I have used 3 different mechanics near my places and all of them charges too much.
I asked how much do they charge for pad placement and all of them answered $90 per pair.
if replacement both front and rear it will cost 180 + parts, they may make extra money from parts too.
is it better buying parts from repco and bring it to mechanics?
or is there any other ways to save money? I live in Melbourne suburb
Still have to pay for the workshop, management, etc. $150 an hour is pretty standard.
Hmm. No idea. My invoices have always shown itemised for parts and consumables, and time. No workshop charge.
Then again, I spend A LOT there. :P
@Fobsessive: I had an LP560 and mk5 r32 modded to buggery and beyond.
Now only have a mk7 R (also extensively modded) and GTI. Looking for a suitably price 911R to pop up.
I'll tell you how to save money for the brake pads.
For every drive less than 1 hour you put $0.10 into a jar. Add another $0.10 for every hour or part thereof.
You should have enough to pay for brakes when required (assuming you drive like a normal person).
To save even more, make sure said jar isn't in the car weighing it down.
No!
There are some things in life you just have to pay for my friend, and maintaining a safe and roadworthy vehicle is one of them. You are not a mechanic, so don’t you dare put yourself and the rest of the driving community at risk with a half arsed attempt at DIY. Do your research and shop around by all means, and then get a professional to do them. And make sure you have safe roadworthy tyres while you’re at it. Driving a car is a privilege, not a right!
Do it yourself. Will take two hours the first time, one hour the next. After a few tries you’ll be doing it in 30 minutes.
Seriously? You don't want to pay $90 to someone for using a fitted out workshop, his hoist, tools, experience, qualification, 30-45 mins of his time? If you are not happy to pay, watch youtube, go and buy all the tools and do it yourself.
I understand you are a student but this is how the world works. You expect to be paid for your work when you get a Job. How do you think the company you work for affords to pay you and all your colleagues, by making money off customers.
lol $90 is cheap, how cheap do you want? Free?
Learn the trade, buy the parts and see how long it takes you
It cost me $700 for the pair of the front pads for my car and that's not including labour
No i didnt get ripped off, they are ceramic bbk so you need special pads.
It cost me $700 for the pair of the front pads for my car and that's not including labour
No i didnt get ripped off, they are ceramic bbk so you need special pads.
This extra information was completely irrelevant and unnecessary to your argument. At best yours is a track car and that's not remotely similar to the predicament the OP is in anyway. At worst you've wasted a lot of money on a BBK so you can have nice big red calipers on your street car for hooning - also irrelevant to OP.
I'd wager you bought them cause 'street racecar' and wasted your money, and now you try to justify it to yourself by telling everyone about it for no apparent reason.
1- They arent red
2. They are an option from BMW
3. Hoon? yes cause you totally know my driving style. I didnt know everyone with ceramic brakes was a hoon?
4. Ceramic is superior to steel.
I was simply stating the OP is complaining about $90 install for brake pads which to me seems extremely cheap for labor.
The fact that people are telling him to do it himself when he has no knowledge of how to fit them. Especially when brakes count as a very important part of the car. If he installs it incorrectly, crashes and kills someone, I am sure it was worth the $90 he saved
I ain't trying to justify anything. At the end of the day, if I want to spend 25k for brakes, I can. I earned it, I will spend it anyway I want.
Stop assuming mate and stop watching so much ACA. Perhaps some time off from Tracey Grimshaw might do you some good
They arent red
That was hyperbole, I thought you'd get that.
They are an option from BMW…I didnt know everyone with ceramic brakes was a hoon?
Factory option or not, bigger brakes given no benefit day to day driving, they are designed to perform under high performance scenarios (constant breaking at speeds over 100km/h). The only people i know with BBKs are track their cars, or drive fast on the roads to make up for it. It's an assumption, take it however you want.
The fact that people are telling him to do it himself when he has no knowledge of how to fit them.
My point was mentioning your BBKs has no bearing in that conversation, like at all.
At the end of the day, if I want to spend 25k for brakes, I can. I earned it,
Yeah you did earn it, sure. But why tell us about it? Whats the relevance?
…ACA…Tracey grimshaw…..
I havent watched free-to-air in 10 years, let alone Australian news. I'm just calling out your BBKs has nothing to do with the point your trying to make. Their costs and performance are vastly different to the OPs scenario, so I just had to assume you brought it up for some other reason.
You still haven't posed a valid answer except 'I earn't it' which just confirms that the only reason you mentioned it is because you've got it and we should know about it for your egos sake.
