I just had front and rear brake pads replaced and front rotors resurfaced/turned at 60,000 miles for the first time. I must have lucked out on the rotors, because I didn't have the early warping problem most have. But the dealer charged $437.00 for this. $108 in parts for 4 pads, and $329 in labor! 3.2 hours sounds high doesn't it? Just curious what others have paid. I wanted the dealer to work on it. But that's a lot higher than the brake shops. Are the pads difficult to install? I have never replaced brakes, but I do some other stuff myself. Thanks.

 

not really,they had to resurface the front and rear rotors because you can't put new pads on rotors that have not been turned, then if you take your time and grease everything a whole brake job like that can take about 3 hours, especially if they bleed the brakes too, i always like to do that, its get new fresh fluid in the system and makes sure there is no air.

 

Contrary to popular opinion, not true. Unless there is some over riding reason to turn the rotors like warping or REALLY bad grooving (say for instance the old pads were worn down to the backing plate) you don't need to do this. There will always be some amount of grooves or ridges on the rotors, but this can be ignored and the new pads will quickly wear in to "seat" on the old rotors.

Unnecessary turning results in your dollars going elsewhere and in taking material off the rotors so if later they do need to be turned, you can't because there isn't enough material left.

 

what about glazing that happens, you need to take that off so that pads will bed to a fresh rotor.

 

i paid 70$ to replace rotors+pads.
i went with rotora rotors+axxis ultimates

 

As I noted in my post there are times when turning the rotors is appropriate. But well over 75% of the time turning rotors is just wasted money. Don't tell the brake shops that though, they don't want anyone to know.

 

That's about right for a dealer. If you went elsewhere it would have been about $300. or about the same amount if you got the good rotors & pads & did it yourself. That 3.2 hours is what a computer like alldata spits out for work hours on a car.

 

I paid $500.00 for 2 new rotors, 2 resurfaced rotors, and 4 new brake pads (price included parts & labor). Genuine Acura parts were used, only I didn't get the work done at the dealer. I would've shopped around for a few quotes before I accepted the price you got if I were you. Maybe too late now, but for future reference.

 

The time seems about right if they resurfaced the rotors and changed the pads. The price is the reason I take mine to a machanic. I got my brakes done a year ago, not noise or dust for a year (20K miles). Cost $200 to get front and rears done and that included having to replace one of the rotors, and an oil change.

 

That's what I'm probably doing next. Do you get a lot of brake dust from the Axxis Ultimates?

 

On race cars the pads are changed frequently and the rotors are not turned.

All I do when installing new pads is wipe the rotor down with some brake cleaner and scotchbrite to get the surface crud off. Pop in the new pads and hit the road.

I do believe in bleeding to get fresh fluid into the caliper.

 

see you said it your self, "race cars" race cars are totally different then a street car, if you expect a brake job to last 30,000 miles you have to get them machined, race cars brakes only have to last that one race, and they don't care if the brakes make moise and so on, and also the pads and discs are different.

 

Turning rotors will not make the brakes last longer or reduce noise. I have changed many sets of pads (both street and race) with nothing more than a wipe down on the rotors and have had NO problems with them lasting or stopping.

Bottom line is that if the rotor is still flat and not deeply scored there is no reason to turn them.

Different in some cases, but the principle is the same.

 

u lucky your brakes lasted so long. i changed mine at the dealership at 28K and paid about $400 (new pads and resurfaced rotors)...plus i dont race...at all.

i could have done it for about 1/2 the price at my mechanic, but my baby is still fairly new and wanted all oem stuff. i will upgrade next time.

 

i just spent 3.2 hours on just the rears ...3 hours on the drivers side... .2 on the passenger...talk about learning from your mistakes

 

Auto tranny, eh? City driving too? I've got 79K on mine with about 45% pads left.

 

It should only take about an hour to replace rotors and pads per axle, for pads it is 7 bolts, 5 for the wheel and 2 for the caliper to come off. This can be done very easily by anyone with some strenth to remove the bolts.

 

Did the dealer give you KY also, I bet your ass hurts now

 

How in the hell did you pay $70 for all four rotors, and all 8 pads? Care to share?

 

3.2 hours seems a bit long. And getting rotors resurfaced isn't a labor intensive procedure. you just stick them on the machine, the mechanic can be doing something else while this is happening.

Just get you some good tools and do it yourself next time. I'd say about 45 Min per axle is all you need once you get the procedure down.

 

i just did my brakes yesterday....i changed all four rotors and all eight pads....rotors were $300..pads cost $89....it took me about four hours b/c it was my first time..i say next time it should take about 2.5

 

Dealerships type your make, model, and service being performed into a database. The database automatically spits out a certain time the job will take. This job time is always on the high side, and most cases a mechanic will never take that long to perform the service, however, you still have to pay for the full time the database spits out. This is how service departments make their money. To illustrate, the dealership typed in your service being performed, which came to 3.2 hours, and then the dealership adds their price of labor hours which is $103.

Which is kinda a scam because they are charging you for time they never used, but welcome to the realworld, almost all businesses perform this way.

 

hey - we gotta make our money somehow.

At my dealership, we (the technicians) typically say how many hours we will charge per job. Myself, I typically charge 2.5 hours for resurfacing rotors and replacing pads for either front or rear. But of course it doesn't take us that long to actually do the job. I typically have the car in and out of my bay within 45-60 minutes, depending on the car.

Now, to compare other jobs...
- oil changes only pay us .3 of an hour
- if a car is under warranty and the customer complains of warped rotor, Honda pays us 1.4 hours
- most recalls pay you exactly how much time it takes to complete the job (jet kit recalls pay 1.1 hours on some cars, and it typically takes 1 hour to actually do the recall if you're a little rusty at it)

So again, we've got to make our money somehow.

As for resurfacing rotors or not resurfacing rotors....there are times that resurfacing is not required, but even though a rotor may look like it's completely flat, i'll guarantee you that it is slightly warped, especially Honda/Acura rotors. Other rotors such as Toyota may not need to be resurfaced because they tend to have a higher quality rotor than Honda/Acura. Se la vi.

 

I understand after having the same rotor warping problem on more than one Honda/Acura cars that I've owned before. But why then, does changing the rotors and pads doesn't help? Needless to say, my 2003 CLS stock rotors warpped real quick, replaced all to EBC, warpped again, replaced those to Rotora/Axxis, warpped in 2000 miles.... Is there any problems with Honda/Acura's ABS or Calipers? I did do all the 500 miles break in religiously........