Watch this video - make a guess-timate of time/cos

[Gary Allan]

Hit #4: Doing a brake job right

Bendix stroker

Estimate includes:

Taking car from the lot
Putting it on lift
Assessing required repair
Measuring two rotors
Turning two rotors
Ball-honing two rotors
Washing two rotors
Setting up dial indicator on each wheel for runout
Cleaning hardware
Lubing hardware
Bleeding brakes
Road testing and initial wear in of new pads
(30 - 0-30mph-0 stops with 30 seconds in between)
Park car
Fill out W.O.

Assume that your shop has all the parts on hand (pads, any hardware, even new rotors if needed - additional note- new rotors will have to also be checked for run out on and off the car and may need to be adjusted (rotated on the lugs) to achieve proper fitment).

How long
How much (index for local labor rate and guess at pad costs)

I estimate about 3 hours total with the job ending up around $400 for one axle.

 

[The Critic]

How long?

If the technician does this repair on the daily basis, I'd guess between 1 to 1.5 hours.

How much?

Flat rate is probably about 2 hours, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less.

At an independent shop that doesn't charge flat rate (brake service chains that charge a flat rate for the labor involved in a brake job), probably about $150-$200 for the job.

At an independent shop or dealership that charges flat rate, probably about $250-$300. I estimate labor rates to be $100/hr and pads to run between $50-$75/axle.

 

[Gary Allan]

I forgot. No impact tools. All wheels must be torqued.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
If the technician does this repair on the daily basis, I'd guess between 1 to 1.5 hours.


I think if you had a "team" approach you may get the job out the door to the wear in phase within 1 hour and a half. That is, you typically need two people to bleed the brakes (yes, there are devices to make this a one man job ..but it consumes more time than a second person at the pedal). The same person would do the wear in while you're pulling in another car.

Even the video allots 15 minutes for wear in. I doubt that 45-75min is enough to do the rest. Suppose you need more than 1 swipe on the rotors? How fast can a lathe cut? Suppose you only have one lathe and 3 brake jobs. Suppose you have to do brake jobs constantly, can you keep up that pace the entire day ..or is this just a one time competition for time effort? Would one expect to complete 5.25 of these in an 8 hour day?

I'd say that a "pad slap", w/impact tools, would consume about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour. No bleeding ..no wear in. Add actually removing the rotors ..cutting (no hone - no dial indicator ..etc..etc) you're at your 1 hour mark easy.

 

[Drew99GT]

At a good independent shop, 3 hours (pretty much all shops charge book/flat rate and also pay their techs that way), 80 bucks an hour, the usual middling on parts, so around $120 for ceramic pads, misc. hardware/shop fee around $20, yea, I'd say:

$240 labor
$140 parts
---------------
= $380 total

That's around what I've been quoted for a brake job on my Corolla. No way in [censored] I'd trust Midas or Just Brakes!

 

[MrCritical]

Our GM dealership charges 2 hr flat rate plus pads for this job on almost any vehicle except over 8500 GVW trucks. Our least expensive GM pads are around forty bucks, the high dollar ones are around eighty, except for specialty cars.

Parts AND labor warranty for 12 mos 12k against defects. Normal wear not included.

 

[Pablo]

Are his ears real?

The vid is OK in a general sense.

2-3 hours. Do most shops do brake jobs correctly? I do a better job, redneck style. But it takes me much longer, and I just usually replace the rotors.

 

[chrome]

A lot of the time would be due to refinishing the rotors. Measuring, turning, ball honing, washing etc all takes a fair bit of time, probably an hour or more for 2 rotors.

At current rates, it would be cheaper and easier to just install new rotors.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Are his ears real?

The vid is OK in a general sense.

2-3 hours. Do most shops do brake jobs correctly? I do a better job, redneck style. But it takes me much longer, and I just usually replace the rotors.

How is your's better?

 

[Drew99GT]

Cause it's Pablo!

