Originally Posted by 97prizm
Hi all,
My 05 neon is getting rear shoes replaced at a local place that has done my brakes in the past with hood results. I was quoted $158 but have a $30 off coupon. Does this sound reasonable? Not sure what brake prices are in your area. If it were rear discs i would have replaced the pads myself. I still can't believe a vehicle made in 2005 had drim brakes.
$128 is very reasonable and borders on not being worth the trouble of doing them yourself. The price might escalate if you have to replace the drums and/or the wheel cylinders.
Having said that, if you are capable of doing disc brakes, you are capable of doing drums also. It's not rocket science. It just takes more time. You might run into trouble if they have been severely neglected and there is lots of corrosion to deal with. While special tools are helpful, you can manage to get it done with the basics. It just takes longer. There are lots of YouTube videos to show you the way. Take good pictures before starting so that you make sure to get all the springs and hardware reinstalled correctly.
With my current vehicle, I remove the drums at every tire rotation to clean things up. This really helps when shoe replacement time comes. So, yea, depending on your mood and time available, consider doing the work yourself. As mentioned above, it is a bit rewarding when you tackle and complete a challenge.