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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,722 posts, read 58,067,115 times
Reputation: 46190
It is very EZ to tell if you have new or resurfaced rotors and new pads. $3 flashlight and a dental mirror to look the component over. Most tire shops will inspect brakes for free.
$400 would probably be correct for 2 hr labor and parts. rotors are ~ $20 ea for that car, disc pads about the same to slightly higher. (per pair) Thus $400 is about correct, tho I would verify they replaced rotors. Using glazed (usued) rotors can glaze the new pads and ruin them. Also if they don't clean the cosmoling (rust inhibitor
If you wait until there is a reduction in braking, you waited way too long.
I think you misunderstood. My reply was referring to the OP who took their car in for new brakes. I was simply pointing out that if you get your car back and the brakes don't perform better, then that's probably the first clue. That would seem to be a no-brainer, but I do not recall them stating that there was anything wrong with the brakes. They seem to be going on how fast they were done, or claim to have been done. No mention of whether the brakes work better than before has been made yet. Now, I know that is not enough to prove anything, but if they did nothing then how could they work better than before? If they do work better then the next question is: how much work did they do? Some have answered with ways to check. Great, but some have also decided to accuse them of not doing anything at all, but charging for it. So I decided to ask, or bring up, the question going through my mind. I wouldn't go accusing them of anything without having more evidence than. "nobody can do it that fast".
What does your comment on my post have to do with that?
For the OP,
I don't care what type of brakes the car has, there is NO WAY one guy changed all four in a half hour, hour and a half is pushing it too.
It could be be done in a half hour. Just not done right.
Hour and a half? If all the parts were there and you have the proper tools and you know what you're doing, it shouldn't take near that long unless you just want it to.
Something confuses me. First you say they told you it would take an hour and a half but they got it finished in a half hour. Then you say they finished it in a half hour but waited and hour and a half to call you. Which is it?
To answer some of the questions:
$400 sounds about right for the work that you were billed for.
You were there an hour, during which time they started on your car. So when he says it was finished a half our after you left they probably actually worked on it an hour or more. Plus he may have been ballparking his half hour, so in all reality they may have had it in the shop up to 2 hours which is plenty of time to do that work, especially if they had more than one guy working on it.
Regarding the time discrepency, again I don't really know what you're getting at there, but if they finished faster than they told you they would, it's possible that somebody got freed up and helped out which would make the job go faster. If they didn't call you as soon as it was finished it may be that the manager got tied up with a line of customers when your car was finished and he couldn't call right away.
If it will give you peace of mind then by all means go to another shop and verify that the work was performed. I'm not saying you didn't get screwed, but I see nothing in your post to indicate that you did beyond your suspicions which are based only on the fact that you're not familiar with auto repair.
The only thing I see that you really have a legitimate beef about at this point is the fact that he told you he'd give you a ride home then "flaked" on you. I'm not sure what this means, but I assume he told you he couldn't give you a ride. Or maybe he shed some dandruff on you, I don't know.
I went to this place and got into a tiff with this guy who worked there as he had said he'd give me a ride home and then sort of flaked. So I had to take a bus and was pretty peaved. Anyway, supposedly they had my brakes changed half a hour after I left when they said it would be another hour or hour and a half?
Would it be possible to get both the front and rear done so fast and should I bring my car to another outfit to ask them if the brakes were in fact changed? If so, how much do I pay them to look at the car?
Most places will look at the brakes for a very nominal fee.
Don't give them the whole sad story, for God's sake. Just take them in and ask them to take a look at your brakes. They'll tell YOU if they have been fixed or not. They don't want to hear about it. Ok?
Most places will look at the brakes for a very nominal fee.
Don't give them the whole sad story, for God's sake. Just take them in and ask them to take a look at your brakes. They'll tell YOU if they have been fixed or not. They don't want to hear about it. Ok?
20yrsinBranson
Exactly. If you tell them what you've told us, they may see "naive" tattooed on your forehead and tell you the work wasn't done even if it was hoping that you will go ahead and pay them to do it.
You paid high, but then you went to a chainstore and they get paid high. Indy shops are by far cheaper and do better work. The more you see the guys in indy shops the better they will do for repeat customers.
You can see the work easy your self on the ft. Turn out the wheels to a side and find the caliper. You can see in there looking behind the wheel to see the thickness of the new pads. You can see thru the wheel openings to see the rotor surfaces too, and the rears will look new.
I think you made a error of the time myself.
If only swapping pads were done that would take a pretty good tech around 30 minutes, so long as parts were right there. But he can't have changed the rear rotors and resurfaced the ft rotors nearly in that time.
The cost looks to me as higher, but not out if line altogether.
rear pad set, and rear new rotors.
ft pad set and 2 machined rotors.
This brake stuff on that car isn't rocket science.
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