I suppose this isn't quite 3rd gen specific, but I'm really confused.
So a friend had his brakes done on a 97 sentra - when I asked what he paid - $700 for rotors and pads. I know he was ripped off like a prom dress, but seriously, this is not the first time I've heard of ridiculous prices on brakes (japanese or not). In fact when I said that's a bit steep he said "it's the lowest price quote I got"
Is there just a general 'rip-off' policy amongst mechanics? What's the consensus here

 

what did he pay to get broken?

brakes?...going to those chain shop is a definite rip off. honest places can swap brakes for you for....umm...$200-400 YMMV with region and what type of car you're driving.

 

yes he got ripped off, should of just done them himself and saved his money. What is your question exactly? How much should this cost?

.......is it just me or have we had like 7 threads recently about stuff getting broken?

 

Dood, he didn't just get ripped off like a prom dress...

He was ripped off like the dress of a drunk ***** dancing on the table at a frat party!

Rotors for a Sentra cost less than $60 each, and pads are about $35 per set for most parts store 'premium' brands.
Add $15 for brake fluid, which should cost about $5... That's $325 in parts..
2 hours of labor MAX. at $75/hour, that's $150 labor...

total of $475 to have a shop do it.

Or he could have done it himself with just basic hand tools and got it done for about $200-250 total by shopping around online.

 

Matt, even your estimate seems a little steep to me. Last time I did my front brakes the pads were...like 40 bucks and the rotors were 20 or 25 a piece. And labor should be like another 40 or 50 bucks if a mechanic does it. It's four bolts per side guys! That comes in at under 150 by my count. Do it yourself and save some cash.

 

I paid 650 for 4 brembo rotors, slotted and cross drilled, and
high performance pads.

 

yeah your buddy got butt raped on that. i just bought two front Brembo rotors( mind you they are not drilled or slotted just regular ones im not planning on racing at Hockenheim) for 63.74$ each on an online website.
Plus good pads would run you for about 74$. And you better off doing it yourself over the weekend, nice brewsky jack the car up and in no time you have brakes done. Now unless you change the calipers then its another story , ive seen a set of 4 piston calipers for like 500$ with the braided lines from Brembo.

Peac out dude!

 

I fixed my dumb a$$ spelling, shows ya how far college got me

I'll foward this to him, at least he can get a laugh thrown in for the money.

I don't know a thing about sentra's and was curious if the parts/lab cost more for some reason. I've always offered to help people do it themselves, at least things within my range of knowledge, but everyone seems to think going to some 'chain shop' means it'll get done right for the lowest price. I'm really not sure what gives people this impression.

 

if all he got was pads and rotors then he got screwed based on our labor rates around here ($100 an hour at the more expensive shops)

mitchell labor guide:
R&R Disc Rotor
5 Front, Both B 1.0hrs 97-98
Includes: Repack wheel bearings where applicable & replace pads if necessary.

Pads : Wagner Thermoquiet list $79.54
Rotor: Premium version list $63.92 ea

tell him to learn how to do his own brakes

 

i have 2 SETS of stock USED rotors for the max if you need them.....

 

ouch

 

i just changed front "breaks" and rotors on a sunfire...cost me a total of $46. granted a sunfire isnt a sentra but geez 700 dollars??? i think you could buy a sentra for that price.

 

the truth hurts, doesn't it?

 

im just glad i didnt get taken for 700 bucks....doing it yourself or having someone you can truly trust is the way to go.

matt do you have a 700 dollar sentra?

 

Dude my friend just sold his 1997 200sx SE-R 125k miles and lightly moded for 1400 and it came with new brakes lol..could've gotten that and its a 5 speed too! I feel so bad for your friend, oh well too late now..perhaps you guys can get an explanation of WHY it was so expensive then post it here.

I did my g/f brakes on Saturday as a gift to her since her Maxs brakes were sinking ALL the way as if the moron who did them before didnt bleed them and once you did get to the bottom they bounced (warped rotors). Total cost was 22 bucks per rotor and 25 for pads..69 bucks probably a bit cheaper since I used my 20% employee discount.

Now that we're in the subject can someone clarify this. I noticed my front pads part number is 526 and hers is 430 although they both look identical to each other..is there a difference?

 

that 'hardcore project' quote slays me everytime

I just moved to Boulder a few months ago, but people seem to pay a ton for car repairs - girl at work got a $750 quote for new, cheap, struts installed on a Tacoma. I found her Tokico struts/shocks for $200 on ebay and charged her a case of beer (ie - I'm a sucker for green eyes and Tacoma's are amazingly easy to work on).
I suppose it's a combination of rich college kids and yuppies that drive the price up.

 

Dude I'm glad to hear this, I got green eyes...I'll buy you 1,2,3,4 cases of beer if you come change my struts. I got a nice *** too j/k

 

No, they're just stupid.
usually what shops will do is mark up their parts 100% from what they pay for them (which is parts store price.. they usually pay the same thing as a regular customer +- a few %.. the benifit to them is that the stores deliver for free- even if it's a single oil filter or something. the guys at the shop never have to run for parts- just call the store and have it delivered.

anyway, they'll mark up their parts prices 100%, and then charge book rate on a single corner brake job four times. It's higher that way because they charge a 1hr minimum rate for anything.. so instead of 1.5hrs for all 4, they charge 1hr x 4. that ups labor charges from ~$150 to ~$400 for the same job and they're still "charging book rate" so the customer eats it!!!!

 

For four cases of beer, you could be wearing ski goggles for all i care

 

526=430=815 all the same basic pad

 

Thanks a lot Brian...

DAMMIT I just paid more 29.99 for 430 when I could've gotten 526 for 21.99 and they're the same crap!!

 

This actually isn't true - if you go to Oreilly's they will show you two different prices - and what a body shop or mechanic pays is still less than those prices. So even if they didn't mark up the part they would still make money off of the part

 

you still paid too much for cheap pads

 

Sign up for a commercial account like I have and you will see the difference.
at Max, you get 10% off from some stores but have to pick up. OR you can get it for ~ same price and they deliver for you. that's just how it works. I've had commercial accounts with Oriellys, NAPA, and Autozone. all are about the same.