fair brake job price??

On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:47:59 -0500, "Tom"
wrote:

>given the cost of parts and labor at a dealership, it is in the ballpark.
>the same job at a private garage would probably be in the $350-$450 range.
>a do-it-yourselfer can do it for around $175-$200 in parts.
>"snow" wrote in message
>
>> My rear brakes on a Ford Freestar were completely gone including drums,
>> rotor, and pads. It cost me $550 with all parts and labor to repair. Is
>> this high, or about right given it was not just pads. Rear brakes only.
>>
>
Be glad it wasn't a Mystique.
I didn't go for the cheapest parts (put Kevlar pads on) but 4 rotors,
2 rear calipers and a set of pads (all 4 wheels) set me back just over
750 clams at TRADE PRICE. Did all the work myself.

Yes, I could have put cheapy parts on for about 300 or less-(without
replacing the questionable calipers) and likely done it again in 2
years.
I spent the extra, and the braking is now EXCELLENT - and should last
3-5 years with the driving it gets. Big thing is the rotors should
stay straight and smooth.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
 >> Stay informed about: fair brake job price?? 

snow wrote:
> My rear brakes on a Ford Freestar were completely gone including drums,
> rotor, and pads. It cost me $550 with all parts and labor to repair. Is this
> high, or about right given it was not just pads. Rear brakes only.

You should have been charged for either rotors or drums, but not both.
 >> Stay informed about: fair brake job price?? 

brakes done by a shop are damn expensive for some reason, $200-$300 per axle
seems to be the going price. So assuming you all had them all done sounds
about right. Now see how much it costs to do it yourself...



"snow" wrote in message

> My rear brakes on a Ford Freestar were completely gone including drums,
> rotor, and pads. It cost me $550 with all parts and labor to repair. Is
> this high, or about right given it was not just pads. Rear brakes only.
>
 >> Stay informed about: fair brake job price?? 

On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:33:47 GMT, "Max Power" wrote:

>"snow" wrote in message
>
>> My rear brakes on a Ford Freestar were completely gone including drums,
>> rotor, and pads. It cost me $550 with all parts and labor to repair. Is
>> this high, or about right given it was not just pads. Rear brakes only.
>>
>
>brakes done by a shop are damn expensive for some reason, $200-$300 per axle
>seems to be the going price. So assuming you all had them all done sounds
>about right. Now see how much it costs to do it yourself...
>
>

Check it again. Twice he said it was the *rear* brakes. The price
sounds a bit high to me, more like a dealer price. I'd like to see a
list of parts replaced to see if it included the calipers. And as
previously stated, no way it should include both rotors and drums.
Since he said pads (and based on research), I'm presuming the rear
were disc brakes.
 >> Stay informed about: fair brake job price?? 

"Max Power" wrote in message

> brakes done by a shop are damn expensive for some reason, $200-$300 per
axle
> seems to be the going price. So assuming you all had them all done sounds
> about right. Now see how much it costs to do it yourself...
>
>

I always do my own brakes - and it's really cheap to do them. I also
don't really trust someone else to do them properly. Of course, that
is an attitude carried over from riding my motorcycle - which I do all
my own work on. If you screw up a brake job on a car, your likely not
going to crash, or if you do, your likely not going to die. If you screw
up a brake job on a motorcycle your almost certainly going to crash
and likely die.

Ted
 >> Stay informed about: fair brake job price?? 

"Max Power" wrote in message

> brakes done by a shop are damn expensive for some reason, $200-$300 per
axle
> seems to be the going price. So assuming you all had them all done sounds
> about right. Now see how much it costs to do it yourself...
>
>

I always do my own brakes - and it's really cheap to do them. I also
don't really trust someone else to do them properly. Of course, that
is an attitude carried over from riding my motorcycle - which I do all
my own work on. If you screw up a brake job on a car, your likely not
going to crash, or if you do, your likely not going to die. If you screw
up a brake job on a motorcycle your almost certainly going to crash
and likely die.

Ted
 >> Stay informed about: fair brake job price?? 

Too much info is missing....

I have repair brakes in my "comfort zone".... You will get an excellent
repair and I will have no fear of litigation.... The repair will be as
financially responsible as it can be. This might be anywhere from a "pad
slap" to a "full meal deal".

If you have your brakes repaired at one Ford dealer and a part fails.....
any Ford dealer should be able to offer the "service part warranty".
Unfortunately, if the failure was due to technique or oversight.......

When it comes down to the price of any auto repair.. you can always find
someone that will do it "cheaper".... this doesn't mean "good" and it
certainly wont mean "better". You always get another chance to start your
car... you never get a second chance to stop it.

If you want cheap (especially when it comes to things regarding safety), you
can always find someone that doesn't have the proper business licence,
accrediaation or insurance to cover his mistakes... (let alone the common
sense or experience to realize that he is making a mistake).


