brake pads New brake pads and Rotors 13 Legacy

[Dkalifornia]

Hey! Seeking opinions, had my brakes inspected, bought car at 33000 mi. It has 112000 mi. Same brakes, no issues but figured its time so got them inspected , was told they are at 5 all around. Good reputable shop quoted me $1000.00 for replacing brake pads and rotors. Said that is for OE Ceramic pads and rotors.and said if I had it done at Subaru  it would be $1900 , I'm not a cheap skate but I'm also not really rich, I know brakes are important and not the place to scrimp. 

Does this estimate seem expensive?

Thoughts?

Wondering ballpark what other members have paid?

Thanks

[FerGloyale]

That is an INSANE price for simple pad/rotor swap.

Pads should be no more than $60 per axle.......so $120 total.

Rotors....let's say $75 a piece.....that's $300 for all 4.....a very high estimate.

So that's $420 parts, and Labor for a brake pad swap should be no more than $100 per axle  (again, a very high estimate)

That's $620 at high estimate prices.

Now, if they want to replace Calipers too.......that ups the price substantially........but that should not be needed on a 6 year old car.

 

That shop is either charging INSANE markup on parts, or charging way too much labor......either way, I would NEVER go to that shop again.....EVER

 

[heartless]

that is insanely high - agree that i would never go to that shop again, for anything.

and lets be honest here - unless there is a problem with the rotors (warped) or they are out of spec for turning, there is no real reason to change the rotors, either.

I see a most shops around here advertising brake jobs at $129/axle all the time. I don't use them, but just as a reference.. assuming that includes pads, incidentals* & labor..

*incidentals would include lubing the slides, brake fluid, etc...

My guess is they get people in with the price, then tell them that they need all new hardware (calipers, rotors, etc) too, to get more money out of marked up parts & labor charges.

 

[Rampage]

Ouch!!! Glad I work on ours myself. For an idea of prices go to a subarupartsforyou.com or rockauto.com or partsgeek.com.

[Dkalifornia]

Thanks everyone,  the quote was for pads and rotors, I questioned the amount and was told it's because the parts are OE ? And ceramic pads, that quote included a $50 discounted free brake line flush....he said I should just do rotors for safety,  replace it all. It was a Meineke Store...I'll keep shopping around , Thank you to replys! Much appreciated. 

[heartless]

46 minutes ago, Dkalifornia said:

Thanks everyone,  the quote was for pads and rotors, I questioned the amount and was told it's because the parts are OE ? And ceramic pads, that quote included a $50 discounted free brake line flush....he said I should just do rotors for safety,  replace it all. It was a Meineke Store...I'll keep shopping around , Thank you to replys! Much appreciated. 

like i said, unless there is a specific reason to such as warped or out of spec, there is no need to change them. Rotors don't typically just fail for no reason. On a 6 yr old car, I would not expect them to be out of spec.. warped, possibly, but you would have symptoms of that if they were.

if the car were 16 years old, then yeah, i would be more inclined to do the rotors "for safety" (and I have - I drive a 2002 Forester that I did new rotors, pads, drums (rears) and shoes on)

[1 Lucky Texan]

agree w/above - OEM brake parts are good quality and original rotors should be kept if over the minimum thickness stamped on them. Probably last 3 pad changes, maybe 2 under poor conditions (gravel dust, rust,???)

 

OEM pads are quality ceramic compound. but Centric PosiQuiet Ceramic like I run, or other name braand ceramic pad will be a little cheaper and just as good. some folks like Wagner....

 

consider asking for a shop recommendation in a new thread - someone may be able to steer you to a subaru-friendly independent mechanic near your city for a second estimate.

[idosubaru]

23 hours ago, Dkalifornia said:

Thanks everyone,  the quote was for pads and rotors, I questioned the amount and was told it's because the parts are OE ? And ceramic pads, that quote included a $50 discounted free brake line flush....he said I should just do rotors for safety,  replace it all. It was a Meineke Store...I'll keep shopping around , Thank you to replys! Much appreciated. 

That’s a money grab or another reason to make fun of CA. OEM pads are great and not expensive and the job is super easy and quick.  Once the wheel is off it’s 2 bolts to replace the pads. Cake.

New pads front and rear should be roughy $600 ($300 front, $300 back).  I’m from greater suburb DC inflated property values, the brake jobs aren’t that much worse even if you’re in some jacked up area of CA  

You don’t need rotors if the shop is competent.  The OEM rotors are excellent quality - the shop would have thrown away your perfectly good OEM rotors and installed lower quality aftermarkets that are initially shiney...but will look just like your originals in a year.  

Edited September 30, 2019 by idosubaru

[Numbchux]

On 9/28/2019 at 4:01 PM, FerGloyale said:

That is an INSANE price for simple pad/rotor swap.

Pads should be no more than $60 per axle.......so $120 total.

Rotors....let's say $75 a piece.....that's $300 for all 4.....a very high estimate.

So that's $420 parts, and Labor for a brake pad swap should be no more than $100 per axle  (again, a very high estimate)

That's $620 at high estimate prices.

Now, if they want to replace Calipers too.......that ups the price substantially........but that should not be needed on a 6 year old car.

 

That shop is either charging INSANE markup on parts, or charging way too much labor......either way, I would NEVER go to that shop again.....EVER

 

 

You're actually a bit low for MSRP on OEM brake parts. They're about $85 for a set of pads, and for each rotor.

Still, that's only $510 in parts. I bet book rate is 1.5 hours or so per axle, even at a dealer labor rate, that's probably $900 or so with tax and shop supplies.

 

Now, due to the number of times I've been on the other side of this situation, I will never condemn a shops estimate/work as a 3rd party. But something definitely doesn't add up.

 

 

OE rotors are considerably better than aftermarket. $20 spent resurfacing a 6 year old rotor is much better than $20 spent on a cheap new rotor.

[FerGloyale]

11 hours ago, Numbchux said:

 

You're actually a bit low for MSRP on OEM brake parts. They're about $85 for a set of pads, and for each rotor.

 

 

He wasn't quoted for OEM, just "OE ceramic", which basically means nothing.  And since it was at shop that said the dealer would be $1900, O assumed it wasn't a Subaru specific shop and probably not using actual Subaru OEM.  So I was basing pricing on World Pac/IMC high quality options.

 

[Numbchux]

10 hours ago, FerGloyale said:

 

He wasn't quoted for OEM, just "OE ceramic", which basically means nothing.  And since it was at shop that said the dealer would be $1900, O assumed it wasn't a Subaru specific shop and probably not using actual Subaru OEM.  So I was basing pricing on World Pac/IMC high quality options.

 

Hmmm...I suppose that is probably what they were quoting. Either way....something doesn't make sense, even with OEM parts and a healthy markup.