$500 to do front and rear brakes at stealership?!?!?!

Took Lisa's 98 Lexus ES300 to a Toyota dealership where she likes to do the maintenance on it because the check engine light had come on and then turned itself off, just to see what was logged in the computer.

We leave the car there and when we go to pick it up they have a list of things they think should be taken care of, like flush this and that etc. The brakes were also down to nothing so they should be taken care of. To change the brake pads would be $250 for the front and another $250 for the rear they said. I had overheard someone else who walked by who was also quoted this just a few minutes before we got the papers back on the car.

How can that be? The parts would be around $25 x 2 for the pads, and then $450 for hmmm... let's see one hours work?!?!? We said no to everything and went across the street to pepboys and bought some premium brake pads for like $40 x 2, and I took care of it in exactly two hours without rushing. Does anyone have any reasonable explanation? Are they selling so few cars that they do anything to get money in?

 

Does that include resurfacing the rotors? I just had my truck done at the dealership, it was like $220 for the fronts.

 

If it would have been a Toyota they would have quoted $250 :spank:

Seriously, maybe they were quoting new rotors or something. Its hard to say w/o seeing a detailed estimate. I'm with you, if it was just new pads it should have been more like $200 or less for both front and rear with premium (ceramic) pads.

 

I may get flamed for this, but unless there's brake pulsation, scoring, grooves, cracking, chipping or runout, there's no need to have the rotors resurfaced.

You could buy *new* rotors and pads for well under $500 they quoted you. Unless I have a rotor that's got some kind of surface defect or pulsating, I just buy factory replacement pads. Just make sure you follow the manufacturer's guidelines for bedding the brake pads in.

 

I was under the impression that they didn't re-surface rotors any longer, and the reason being that they couldn't get the same spec on them because of the better machines at the factory. Or maybe that is total bs, just so they can sell you new stuff?

 

Sounds like a good est to me. OEM pads, hardware kit and fitment kit, plus 2 hours worth of labor @ prolly $100/hr = $500. Lexus dealerships like to use OEM Lexus parts, and the standard fare at dealers around here is to quote hardware kits and fitment kits too.

The junk pads that you just put on w/o resurfacing the rotors will likely squeak, be dusty and not perform as well as the OEM ones. "Premium" means nothing anymore, because marketeers have ruined that term. Napa's economy (junk) rotors, for example, are now called "premium", and their good ones are now called "ultra-premium". Guarentees mean nothing anymore. Brake manufacturers will take their chances just to get you to buy their "lifetime guarenteed" pads. They have done their homework, and the amount of returns vs the boost in sales is heavy in their favor.

"Guarentee? I could put a pile of dog sh!t in a box and mark it guarenteed" -- Calahan Brakes in Tommy Boy :laugh:

Beware the high cost of a low price. :Smarty:

 

This is what the paper says on the brakes, and the $ quote was verbal with no mention of rotors:
"RND NEED FR BRKS LOW 1MM, NEEDS REAR BRK PADS LOW 1.5MM."

I also heard it mentioned to another customer as: the brakes needs to get done, and it will be $250.

I actually think that this is how much they wanted to just "do the brakes" which would only have been pads. They're probably used to people who have no idea and just go with the $250 for each axle.

 

That's why it's been Toyota and not Lexus where they would wash it and give you a new loaner for a few hours/day etc. It's been cheaper to go to Toyota, but this price just isn't reasonable.

OEM pads + kits could not top $150 + two hours of work @ $100 = $350
Something doesn't add up here.

I'll buy that the pads will probably not be as nice as OEM, and that premium doesn't mean much etc. But when you want twice what pep boys want to do the brakes at their service dept (just happened to see that), and then you can do it for half of that yourself, pretty easily. Someone is being taken to the cleaner, and I think its the customer going to Toyota and paying $500.

I'd say beware being taken to the cleaner when having someone else work on your car..

 

If you want the brake job to be done correctly you will need to replace the rotors, replace the pads, service the caliper slides, bleed the end the brakes were done on. To do it right it will take at least 45 min for each end.

