Brake job on 2003 Camry XLE

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My brakes were really bad and the pedal was going almost to the floor with weak stops. I wouldn't want to do a panic stop with them for sure.

I took it to a local shop and the guy showed me the rear disks were not even working. They were seized up. He was able to free one rear caliper and had to buy a rear one. I also needed 2 rear rotors and ceramic pads front and rear.

Total cost was $ 474.00. I didn't think that was too bad.
 
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Wow! Sorry to hear that. My wifey's 04 LE only requires front pads (OE frt pads suck big time, even when it has 70% left, changed out with Raybestos ceramic and got more "bite").

My front rotors and raybestos worked out to about 90bux in parts (USD, bought from Advanced Auto when on sale). Rear shoes are fine.

Good luck!

Q.
 
I replaced 4 rotors + pads, both rotors and pads are made in Germany, for my '00 E430 for less than $400 3 years ago. I bought parts online where you pay no shipping for orders over $50 or $75, then paid my mechanic labor only.

The price you paid was not bad, but if you know and order parts online you may save some $, if your mechanic charge reasonable labor cost.
 
Did the rear rotors look rusty? I'd think if they pads were not biting and cleaning the rotor surface they would look rusty on the surface.
 
$73 for one caliper, $35 each for new rotors, $18 each for the rear pads and $17 for front ones.
$73
$35x2
$18x2
$17x2

Equals $213 in parts if you ordered from Rockauto.

So you payed $260 for the labor. And I guess in today's world of $70, $80 and up per hour for labor I think you did not too bad.

Hopefully they used good parts (all the prices above were for excellent quality parts)

Good to have brakes!
 
ZZman,

How many miles are on your Camry?

Did you ever have the brakes bleed? It should have been done at least twice on a 6 yr old car.
 
Originally Posted By: ZZman
My brakes were really bad and the pedal was going almost to the floor with weak stops. I wouldn't want to do a panic stop with them for sure.

I took it to a local shop and the guy showed me the rear disks were not even working. They were seized up. He was able to free one rear caliper and had to buy a rear one. I also needed 2 rear rotors and ceramic pads front and rear.

Total cost was $ 474.00. I didn't think that was too bad.
Can the rotors be turned on that model?
 
How many miles on the car?

My friend's dad has a 03 Camry XLE and he has over 115,000 miles on the original brakes.
 
105,000 miles on car. I have never done brakes since I owned it.

Back rotors on both sides were rusty, crusty and grooved.

Rear disc brakes always seem to be the ones that get jacked up.

I would like to have done some of this myself but I just didn't have the time or a good place to do it. The brakes were also really bad.

He showed the labor at $ 190.00. I checked parts prices on Autozone site and he was right with them in price. Same for Carquest when I checked.

Funny I didn't hear any loud squealing or grinding like I thought I would if these were messed up.
 
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In Michigan (extreme winter road salt), I think that annual brake cleaning and re-lube would be beneficial.

Unfortunately, most of us (including me)are too lazy and invoke the "out of sight, out of mind" mentality.

I,too, would have replaced both calipers at that mileage to keep the system "balanced" and avoid the risk of the older caliper re-seizing and ruining the new pads/rotor prematurely.
 
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