'brake' it to me gently (pun)

[TNcargirl]

Sorry about the subject line, my attempt at trying to be funny.... I have an appointment in the morning to have my brake wear light checked and most likely my pads replaced. Could someone please mentally prepare me by tossing out some estimated costs??? It's not a dealership so that may cut the cost a little. Next time I'll be better prepared and probably order my own pads etc. but 3 days before my Christmas road trip...I'm just gonna call it my Christmas present to myself. (hey, at least they'll wash it!)

Just fyi, it's an '01 and the brake wear light did come on intermittently for a week or so but as of this past weekend, it's glaring at me constantly.

Do the rotors really have to be replaced everytime? (there are no dumb questions right?)

Thanks!
Rena

[deliriousga]

The rotors don't have to be replaced every time. Just if they are below the minimum thickness or they are warped (you would feel vibration when you hit the brakes if they are warped). Our front ones lasted 60K miles and the rear are still original and in great shape with 72K miles.

Dollar wise, if they use Porsche brake pads, they run about $125 front and $110 rear for the pads and $16/wheel for new brake wear sensors. Three hours labor is what they will probably charge, but it should not take them more than 1 1/2 hours to do it so they may cut you a break if you ask (unless it's a dealer, then they won't give a break).

If you order your own brake pads next time, you can order them online for about $60 front and $45 rear for low dust Mintex Red Box. Great pads and nice, clean wheels.

If you have to get rotors, then it's much more. $150+ each for Porsche front and close to that for the rear. Actual labor is about an extra 15 minutes per wheel.

When the light comes on, you have about 3K-5K miles to get the pads replaced before they start to dig into the rotors so it's good that you're getting it done before the trip.

Hope it helps.

[PorscheDoc]

Usually you can go 2 sets of front pads before the rears need to be replaced. They wear much slower than the fronts. How many miles are on the car? If this is the car's first brake service, then more than likely you will only need the fronts. Make sure the shop tells you what percentage is remaining on the front and rear pads. If you are 50-60% in the rear, you probably dont need to change them out yet, if less than that you might as well have them swapped also. I think book time is 2.7 hours to do pads. I do them all in about 15-20 minutes. A very easy DIY job.

edit: ok i take that back, probably 30 minutes total to get it on the lift, tires off, etc.

[TNcargirl]

if anyone is curious as to actually how much a non-dealer brake job (FULL brake job) is going to run you... I've recovered now and I'm prepared to talk about it. The details:

4 rotors - $131.82 ea
front pad set - $122.71
back pad set - $113.56
2 sensors for front - $15.95 ea

total parts cost - $795.45

labor cost - $161.42 (front pads)
labor cost - $161.42 (back pads)

Brake fluid flush (yes, it was time) - $60.00

total labor cost - $382.84

TOTAL (including degreaser and shop supplies) - $1,212.29 pre tax

HAND WASH / HAND VAC - $$ FREE $$ !!


~for everything else there is mastercard!

:ah:

TNcargirl, well then, that was a very nice Christmas present to yourself!

Look at it this way:

50 stops per day average
260 days per year
13,000 stops per year
39,000 stops per 3 years

This is about 3 cents per stop!

I bet you spend much more than this at Starbucks!

[PorscheDoc]

The labor prices are very reasonable. The parts you ended up paying full retail for. With independant shops, sometimes you can haggle on the prices of the parts, since they have the ability to set their own margin, which isn't alot, but you can still save a little. Dealers of course will charge the full retail. Guys doing this job themselves will not only save the 320 in labor, but will also save about 20 bucks in the front pads, 20 bucks in the rear pads, and about 20-30 bucks per rotor. So that ends up saving about 450 in savings by doing it yourself. Like bmussatti said though, thats still pretty cheap stopping, just hurts to do it all at once