 

I'm at 100k on the 02 Imp. Changed front pads 30k(?) ago. No rotors , no rears, no problems. I should buy new stuff all around-including lines soon, buy will do it myself.:TU:

 

I'm at 100k on the 02 Imp. Changed front pads 30k(?) ago. No rotors , no rears, no problems. I should buy new stuff all around-including lines soon, buy will do it myself.:TU:

P.S. I see local shops advertising frts. and rr. for under a hundred $ ea.:TU:

 

I'm going with BS above. However the other reason is that the rotors often don't have enough material to re-surface them. They'll be cut down too much and be to thin to make spec.
You can blame the OEM's for that one.

IMHO $500 without replacing rotors is ridiculous. I don't care if they're OEM pads or not. It is very high. And, do you honestly think they will crack the bleeders before pressing the piston back into the caliper then bleed the brakes?

 

You obviously have no concept of how this business works. I don't see anything wrong with this estimate except for the fact that your trying to compare PepBoys to a Lexus dealership. What they quoted you is on par for those repairs. The dealer pads list for around 90-120 per set, then 1.5hrs labor per axle....so do the math for a quality job with real "quality" parts, this is the real cost. This is NOT ripping off customers and you are bad mounthing this place for no good reason, and as a mechanic I'm really getting sick and tired of this kind of bitching and moaning.

I will agree 100% its cheaper to do it yourself, and if you can then do so and be happy your able to do your own repairs and save yourself the cost of paying others. Last time I checked all auto repair shops are in business to make $$. What do you think they are in business for?? Seriously???

 

You may want to get your facts straight. Most assuredly, OEM pads purchased retail through the dealer + kits are more likely $150 PER AXLE.

I'm sorry that your budget doesn't allow for (aka you can't afford) to have premium work to be done on your vehicle. This fact alone is the cause for 99% of the people b!itching about having to pay for extortion (in their mind) prices for auto repairs. Call a plumber or electrician or any other skilled trade. Go to the doctor or retain an attorney. Kids need braces? Stuff ain't cheap, especially if it's stuff done right.

If you don't like someone's pricing, move on, or do it yourself with Walmart parts.

 

The last full on brake job I did was on my '95 Riviera. I spent about $500 in parts which included NAPA rebuilt calipers in the front, I rebuilt the rear calipers, new hardware front and rear, new EBC (USA) slotted rotors front and rear, and EBC Ultimax pads. I had about 4 hours total time in it including flushing all the old brake fluid from the lines, bleeding, etc. Braking perfomance was far superior to the OEM parts that were replaced.
One thing, just because it costs more doesn't mean its better quality. I've been taken by poor oem parts and poor dealer labor several times, even on more difficult repairs like automatic transmissions.
I'm not anti-dealer as my wife has a 2010 Camry that is serviced there every 5000 miles. Thier service is good and the prices fair.

 

I agree that not ALL OEM parts are better. The key is to know which ones are. With that said, if you were taking delivery of a brand new 2011 Lexus, would you feel comfortable if the dealer "upgraded" your brake pads to Pep Boys Premium ones?...

As far as your Riv goes, it's hard to compare old, worn out brakes to new parts, regardless of the name on the boxes. I'm assuming that you did a brake job because the Riv's brakes were worn out? I am curious if there would be a noticeable difference in new OEM stuff vs the parts you used, in back to back testing. I'm also curious as to how you rebuilt the rear calipers. For those that don't know, 95 Rivs have the parking brake actuator incorporated into the rear caliper. I've never had one apart. Internal parts are not usually on anyone's shelves..

For the record, I very rarely use dealer brake parts. The key is to know which version of which aftermarket company to use on which vehicles. It's a moving target, and it's taken me 25 years and perhaps thousands of brake jobs to make a fuzzy picture clearer.

 

I will agree the dealerships are doing what tehy can to get business in. i took my truck into chevy a few months ago for an oil change and inspection. they told me that brakes needed to be done. for just the front rotors to be resurfaced and pads it would be like $500 bucks which is outrageous. I went to the local napa auto parts brand new premium rotors and top of the line pads, plus a new seal kit was like $250. when i actually when to do the work i pulled off he wheels half the pads were left and the rotors had a slight wave to them. total ripoff at eh dealer im not going back.

 

I would have never thought that it would be expensive to get a luxury import worked on at the dealership.:error: