Cost for full brake job?

Oh ya had to go there didn't ya?

Major thread SQUIRREL!!!!! in three, two, one....

Anyway.....personally I now use the brake vaccine for rotors....it's proven "safe and effective" against warpage and pad deposits. Problem solved. I do it to protect the others on the road, not me. I'm a good person like that.
im always convinced when people making money off something claim it’s safe and effective, no reason at all to question that.
 
Oh ya had to go there didn't ya?

Major thread SQUIRREL!!!!! in three, two, one....

Anyway.....personally I now use the brake vaccine for rotors....it's proven "safe and effective" against warpage and pad deposits. Problem solved. I do it to protect the others on the road, not me. I'm a good person like that.
Brake vaccine and a dust mask should slow the spread of runout, but do your brakes now pick up WiFi?

haha sorry….
 
The shop I work at has been getting 400-550 for a regular brake job. Pads rotors and labor. This is a typical range for front brakes or rear disc brakes.
 
If so, this could replace asbestos:


😂
7CC5FFCB-05A4-4D8E-BAA3-99BAE3181A6C.jpeg
 
I haven’t priced out a brake job at a shop around here - but if labor is hovering around $200/hr in my area, I’m assuming a pad/rotors job is $400-600 for labor(depending on book time and thoroughness) and market price for parts.

I do see shops with $200 brake pad specials still.
 
Did you wire brush the hub/rotor mating surface?

Did you fully inspect the boots on the pistons and slide pins?

Did you fully clean the slide pin receptacles on the caliper and regrease the slide pins?

Did you warranty come backs for a year?

Did you properly bed in the pads and test drive?
 
Its a "go away" price and if its an ok from the customer, its a "OMG, big money payday"

I've seen this done to a few women I've worked with before.. $3200 from work at a Midas shop. They told her every suspension part was worn, every fluids, every brake component was bad also. And she just accepted it and without asking anyone she had it done.

I’m calling BS. Did you inspect it?

Most people don’t maintain their vehicles. They think “good maintenance” is an oil change when they think about it.

Also, most people drive POS vehicles from either the big 3 or some euro trash that they can’t afford to start with. Maintenance is not something most people think about.
 
I’m calling BS. Did you inspect it?

Most people don’t maintain their vehicles. They think “good maintenance” is an oil change when they think about it.

Also, most people drive POS vehicles from either the big 3 or some euro trash that they can’t afford to start with. Maintenance is not something most people think about.
I'm pretty sure that on this site we all agree that vehicles are severely neglected, and yes, almost %90 of people only bring their car in when there is an issue.. Right? That style of maintaining property has been passed down through generations, no one wants to learn something they don't think is important to them.

BS, well it depends on what the customer asked for. To me it appears that she told them about the shimmy, and then they told her she needed all new brakes at each wheel. The issue here is how its communicated. You need all four, or the fronts need to be replaced to solve the issue. And we checked your rears and they're low, we can do those too if you want.

Communication is the grey area in most cases. The omission of details can be the same as a lie.
 
I took a 3 or 4 years old car that only needed brake pads to Les Schwab and they wanted to change everything (rotors, calipers, etc.) for $1200. That was the only way they could "guarantee" the work by changing everything. This was about 12 years ago.
I told my girl friend at the time to go to another shop and iirc she paid $200 or less.
Rotors I get, while they can be reused, often times they will be noisy or the pads could wear more than usual, any shop that does quality work will recommend rotors with every brake job.

Calipers should not be replaced unless they are frozen.
 
I haven’t priced out a brake job at a shop around here - but if labor is hovering around $200/hr in my area, I’m assuming a pad/rotors job is $400-600 for labor(depending on book time and thoroughness) and market price for parts.

I do see shops with $200 brake pad specials still.
Try pricing it out on repairpal.com or mymechanic.com or openbay.com. They give you quotes from local mechanics so maybe not $200/hour. At that rate, you should get a free rental and a car wash at least.
 
My daughter was recently quoted $495 + tax to do pads and rotors on the front of her 2010 Chevy Cobalt. I had her buy pads and rotors from O'Reilly's. They had a sale if you bought their higher end pads and two rotors you saved 15%. She bought all of the parts for $163 and I installed them. Easy job that didn't take too long.

About a week later I did the same job on my fiancé's son's 2008 Ford Focus. Got the same deal at O'Reillys and his parts cost close to $200.
 
My daughter was recently quoted $495 + tax to do pads and rotors on the front of her 2010 Chevy Cobalt. I had her buy pads and rotors from O'Reilly's. They had a sale if you bought their higher end pads and two rotors you saved 15%. She bought all of the parts for $163 and I installed them. Easy job that didn't take too long.

About a week later I did the same job on my fiancé's son's 2008 Ford Focus. Got the same deal at O'Reillys and his parts cost close to $200.

Did you get her out there to learn and help?

I always made my ex-wife come out and watch or talk while I worked, she actually knows quite a bit about front end components. I wish someone did that with me. I didn't turn my first wrench until age 18.
 
My last front axles brake job cost me only ~$18. Two amazon warehouse Bendix Premium rotors $8 each, and free (lifetime warranty replacement) Autozone Duralast Gold pads. Maybe a buck or two more from tax plus adding on the combined cost of a little brake clean, grease, and a pair of nitrile gloves....

Plus $1000 worth of tools once you count everything from the jack to the air compressor, but tools get reused countless times. I can appreciate that not everyone wants to make the tool investment. Even so, let's suppose I paid full retail for the pads and rotors, then it'd be roughly $110, and a (typical) shop wouldn't have taken as much care to derust and lube contact areas, would probably only spend an hour doing the work, so let's call that $150 labor, be generous and throw in $5 worth of shop supplies when we know it's more like $1, and the total comes to $265. Let's call them jackarses that print the receipt on gold leaf and charge a parking fee and round it up to $300.

That's it, $300 is the max I'd spend on someone else doing the same job EXCEPT IN MY CASE, the really ironic part is, I'd rather pay the $18 I did and DIY rather than have them do it for FREE because:

- Call shop, schedule an appointment

- Mark on my calendar and have to remember and take time off to get it done.

- Drive the vehicle there, and if they can't get it done while I wait, then have to have 2nd vehicle/driver to get home, and 2nd vehicle/driver to get back to shop later to pick it up. Maybe if you go to some high class shop they give you a loaner vehicle but let's face it, that isn't really free, your bill will reflect that however they pad it to make up for that cost to them.

- Either way, wait at the shop while they repair it or go home and come back, then still have to drive home after the repair, more time spent.

- Nobody is going to take better care of your vehicle than you are. I guarantee the $300 brake job wouldn't have derusted and greased all the contact areas that I would have, do the extent I do, and yet, my doing it well, takes up less of my time than the 4 lines above, probably less than 1/3rd the time, AND if I DIY, I know if something else is bad and needs replaced or whether they are just feeding me nonsense trying to make more profit.

$1000+ on a brake job that's 3X more burden than DIY? Does not compute. Shops are preying on ignorance and unfortunately that's how society is set up, that the contract to do the work is whatever you agree to, but what you agree to has a lot to do with how much Prior Planning. We can't all DIY everything, sooner or later anyone has to pay a pretty penny for someone else to do some work for them even if some other area of life other than automotive. I appreciate that the most when it saves time, but not so much when taking your vehicle to have brakes done, may cost you more time than DIY.
 
Last edited:
Did you get her out there to learn and help?

I always made my ex-wife come out and watch or talk while I worked, she actually knows quite a bit about front end components. I wish someone did that with me. I didn't turn my first wrench until age 18.
Yes, she was out there the entire time and even cleaned the rotors with brake cleaner for me. She drove to my house to have me do the job since I have all my tools here. She has stayed out there in the past when I've done other repair and maintenance stuff on her car. My son used to as well. We put brakes on his car a couple of years ago and he helped me do the job.
 
My last front axles brake job cost me only ~$18. Two amazon warehouse Bendix Premium rotors $8 each, and free (lifetime warranty replacement) Autozone Duralast Gold pads. Maybe a buck or two more from tax plus adding on the combined cost of a little brake clean, grease, and a pair of nitrile gloves....
That is absolutely the cheapest thing I ever heard of, but I'm not knocking you for it. When I was younger I put a set of $13 pads and a pair of $14 rotors. The rotors developed excessive "runout" and shook like a nun in a strip club. I was stuck with it bc I didn't have the money or tools to do it at college.

That being said, Bendix rotors have always been great for me, I put over 100k miles on a set once.
 
Yes, she was out there the entire time and even cleaned the rotors with brake cleaner for me. She drove to my house to have me do the job since I have all my tools here. She has stayed out there in the past when I've done other repair and maintenance stuff on her car. My son used to as well. We put brakes on his car a couple of years ago and he helped me do the job.
That right there is what we need more of. I tried doing that with my 18 yo nephew while I did his brakes, and it was a joke. I almost smashed his phone with my drive.. Turd.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: wtd
That right there is what we need more of. I tried doing that with my 18 yo nephew while I did his brakes, and it was a joke. I almost smashed his phone with my drive.. Turd.
I have always told my kids that if you want me to do the job, you are going to help or at least stay out there with me and learn something. Now my fiancé's son sounds like your nephew. He rarely has ever helped me work on his car and until recently, was never appreciative on anything I did on it. For a while I refused to work on it at all. These days I just do it to help her out so she doesn't have to spend the extra money to get it done. He now at least thanks me for working on it.
 
Back
Top