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I have a Toyota Sienna van, front wheel drive with 47,600 miles on it. Today, I had to get 4 new tires which freaked me out because I really thought I'd get more miles on my Michelin tires. Then they tell me my there's almost nothing left on my brakes. Is this a normal amount of time for brakes to last for a van? My Honda civic definitely went 50K or more before I needed brakes. I have no reason not to believe them because they knew I wouldn't be using them for anything other than tires.
Also, what's a normal price for front disc brakes for a van? Merchants Tire and Auto quoted $149.99 including labor. The Toyota dealership said at least $300. That's quite a difference!
Depends on how often the brakes were rode, if the rotors were warped, etc.
I'd have a few more shops check it out. I am guessing you are a woman? Most shops think women know nothing of cars and proceed to "lie" to you in an attempt to get you to be convinced to spend more money getting something repaired that didn't need it or worse not done at all.
Same clowns will squirt oil on your oil pan, tell you there's a bad leak, but after you spend $500 for an R&R all they do is wipe off the oil with a rag. Easy make to make $$ isn't it?
50k miles I wouldn't think they'd need redone, not sure what shops charge to do front brakes. The pads should have about 1/4 inch thickness to the asbestos part of the pad.
Also usually when your front pads start wearing down, the wear indicators will start chirping like crickets, to tell you that you're about due for new pads.
And yes the dealership usually charges twice the amount, and insists only they know how to work on your car. There's a reason we call them "stealerships".
Thanks! You're right, I am a woman. I tend to be wary about getting auto repairs because of that fact. It's so hard to know when they're telling the truth and when they're not. I tend to believe them because two separate people have told me the brake pads are really worn. They also told me that I need an alignment and I tend to believe that as well since I saw uneven wearing on my tires.
Since we're going on a road trip later in the summer, I believe I will get this taken care of before then (especially the alignment as I don't want they expensive new tires to wear unevenly!) Thanks again!!
My problem is you were told there was almost no brakes left. If that was true you would also be telling us you have been hearing a loud squeal. When your pads get low, about an eigth inch, there is a wear indicator that will rub on the rotor causing a horrible squeal. This squeal is meant to tell you it is time for new pads.
Many in the know will bend these wear indicators with a flat head screw driver to prolong new brakes. By bending it stops the squeal. This does no harm if you keep an eye on it.
So thus far you might have been told a fib. The last poster mentioned some things dishonest Mechanics do. Unfortunatly this is very true. It happens every day.
Look at Brake Team. Nearly every location/store was ripping people off left and right with lies. They got caught and it will cost them millions. I feel they should have been shut down too.
I went trough a set of brake pads in 25 minutes once! 47000 miles sounds good to me! Same with your tires! $300 is very reasonable for OEM pads and rotors! IMHO
I have a Toyota Sienna van, front wheel drive with 47,600 miles on it. Today, I had to get 4 new tires which freaked me out because I really thought I'd get more miles on my Michelin tires. Then they tell me my there's almost nothing left on my brakes. Is this a normal amount of time for brakes to last for a van? My Honda civic definitely went 50K or more before I needed brakes. I have no reason not to believe them because they knew I wouldn't be using them for anything other than tires.
Also, what's a normal price for front disc brakes for a van? Merchants Tire and Auto quoted $149.99 including labor. The Toyota dealership said at least $300. That's quite a difference!
if you do alot of city driving your brakes will wear out faster then someone that travels on the highway alot. it also depends on the type of brake pad. some pads wear faster than others because of the material their made out of. a dealer is always going to be more because their labor rates are alot more and they jack up the price of the parts too. i know i 've worked in a few dealerships.
If you do need brakes, and you put it off, yo could cause some very expensive damage. If you destroy the rotors, you can double that estimate. Get the pads replaced, and tell the shop you want the old parts back. It's pretty easy to see if there is any pad surface left, even for an novice. If you are going to wait at the shop for the work to be done, tell the tech to show you the difference between the new pad, and the one he is removing. If you aren't waiting, he can still show you your old pad compared to a new one out of the box.
Safety is no place to cut corners.
The Toyota factory pads are probably better quality than what you'll get at "Cheap Joe's Tire and Brake" outfits. I would suggest finding a quality-oriented independent shop that will install genuine Toyota pads, this should give you an equal or better job than the stealership for less $. Definitely true that city driving will wear brakes faster in terms of miles or time, also definitely true that if you keep going till you run completely out of friction material, you'll score the rotors and the job will cost more at that point.
If you shop around you can find a shop that uses NAPA parts, they do have some longer-lasting pads available, *although*, this is always a trade-off, they probably won't have quite as good an initial "bite" as the factory pad, may tend to squeal more, etc.
If you are reasonably close to DC, DM me and I'll contact a friend there and find out the name and address of his favorite independent shop, who have taken good care of his BMW Z3.
I had my sienna brakes replaced at 87k but i am pretty easy on the brakes, my dh would need them in 1/2 the time. Mechanic price seemed comprable to what i paid.
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