 

[bdcardinal]

i had a front end and brake guy do front and rear pads and rotors on my mom's 2000 Grand Marquis for me. i used Motorcraft Rotors and Motorcraft Super Duty pads. he was literally done in 20 minutes. brakes felt awesome. o and he used impact guns on everything, torqued the lugnuts properly after he was done, after he snugged them up with the impact.

we charge 2.0 hours per axle at my work (ford dealer) and we are $100 an hour. for a brake flush we charge an additional about $130. we do about 10 axle sets a day and usually 15 brake flushes a day.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Are his ears real?

The vid is OK in a general sense.

2-3 hours. Do most shops do brake jobs correctly? I do a better job, redneck style. But it takes me much longer, and I just usually replace the rotors.

How is your's better?


I'm not saying I'm better than the video. I'm saying I'm better than the random shop, especially some place like muffler/brake shop. I just take the time to clean everything perfectly, use new parts, etc. Let me put it this way: the 4 times in my 34 years of driving that I have had my brakes done at a "shop" they either squealed, squeaked, pulsated or otherwise were put together wrong.

Does yours have an apostrophe now?

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Does yours have an apostrophe now?

Whoops, I didn't even see that.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: MrCritical
Our GM dealership charges 2 hr flat rate plus pads for this job on almost any vehicle except over 8500 GVW trucks. Our least expensive GM pads are around forty bucks, the high dollar ones are around eighty, except for specialty cars.

Parts AND labor warranty for 12 mos 12k against defects. Normal wear not included.


Sure ...but do they do all the things on the list? Hone ..wash with soap and water ...use a dial indicator ..drive 30 0mph-30mph-0mph with a 30 second pause between each???

I doubt it for 2hours flat rate. If they did all the things on the list could they possibly make 2 hour flat rate?

Again, slapping on new pads ..and even new rotors is very quick. If you don't go through all those steps. You probably break even with the parts markup versus labor rate and make the parts manager more happy than you do the wrench/service manager.

 

[Shannow]

Gary, from what I've learned recently, this is more an educational video.

These sorts of jobs, while very complex and requiring vast training are simply training exercises for a job that rarely if ever needs to be done, if only 4 times during the warranty period.

 

[Gary Allan]

Shannow: I agree ..however Critic asserted that these things are a "must do". Not only that, but he asserted that all these tasks can be done within 1- 1 1/2 hours. I don't believe that they can.

This is to get a consensus of opinion (some qualified ..some not).

I personally think if all that is a "must do" then brake systems are less now than they once were. So much for advancement.

 

[Shannow]

Ahh gotcha.

Personally, I witnessed (through the wonders of the T.V.) a complete brake job in 36 seconds, involving wheels off, pads out, new rotors, new pads, and new wheels and tyres.

That was from the time the car stopped, to the time that the rears started spinning.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/fast-brake-job.77879/

That's 100 brake jobs an hour.

 

[Gary Allan]

(From the Wizard of Oz)

Waaaaail, why didn't you say so? That's a horse of a different color!

Critic would surely have time to do all the aforementioned stuff with that level of performance.

 

[Gary Allan]

Just so everyone is aware, Critic and I banter back and forth about this sorta stuff all the time. My seasoned (and somewhat antiquated) view is often in conflict with his fast paced "leading edge" youthful view on some things. His experience is different than mine. It's comedy. He comes up with more and more complicated things that are "must do's" ..and I scoff at them.

I'm not persecuting him without a smile on my face. A big one. If you've ever had an IM secession with him, you'll know that The Critic lives at the speed of broadband ..even if he was using dial up to save money.

My recurring rhetorical response is many times "how did we make it so far before someone pulled these "must do"'s out of their behind?. Not that they're bad ideas ...but neither are titanium shields in our roofs in case a meteor (or a cow in one case

) manages to fall from the sky.

 

[thr_wedge]

Took me two hours. No air tools and just jack stands. That included flushing the brakes and torquing the lug nuts and 2 beers. I measured the rotors but did not replace or even refinish.