Who would have thought a simple brake repair could be so expensive?!

So I'm driving one day and I start to hear this grinding noise in my right rear tire, intermitently at first. Then I hear it as I start to accelerate soon. Aw crap, i think, my pads finally wore down fully. So I take the car to my mechanic, tell them to diagnose, replace pads, etc. etc. etc.

I find out the grinding noise was caused because the caliper had seized and was broken. Both calipers in the back needed replacing.

So...

Two calipers
Two sets of brake pads
Two rotor resurfacings
Bleeding hydrolic brake line
Labor costs

$515.00!

Ouch

 

well learn how to do it yourself and $515 will get you about 3-4 full brake jobs

 

I talked to the mechanic about that and she said a lot of people who try that job do it wrong and end up screwing up the rotors even worse. I wanted to do it on my own but not knowing what was causing the grinding noise i felt better taking it to the mechanic.

 

they have caliper rebuild kits and when i resurfaced my rotors it was only 25 dollars for 2, pads cost next to nothing. Its not hard, just be in there and once you look at it, youll have a clear idea of what you need to do, or get your mechanic to show you some stuff to help you out.

 

After paying that much money when i had to get my brakes done one time, i refused to pay that much again and got a haynes book and started doin my own brake jobs. taking everything off and puttin on new calipers,pads, etc was the easy part....only problem i had was when i put new pads on in the back, the first couple of days, my brakes felt and responded excellent, then all of a sudden after a drive home from work, there was smoke coming from both rear wheel wells. i assumed it was my brakes and it scared me for a moment, but everything is fine now, guess i just had to burn off something on the new pads.

 

i need new front brake pads.... did you resurface the rotors or did you just put the pads on. whats the worst that can happen if i just put new pads on with out resurfacing the roters?

 

if you dont resurface and the rotor is bad enough, the new pads will be chewed up in no time, just resurface if they are bad.

 

the brakes need to be done soon the started squeking 2 weeks ago

 

For $89 at Autozone, you get 2 sets of pads (for both front wheels), 2 brand new rotors, summa that blue goo silicone stuff (anti squeak compound).

If your rotors are that bad, check to see if they are still within spec (thickness measurement); then either have it resurfaced or buy new ones and slap them on.

My brake job: $89 and 2 hours (1.5 hours for first side, first time ever, and 30 minutes for other side).

 

NICE!!!! wow thats cool!

 

just did my brake job with parts from local stores. cost me about $300 and a case of beer to pay my friend to help. no problems at all, if you have questions, ask me.

 

I've heard not so good things about stuff comin autozone... is this true or no..?

 

u heard rite!!! dont get their brake pads. Get at least the performance pads from there.
Brakes only take bout 15 mins to change. At least to me.
And if u learn how to do things such as brakes.....u'll save a lot of money. Plus, its not even hard!! my lil 15 year old brother can even do mine for me. but one thing for sure.....calipers....they get pretty expensive, dont they???

 

I dunno. They haven't let me down yet. Well, except for that battery (have an optima yellow top in there now anyway) that kept dying (turned out to be the alternator).

However, they do stand behind their products in terms of warranties and stuff. That said, it doesn't matter where the parts come from. The point is you can save a bunch by doing it yourself.

There are people on this board who've had brake parts from Autozone and have never had problems.