Brake service....

dereksbicycles

dereksbicycles

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Few weeks ago, my girlfriend got brakes done on her 1997 Cavalier. SHe paid about $450 for new rotors and pads for front and rear. She said that her mechanic is very nice and tries to save her money. He even gives her free rentals while the car is in shop. Other bonus is that mechanic is Irish just like my girlfriend is. She loves going to him because he is nice.

I'm not that NICE!! Yeah, you know, we all want the best deals. I'm not going to a mechanic just because he is deaf. I would go to the mechanic that gives the best deal on repair regardless of whether they are deaf or not. Regardless of whether they're Irish or not. If I were to marry my girlfriend in the future, I may ask her to ditch that mechanic. I'll let that hefty $450 bill slide because we are boy/girlfriend not husband/wife.
 
$450 is bit high... but they all rip you off.
front rotors are $55 each Pads $ rear drums $40 each rear shoes $20
parts would be around $200 to $225

brakes are not that hard to do fronts are easy, rear shoes bit harder to do..
you can find "how to guide" on You tube" etc on how to do it..
 
mx757 said:
$450 is bit high... but they all rip you off.
front rotors are $55 each Pads $ rear drums $40 each rear shoes $20
parts would be around $200 to $225

brakes are not that hard to do fronts are easy, rear shoes bit harder to do..
you can find "how to guide" on You tube" etc on how to do it..
Click to expand...
The reason why it costs more is... labor.

If you don't want to pay them to do the work, then do it yourself. :)

I do my own brakes. I've changed brakes, rotors, and drums many times in the past in many different vehicles. :)
 
That is half of the reason, other half is tools, they aren't cheap and some of them do wear down, who pays for them? Of course the cost passing down to customers.

450 dollars for brake job is normal. I could do less than half because I do it myself.

VamPyroX said:
The reason why it costs more is... labor.

If you don't want to pay them to do the work, then do it yourself. :)

I do my own brakes. I've changed brakes, rotors, and drums many times in the past in many different vehicles. :)
Click to expand...
 
450 is not that high for rotors and pads at all 4 corners.

rotors- $50 each front/$30/each rear $160
Pads- $50 front and $50 rear $100
Shop mark up 25 % $200/$125
Misc. parts - $20
Total parts - $345

Labor - $75/hr x2

Total - $495 + tax.......~$545

She actually got charged a normal rate, possibly saved some money
 
I do agree that $450 is a good price especially if you go to a professional mechanic. I'm pretty sure you can find students taking classes on learning to fix cars to do brakes for less than 450.

So to each of their own. You can spend more on professional job or less on backyard mechanic job. I tend to more of go backyard route. That is why I thought 450 was a lot.

Yes, my girlfriend's mechanic is a great person to work with, but we all want to save money if we can.
 
Wirelessly posted (sent from a smartphone. )

I think 450 is reasonable for major brake job. Its better than over 1000 which easily can happen.
 
Derek, why didn't you allow your gf to flash her boobs to mechanic to get a boost savings? :lol:

Rotor/Brakes for $450 is reasonable price to me.
 
tigersharkdude said:
depends on the model. A number of cars are/were offered with both drums and disk's.
Click to expand...

I did the rear brake jobs on the Chevy Cavaliers, from what I see is Rear Drums. But I can check out the Bendix brake spec book to see if they equips w/ rear rotors next week.
 
dereksbicycles said:
I do agree that $450 is a good price especially if you go to a professional mechanic. I'm pretty sure you can find students taking classes on learning to fix cars to do brakes for less than 450.

So to each of their own. You can spend more on professional job or less on backyard mechanic job. I tend to more of go backyard route. That is why I thought 450 was a lot.

Yes, my girlfriend's mechanic is a great person to work with, but we all want to save money if we can.
Click to expand...

Then why you don't learn how to do it yourself. It's pretty easy and I learned how to do it thru friend when I was 18 years old from Chicago.
 
Sometimes I do my own. Either I buy new rotors and pads or I take the rotors into places like Autozone where they turn them. Buy the lifetime replacement pads if you wear them down frequently. Only costs you once.

$450 is about average. Some mechanics are less. :)
 
TinCanSailor said:
Sometimes I do my own. Either I buy new rotors and pads or I take the rotors into places like Autozone where they turn them. Buy the lifetime replacement pads if you wear them down frequently. Only costs you once.

$450 is about average. Some mechanics are less. :)
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I never return the worn out pads/shoes for lifetime warranty, cuz I can't stand to consuming my time to trip to the parts store like pick up the machined rotors/drums. Forth and back. I use to texting a counterman (part wholesaler for auto repair shops) to order the parts, they will delivery the parts over to my work. Like snap fingers and time saver.
 
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