My friend- Steve, who owns a 2004 Limited Model, is not a member of our forum. I keep telling him about us and the useful information we can share together.

His car has 48,000 miles on it, autostick, and he was one of the first to purchase the Crossfire when they first came out.

Last week he had his brake light alarm go off when he depresses the brakes hard. The brakes have never been replaced. He took it to his mechanic, he said the pads need to be replaced all the way around.


AND


The Rotors need to be replaced as they are the throw away kind....... in other words you cannot resurface the rotors as they are too thin.

Steve said the rotors to him feel smooth.

PRICE QUOTED FOR 4 ROTORS, NEW PADS AND LABOR, $780 range

Is there truth to the throw away rotor part of this story? Steve needs to know soon; if true he wants to get it done soon as he likes to keep his Crossfire nice, third set of tires on it!

I will relay any info to Steve.

Thanks

Don

 

Yes indeed, the rotors wear out and when they reach the minimum thickness they become scrap iron.
At that mileage they could well be worn out, a very carefull and gentle driver can get much more life from them, but as the cost is relatively low its worth changing them allong with the pads,
Cheers
Steve

 

Steve, it seems like a small amount of miles for new rotors, my friend Steve says the braking is very smooth when being used.

Thanks
Don

 

Yes I agree - But I would not expect any more than 50K miles through normal use.
It also depends on the quality of the original rotors, some do last longer than others. The front usually go first as they do most of the work.

 

Don,

I don't know-$780 seems really high.

BrakeWorld has OEM replacement for $79 each front and $58 each rear.

Ceramic pads (PosiQuiet or Rotex) run about $100 for the set.

$375 plus install.

Labor seems high. Dealer prices?

 

I did a complete brake job, rotors and pads for less than half that price !!! The guy is charging 400 bucks worth of labor for a brake job ! What is this world comin to ???

 

Steve should determine, or have his mechanic measure using a micrometer, the thickness of his rotors first. The front rotors should be at least 0.889" if they are to be resurfaced. Otherwise, they should be thrown away. The rears need to be a minimum of 0.299". What may provide smooth braking now will eventually end up as a pulsating feeling from warped rotors if the new pads are installed and the rotors are too thin. The thickness of the rotor is necessary to dissipate heat.

If Steve is primarily interested in relatively clean wearing pads and dependable stopping power (not necessarily interested in the highest performance products) he should be able to obtain both front and back rotors and pads for as little as $225 (front rotors $50 ea., rear rotors $25 ea., front pads $45/pair, rear pads $30/pair). For example, check out Rockauto.com - Raybestos professional grade rotors and Wagner ThermoQuiet pads. I would not recommend replacing with the OEM brake pads as they are extremely dusty.

$780 does seem high. Was the mechanic planning to flush out the brake lines and replace the fluid too? Simply replacing the rotors and pads is probably around 1.5 hours labor per axle which at $80/hr labor would be around $500 total.

 

Thanks for your information, I have shared with Steve your welcomed comments.

I believe Steve is going to purchase Rotex Gold pads for all four, and try to install the pads without replacing the rotors yet.

I will update when I get Steve's reaction to his repair he makes.

Don

 

[quote=donschorr]Thanks for your information, I have shared with Steve your welcomed comments.

I believe Steve is going to purchase Rotex Gold pads for all four, and try to install the pads without replacing the rotors yet.

I will update when I get Steve's reaction to his repair he makes.




Steve went the easy way out let someone handle it for him!

Don

 

Contact AAA-imports.com in Winston-Salem.
They have cheap everything - Rotex in stock too (Canadian not Japanese).
I wouldn't have thought $780 is too far off the ball - when you break it down...
All Pads = ~$100
4 Rotors ~$$400
Labor @ ~$70+ hour

 

This guy posted over two months ago ! Hopefully he's had his brakes replaced by now !!!

 

But I think one has to consider that the first estimate (post #1) was for OEM eqiv. parts. That knocks the prices down on your list by alot.

All pads $60
4 Rotors $274
2 hours @ $70 $140

$474

And I know from personal experience, that a simple R and R for 4 frisbees and 4 sets of drop-in pads better not take more than 2 hours.

JMHO, ya' unnerstand?