BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

Just dropped my car off at the shop for an oil change and new belts. The guy just called me and told me I need new front and rear brake pads. He said for the pads, turning the rotors and labor it would be $249 for each end, or basically $500 total.

Im currently running EBC redstuff pads all around with sport rotors on the front and OEM rotors on the rear. The fronts were done at 50K and the rears at 60K, ive got about 77k now. Im surprised he said the rears needed replacing but he said both ends were worn almost all the way down. Do the redstuff have a WAY shorter life span than OEM?

They want to replace my redstuff with ceramic pads (upgrade from OEM), which are probably pretty similar to the redstuff....

Is the price fair? Should I let him do it or order different pads first? Is there a place in San Diego that does brakes for a better price? I trust this shop, but am open to recommendations.

Anomaly

iTrader: (7)

Since your current set of brakes don’t have quite a lot of miles on them, it may be in your best interest to get the car out of the shop and inspect them yourself.

Chebosto

iTrader: (43)

wtf.

if u take off both rotors ur self (relatively easy). its like $9-11 at pep boys to get them turned.

as for pad life, you can check that yourself once u get the wheel off and one end of the caliper flipped up to check the pad thickness.

ceramics are good for low dust.. i've used Hawk ceramics before.. but their cold bite sucks (compared to axxis metal masters)..

i've only used EBC Green stuff, and i liked their cold stop fairly well. check the rears for abnormal wear (one side lower than the other) who ever put em in might have screwed up the install or the pads didnt seat right.

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

ok. good info. only problem for me is that I live in an apartment complex and only have a tight parking space so I don't have a place where I can actually work on the car...

julian

sounds like a scam. go to the shop and look at the pads yourself to double check. if not, then go "change a tire" in a parking lot to check your pad thickness. they can't give you a trouble if you're changing a flat tire right?

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

^^ haha yeah, not a bad idea.

kham25

iTrader: (3)

Question for you i have a beater IS300 .. I ended up cutting the rotors and getting new pad at pep boys a while back. It drove fine for about 7000 miles now the vibrations are back.. Turning rotors is this just a temp fix??
Im looking for OEM new front rotors but prices are just insane at the dealership

julian

^^ strange why your brake roughness came back so fast? could be due to corrosion. have you tried re-bedding them in to see if it cleans the deposits off?

but yeah, turning the rotors is typically the fix for roughness. you can turn them as many times as you can but the thickness of the rotor isn't supposed to fall below a minimum spec.

kham25

iTrader: (3)

Yeah i tryed re bedding them yes... Its ****ing annoying now and i wasted that money. It could have gone to buying new rotors instead...
My experience I'll never cut rotors again

Chebosto

iTrader: (43)

you should ask why they were warped in the first place-.. cutting them/resurfacing them is to get rid of the grooves from stuck rocks or to cure slight warpage issues.. vibrations can be caused by many things. you should double check if your pistons are stuck and see how the pad are wearing.. turned out on my wife's accord (which was vibrating due to braking) the pad itself was broken and had a massive crack in it, so it wasnt sitting correctly, nor grabbing the rotor.. i took out those pads, put in new ones from Ferodo and turned the rotors.. no problems since.

Anomaly

iTrader: (7)

A couple other aspects to the brake vibrations that may have occurred:
1. Not all rotors are equal. Some rotors are made from inferior metals and are more prone to warping. On my old DD I used to use cheap rotors and they would warp all the time – regardless of pad material. I changed up to Brembo blanks and the warping never returned.
2. Over-torqued lugs *can* be a cause. I’m not sure of the exact mechanism here but I have had a few mechanics claim this one.

All in all, my bet is on the lower grade metal used in the rotors. Try spending a couple bucks and buy some Brembo blanks from Tire Rack or something and see if the vibrations return.

kham25

iTrader: (3)

The problem started like this i was driving hard going maybe 90MPH i had to hit the brakes hard real hard... After that is when vibrations came into play. These are the OEM Lexus Rotors btw.. Im thnking the over torqued lugs could have been one off my issues. I've changed rims on that car like i change shoes and thinking about it i did over torque on many occasions
Ive taken out both wheels and checked the pad they still look like new.

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

What is everyone usually averaging as far as miles on their brake pads life? How about those with EBC pads in the past?

Chebosto

iTrader: (43)

Honestly. its all about your driving style.. do you engine brake? or rest your foot on the brake pedal all the time? do you mash it for one quick stop? or ride the brake slowly until the car gradually stops..

i've seen pads go in 10k mi and a set in 35k.. really dependent on usage.

my rear brake pads on my maxima, it took over 50k on porterfields to finally go down to the point where i felt like i should change it, but in all honestly i probably could have gotten 10k more out of them...

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

good point. I havent driven the car too hard on these pads and definitely dont mash the pedal often at all... not any more than I did on my OEM pads and I drove for almost twice as long on those... I guess I will have more info when I finally pull the wheels off and look myself...