rotors and pads on my Ford van. I did all the work and I think the parts all together was about 120 dollars for my Ford.

I broke down in San Antonio, went to pep boys, it was close to 600 to get the Front brakes overhauled. Turned the rotors, new pads, one new caliper. Rip. But, I needed it done.

Everyone but surveyors are raising their fees.

If they are replacing some or all of the rotors, that may not be out of line. I did my wifes 300C within the last year, and there was barely enough metal left on the rotors to turn them and not replace them, and that was at 60,000 miles. I don't know whats up with the 3rd brake light, but I'm guessing it needs parts, because it must be more than a burned out light bulb.

Deral, 100 bucks to turn your rotors? I think I'm getting 4 done for $50-$60.

Unless the discs are warped, I don't get them turned.

A few mild grooves don't hurt much and doesn't merit milling them, because the new pads will adjust to them quickly enough - and frankly, it provides more surface area.

They make them so thin anymore that taking metal off of them will only make them faster to warp, so milling them just because of grooves will shorten their usable life.

If the rotors are truly bad, it's not that much to replace them outright, rather than screwing with milling them.

Deral, they said they were turning the rotors, most shops around here refuse to not turn the rotors. AAA is a fairly reputable garage, the deal was $299.99 for front and rear, with 10% discount for being a member.

Back in the day, on this old beater, I would do my own pads and have the rotors turned every other time and had no problems with that system. I don't go that route these days though, better safe than sorry.

Everything is bigger in Texas, Sam!!

I'm starting to pick up a little pulsing. I did pads only on the Subaru last go round. This time it'll be pads and new rotors. I'll do it myself, NPR and a Saturday morning will save me a couple of hundred bucks. I think I'll wait till spring though.

Rick

For $900+-, our regional tire, brake, superstore will replace everything. Rotors, calipers, pads, lines, and misc parts if needed. They don't do anything less than that because they warrant their work %100.

I typically do the "do it yourself" method when I have time.
Last time I found brand new rotors for $13 a piece 2 disk & 2 drum, and pads and fluid came to about $80.

No. The rotors are warped when you need to do a brake job. Not turning them is costing you thousands of miles and risking a soft or spongy pedal. True them up or suffer the consequences or a poor brake replacement.

From normal cars to race cars I have experience on this.

dp

The only time my truck goes to the dealer is for warranty work. I use the local Goodyear shop for all routine maintenance. Brakes on a 2006 Chevy 1500 were about $330 all around last time I had it done. Your example is a prime example of why so many dealerships have disappeared in the last 5 years.

It's more like the dealer needed to meet a quota.
I'll never go to a dealer again except for warranty work if I ever buy new again. I spent $800 on a fuel pump to try and fix a misfire on my truck because that's what the dealer said the problem was. It didn't fix the issue, so he suggested changing out the fuel injectors at $275 each. I've got 8. He would do one at a time until it fixed it.
I went to an independent garage and the first thing he did was plug in the truck to his diagnostic tool. I had over 3500 misfires on cyl. 6. He had the truck 30 minutes and replaced a cracked spark plug for $8.00. Total bill was $75. The cracked spark plug was installed by the dealer at my 100k tune-up for another $700.00.
Oil changes at the dealer are always $1000.00.
Dealer repairs are a rip off.

they operate on the premise "there's one born every minute"

don't be a sucker--

i stopped going to my dealership long ago when he raised his hrly rate to $125, and put pablo an illegal to work on my car--they let go nearly all their ASE certified mechanics kept 2-3 as managers and hired 20 plus illegals and ex felons that were jail trained--amazing---tdd

Somewhat off topic here, but I gotta ask...

How many miles do these vehicles have on them when they “need” brakes???

In 45 years of driving, I have replaced exactly ONE set of brakes (@ 135,000 miles on an FJ-60 Land Cruiser Wagon), and that set probably had a good 30,000 miles left on them.

I have put 100k+ miles on most (but not all) of the vehicles that I have owned in those 41 years, so I guess I must be pretty easy on brakes (all where standard transmissions).

Now I do know a few folks who seem to replace brakes every 20-30k (or so), but they all have automatic transmissions, and drive like their butts are on fire.

Of course out here, I might get on the Freeway, and not use the brakes [AT ALL] until it's time to fuel up again (350-500 miles later). Of course having a standard transmission means NOT using the brakes when going down hills (ANY HILL).

Loyal

Dealers are not the only overpriced mechanics. I took my Pathfinder to the local Firestone when the check engine light was on. They said the entire exaust system needed replacement for about $1300.
I then went to Midas Muffler who couldn't find any problem and suggested I go across the road to a garage. The guy at the garage tested it and found the problem was the one spark plug that I had not changed because it is hard to reach.
They changed it for $50.
I haven't been back to Firestone.

My last brake job cost $1617.00.

$15 for rear shoes, $36 for front pads, $66 for two rear drums and $1500 for labor.

I pay myself well when I work for myself.

Deral, all I am saying is that I find get a lot more miles without warping out of new rotors than I do with ones that were milled down, so that's my personal bias against turning them.

My observation is that once the rotors warp, they seem to be liable to continue to warp easily. I suspect that the heat that first causes them to warp may also mess with the temper of the metal, and I also think warping is compounded by thinner and thinner metal each time they are milled back down. Rotors on a lot of cars seem thinner now than they used to be.

Might get tens of thousands of miles without warpage, then they warp from some hard braking, you mill them, and a thousand miles later they are warped again, and a thousand miles later, warped again. For me it seems like once it starts, it just keeps happening, so I then feel like I'm throwing money away to get them turned.

That's just my observation and my theory, I could be wrong and it's just a stupid superstition against milling that I've developed.

Maybe I've just been lucky all these miles, but I've never had trouble with my brakes by not milling them - again, unless they really look bad I don't mess with them. It really doesn't take long at all for new pads to wear to fit the rotors like a glove. And when they are bad, I'd sooner just replace them than turn them.

> Somewhat off topic here, but I gotta ask...
>
> How many miles do these vehicles have on them when they “need” brakes???
>

i change mine every 70k or so as needed. front brakes seem to go about 20k before the rear. this is mainly in town stop and go driving.

Terrain and driving type greatly effect your brake life. They will last much longer on the Flat Highways. If you live on Lookout Mountain and drive up and down all day and then stop and go traffic in town, you are going to wear them out much faster. I would say I get about 45-50 thousand out of brake pads.

I think it strange that most dealers charge more for drum than disk brakes. I find the disk brakes much easier to replace. Probably having the lift, right tools, experiance makes the difference.

On a truck; front brake pads around 50-60k rear brake pads 80-90 maybe longer. Don't know how many times on my Durango for the front brakes but this spring-redid all four sets-including rotors for about $600 but that included some other work. Now the wife can't seem to drive the thing without short stopping.