You might have saved some money going with the bargain brand pads.... might
have saved a bit more if the tech didn't replace parts he wasn't comfortable
with (I wont do a job that I'm not comfortable with)... but you are asking
"after the fact"... and I am uncomfortable with that, too.

If you have chosen a good shop with conscientious techs that understand the
relationship between a well considered repair and customer
finances,/expectations for service life, there should be no question.

The big question... do the brakes perform properly?


"snow" wrote in message

> My rear brakes on a Ford Freestar were completely gone including drums,
> rotor, and pads. It cost me $550 with all parts and labor to repair. Is
> this high, or about right given it was not just pads. Rear brakes only.
>
 >> Stay informed about: fair brake job price?? 

but rear disc brakes still have a drum for the parking brake assembly.
"Tim J." wrote in message

> On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:33:47 GMT, "Max Power" wrote:
>
>>"snow" wrote in message
>>
>>> My rear brakes on a Ford Freestar were completely gone including drums,
>>> rotor, and pads. It cost me $550 with all parts and labor to repair. Is
>>> this high, or about right given it was not just pads. Rear brakes only.
>>>
>>
>>brakes done by a shop are damn expensive for some reason, $200-$300 per
>>axle
>>seems to be the going price. So assuming you all had them all done sounds
>>about right. Now see how much it costs to do it yourself...
>>
>>
>
> Check it again. Twice he said it was the *rear* brakes. The price
> sounds a bit high to me, more like a dealer price. I'd like to see a
> list of parts replaced to see if it included the calipers. And as
> previously stated, no way it should include both rotors and drums.
> Since he said pads (and based on research), I'm presuming the rear
> were disc brakes.
>
 >> Stay informed about: fair brake job price?? 

"Jim Warman" wrote in message

> Too much info is missing....
>
> I have repair brakes in my "comfort zone".... You will get an excellent
> repair and I will have no fear of litigation.... The repair will be as
> financially responsible as it can be. This might be anywhere from a "pad
> slap" to a "full meal deal".
>
> If you have your brakes repaired at one Ford dealer and a part fails.....
> any Ford dealer should be able to offer the "service part warranty".
> Unfortunately, if the failure was due to technique or oversight.......
>
> When it comes down to the price of any auto repair.. you can always find
> someone that will do it "cheaper".... this doesn't mean "good" and it
> certainly wont mean "better". You always get another chance to start your
> car... you never get a second chance to stop it.
>
> If you want cheap (especially when it comes to things regarding safety),
you
> can always find someone that doesn't have the proper business licence,
> accrediaation or insurance to cover his mistakes... (let alone the common
> sense or experience to realize that he is making a mistake).
>
>
> You might have saved some money going with the bargain brand pads....
might
> have saved a bit more if the tech didn't replace parts he wasn't
comfortable
> with (I wont do a job that I'm not comfortable with)... but you are asking
> "after the fact"... and I am uncomfortable with that, too.
>

I have done brakes on my vehicles for years. I am not convinced of the idea
that more expensive pads and rotors are automatically better. My experience
has shown otherwise for my vehicles. Sometimes the more expensive ones
are better, but sometimes the cheap ones are made just as good. And there
are times that the more expensive part is more poorly made, although that is
not as common.

The problem is that price on a part is set by a large number of variables,
many
of which don't directly relate to the material and labor cost of the part.
For
example, a manufacturer that makes a large quantity can often get better
prices
on materials and due to economies of scale they spend less money on labor.
Shipping also increasingly matters as the further they have to ship a
finished
part, the more expensive. Also, the fewer middlemen that a part goes
through
the cheaper it will be - the overhead required to vend a part through a
brick
and mortar store is far higher than the overhead required to vend the same
part through an online website.

And these are just parts costs. Labor costs also have uncontrolled
variables.
A shop that is in the city likely has higher overhead than a shop out in the
tulaberries. A shop with a large waiting room with a TV and such has higher
overhead than a shop that has no waiting room. A shop that gets business
through a lot of advertising has higher overhead than a shop that gets it's
business through word of mouth & the yellow pages. A shop that is on
land that the owner of the shop owns outright has less overhead than a shop
in a leased building. A shop in a crummy old leased building has lower
overhead
than a shop in a brand-new tilt-up.

In most markets, shops have to stay within sight of each other in hourly
labor
costs due to competition. And they have to adhere to book time in most
cases.
So a shop with higher overhead is going to have to make up the difference
by either paying less, or pushing the techs to work faster to complete the
job
faster than book time, neither of these environments is optimal for a
repair.

So, the fact of the matter is that yes, calling around may get you a cheaper
price - but it is not always the case that a cheaper price is a lower
quality
job.

Ted
 >> Stay informed about: fair brake job price??