@Kill Joy: I agree with everything you've said in response.
He spent 25k on some brakes and he half asssd it too hahaha
Username checks out.
Street hooning with big red brakes and rotors the size of dining tables is the best
Username checks out.
Original. Never heard that before.
Street hooning with big red brakes and rotors the size of dining tables is the best
You must have the same reading comprehension and social intelligence as lltravel. I never said anything is wrong with BBKs - I'm actually looking for a conversion set for my track car now. I said its irrelevant to the OP's question/issue, and then i belittled him for bringing it up, because I can.
LOOK…. don't bother with a mechanic….
Get your pads off eBay, or other parts specialist…. much much much cheaper.
AND… fit hem yourself.
LOOK, they are so basic these days, a child can do it.
All this hype about mechanic TAFE qualifications bla bla, what crap!
Pads come off by usually a simple clip mechanism, or a simple bolt.
Look it up on the net. Look for a diagram of your brake system.
I have an MG ZTT, to do brakes are $350 - $450+….. to do myself is just for pads…. $100
Sweet….and when you squish some poor cyclist because you had no idea what you were doing, (oh, sorry, he watched a youtube video), what happens then? I’m sure the coroner will sympathise with the OP’s “need” to avoid maintaining a safe and roadworthy vehicle…
Are you kidding? Changing brake pads is easier than changing engine oil (damn oil filter always gives me trouble).
Just because you're strapped for cash doesn't mean that the mechanics that are quoting you are charging you too much. Where do you draw the line with that attitude? Do you go inspect a rental property and tell the property manager that they're charging you too much simply because it's out of your price range?
How hard are you breaking or are you resting on the brake pedal as you drive.
My car has 130,000km and still have 75% left of the original pads. Even if you wear them out in 50,000km the cost is minimal compared to all the other cost in owning and maintaining a car.
If I had to change my pads I could do them myself for under half the cost of a mechanic but prefer to pay them to do it, too lazy to do that sort of stuff myself these days.
Job is not overly hard as many have said right tools right parts. Ex mechanic and have worked retail in spare parts.
Have had many people buy the cheapest pads and a $10 set of tools recipe for disaster.
Do it yourself
1x Service manual on car $30
1x Bendix Pads $60
1x 12 or 13mm socket $15
1x 1/2inch ratchet $20
1x Piston spreader $20
1x Tube/satchel of grease $2/$20
Buy good tools as you need them work up your tool kit… Never by cheap shit to do it yourself because when something stripes your mechanic will charge double.
Missing a few safety items there:
1x Jack
1x Axel stand
2x wheel chocks
Also, not really advisable to just push dirty old fluid back up the lines if the car has ABS, so:
1x brake bleed kit
3x bottles of brake fluid
1x spanner to suit caliper nipple
If confident in abilities sure bleed up the brakes, but something I wouldn't recommend a novice to touch, that's where it can get dangerous.
Use the jack in the car and the spare wheel as a safety instead of axle stands… If trying to save money.
Wheel chock can be a brick or a bit of timber. Don't need to spend money on that
Those jacks are terribly unstable (I'm sure I've read of them breaking at times too) and not something I would want to be relying on all the time for planned maintenance.
Jack stands are cheap if you buy them on sale. There's no excuse not to get them, especially if you are using one of those POS jacks that come with the car. I personally always want to rely on two means of holding the car up, so I'd use a stand and the tyre as a backup.
If you aren't confident to bleed brakes then stay away from the car.
Do a search and you'll see it's advisable to crack the nipple and let the old fluid out when pushing the piston back in. Pushing the old fluid up the line has the risk of causing issues with the ABS unit. Sure 99.99% you might get away with it, but that time you don't, you'll be kicking yourself when up for an expensive replacement! Plus OP's car I am going to guess probably has shagged brake fluid.
@stewy: Jack stand is your guardian angel. Then slide the spare wheel under the car for extra insurance. I am sure you dont need to be under the car do to do a brake job, the risk is minimal but your very unlikely to live with the car weight on you.
There is definitely no need to bleed them after a pad change
start walking
I just run people over instead of braking. 200,000 KM later I'm still on the original pads and discs, and have 95% left in them.
Find the cushionest tree for a full stop XD
OP, the fact you even ask that question is a reason not to do it yourself to try save a few dollars.
To answer your question: Is There a Smart Way to Save Money for Brake Pads Replacement? I'd get a quote for total cost incl pads, then see if you can source the same parts yourself for cheaper and supply to the mechanic to save a few $$$.. Probably more cost effective for you that way.
Cheap to get it done by someone who knows what they are doing.
Amortise it over the years of use and it is not worth the effort.
(I pondered posting this for about 15 minutes as I was questioning my ozbargainworthiness, but I also realised that the few hours lost trying to do something that should be done properly takes time away from super important things such as searching through new deals on ozbargain, and trying to find bog rolls)
Mazda wanted to charge us $480 to replace just the front pads during a service on a Mazda2. I called them and told them no, they called back 2 minutes later and offered to do it for $380 so obviously they're making some good margin on it. Still said no.
Went to my dad's place and we did it ourselves, took maybe 2 hours as we did a lot of cleaning and other maintenance while we were in there. It really depends on your skill level and availability of tools - if you can do it yourself then you will save money, but it isn't the easiest thing in the world if you don't know what you are doing.
Skimp on brakes, you're going to have a bad time.
Just make sure you actually need new brakes, I've had mechanic recommend in the past when it wasn't even required - hard to find a trustworthy mechanic.
Yeah it's so hard to find s reliable mechanic
Nothing makes me sadder when someone walks in and asks for the cheapest brake pads possible :(
Honestly $180 all 4 for labour is not that bad, could even be on the cheap end nowadays. Mechanics do not make that much on good pads either, maybe $10-20 per pair depending.
Probably the most important component on a car (no steering wheel, that's ok… you can still brake, but no brakes???), and he's stressing over $180???
Come on mate, there's being cheap- but this is just nasty cheap. You don't stuff around with brakes.
Pay the money and understand that mechanics have overheads (premises, wages, advertising etc) and still need to make a profit.
Or, be a cheapskate and do it yourself. Good luck with that option.
Ocassionally SuperCheap will have a special on Bendix brakebads. Buy one get one free. $80 a set for me
If you're lucky, you can combine that with other offers and use a gift card to pay
Things you don't mess with:
No. 1 - anything related to safety on your car!
yes take it to a auto shop where a highly trained apprentice mechanic who doesn't care about your safety whatsoever fix it for you.
It's a 20 minute job, watch a couple videos, if you're doing more than pads I'd recommend paying someone but its extremely straight forward for the most non-mechanically inclined.
Only issue is you may not have tools
$90 per wheel includes machining the disc brakes. You won't be able to do this yourself unless you are forking out for new disc brakes as well.
Drive less aggressively in the first instance
While DIY is the cheapest option, the advice is always machined your discs whenever new pads are installed which you won't be able to do.
I got my SUV done recently at a local ABS store for $300 including machining 4 discs. Bought the Bendix brake pads off ebay for a substantial discounts compare to SCA store pricing.
Wow, now i feel.ripped off
Just got my break pads changed by a mechanic yesterday
Paid $650 for front and back,
The other mechanic ultra tune wuoted $380x2
There's no way you got charged $650 for just brake pad replacements. Not even if it included rotor replacements too. Show us the receipt.
Wow. Yea, you got ripped off bigtime. The brake pads are about $50-60 a set in parts and shouldn't cost $140 labour for each axle.
Also you could have gotten brand new rotors for $75 a pop instead of machining existing ones for $65 each (I just replaced mine).
Call MyCar.com.au tomorrow and get a quote from them to verify. Maybe there's something unique about your vehicle.
@Hybroid: Geez ok, damn it
We went with the cheapest of 3 quotes too!
I'm not technical at all as well
Lucky, we declined their quote for $175 for some branded tyres, of which we can get them for about 130 each on tyresalea
@Hybroid: True bake pads should only be around 45-60 dollars even for a good quality one. Any ceramic brake pad is good. Honestly don't need to pay loyalty brand fee for Bendix or bosch or something
To be honest i feel like all mechanics are rip off. And i would barely go to one other than like for timing belt or something major.
Try to do DIY yourself on car as much as possible
What I said might happen has happened, and SCA once again have BOGOF on Bendix (good brand) brake pads.
Cheapest way to get them
Use top performence brake pads they are basically same as ones of Bendix ceramics and you ll save up like 10-30$ easily.
Buy from eBay during a shopback or eBay deal for even cheaper.
Repco atm got dot 5.1 brake fluid for only 5 bucks btw
$150/hr? That's dealership rate. I have two mechanics, one that does my work vehicles that charges $55/hr on the invoice and the other one that only does exotics and performance vehicles and he is at $80/hr.
I reckon $60 is fair. A minimum charge is pretty standard. Sorta like a flagfall charge.