Time to service my brakes: is this a reasonable price from the dealer?

[Threxx~]

I have a 2005 V6 4x2 w/ 56k miles. My wife says she hears it squealing when braking. My higher frequency hearing is less than ideal for a 28 year old though so I usually hear complete silence when she says she's hearing it. I'm presuming it's the wear indicators, but it's frustrating not to hear it. On rare occasion I've heard a brief slight squeal... I guess when the pitch of the noise drops a tad.

They quoted me $217 for the front and $217 for the back including parts and labor to replace the pads with OEM pads and resurface the rotors. I don't know that both front and back need replacing though. Do they usually wear out evenly or is it likely my rears still have more life than my fronts?

The price sounds a tad steep to me considering I'd seen the OEM pads online for ~$100 or so for all four. To me that means they're making $334 in profit for this job which I doubt will take a seasoned tech over 1.5 hours. Am I off base here?

On the subject of brakes, should I even bother resurfacing the rotors if there's no significant unevenness currently? I've heard people say that once you resurface the first time the rotor becomes more prone to warping in the future.

Should I stick with OEM pads if my only real concern is maximizing the amount of time before I have to take my 4runner back in for its next brake service?

Or maybe I should just try to do this myself? I've never done brakes before but as long as I can't screw something up badly then I'd be willing to try.

 

[MikesToy]

Slam on the brakes. If you don't stop on a dime, then they maybe need replaced.

 

[Threxx~]

Slam on the brakes. If you don't stop on a dime, then they maybe need replaced.

I don't think stopping distance is going to be noticeably affected by pad thickness. I don't think I've ever emergency braked in the 4runner anyway so I wouldn't have anything to compare stopping performance to.

 

[DaBoostCreep]

Slam on the brakes. If you don't stop on a dime, then they maybe need replaced.

I wish I could say I was surprised by your useless post.

 

[LB4Runner05]

I have a 2005 V6 4x2 w/ 56k miles. My wife says she hears it squealing when braking. My higher frequency hearing is less than ideal for a 28 year old though so I usually hear complete silence when she says she's hearing it. I'm presuming it's the wear indicators, but it's frustrating not to hear it. On rare occasion I've heard a brief slight squeal... I guess when the pitch of the noise drops a tad.

They quoted me $217 for the front and $217 for the back including parts and labor to replace the pads with OEM pads and resurface the rotors. I don't know that both front and back need replacing though. Do they usually wear out evenly or is it likely my rears still have more life than my fronts?

The price sounds a tad steep to me considering I'd seen the OEM pads online for ~$100 or so for all four. To me that means they're making $334 in profit for this job which I doubt will take a seasoned tech over 1.5 hours. Am I off base here?

On the subject of brakes, should I even bother resurfacing the rotors if there's no significant unevenness currently? I've heard people say that once you resurface the first time the rotor becomes more prone to warping in the future.

Should I stick with OEM pads if my only real concern is maximizing the amount of time before I have to take my 4runner back in for its next brake service?

Or maybe I should just try to do this myself? I've never done brakes before but as long as I can't screw something up badly then I'd be willing to try.

These brakes aren't too bad. I replaced my fronts at 62K and could have waited a little longer. The pins on the front caliper were frozen and I needed to cut them off and replace them. The rotors and calipers were fine and I just did the pads. I forget the name, I went with an advance auto part and the pads were premium around $50. DO NOT use cheap parts on this machine. The next time I do the fronts I will have do the rotors and potentially the calipers based on other users experience. :lookout:

 

[MikesToy]

I wish I could say I was surprised by your useless post.

In case you need to slam on your brakes someday and if you don't stop on a dime or close to it, i do hope you'll remember this useless post.

 

[DaBoostCreep]

In case you need to slam on your brakes someday and if you don't stop on a dime or close to it, i do hope you'll remember this useless post.

I won't remember it because it has absolutely no value, and is not a way for anyone to determine adequate brake life.

I bet if you reduced your posts down to about 1/10th as many, you'd be able to share information that actually benefits someone.

 

[rwilliams]

ANYYYYYWAAAAAAAYYYYY

Might be a bit pricey but then again the dealerships labor charges are $130 and up, per hour! ALWAYS CUT (resurface) YOUR ROTORS. Or at least take it somewhere that will resurface them for cheap. I would never just do a pad slap on any car i own, it's a half ass brake job. You can always find an independent shop and just ask them to use Toyota pads. I'm sure you'll find it much cheaper. Don't go cheap on your brakes man, you want to stop.

 

[Threxx~]

ANYYYYYWAAAAAAAYYYYY

Might be a bit pricey but then again the dealerships labor charges are $130 and up, per hour! ALWAYS CUT (resurface) YOUR ROTORS. Or at least take it somewhere that will resurface them for cheap. I would never just do a pad slap on any car i own, it's a half ass brake job. You can always find an independent shop and just ask them to use Toyota pads. I'm sure you'll find it much cheaper. Don't go cheap on your brakes man, you want to stop.

But is resurfacing rotors really worth while if they don't seem to have any pulsation anyway? I'd hate to pay extra for them to do something unnecessary. Especially if it might encourage the rotors to be more likely to warp in the future.

I figure if I've made it to almost 60k miles without warping the rotors... I could keep a good thing going.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[LB4Runner05]

ANYYYYYWAAAAAAAYYYYY

Might be a bit pricey but then again the dealerships labor charges are $130 and up, per hour! ALWAYS CUT (resurface) YOUR ROTORS. Or at least take it somewhere that will resurface them for cheap. I would never just do a pad slap on any car i own, it's a half ass brake job. You can always find an independent shop and just ask them to use Toyota pads. I'm sure you'll find it much cheaper. Don't go cheap on your brakes man, you want to stop.

On previous cars I would just use the normal throw away rotors from china, but not with toyota. My brakes work great and I have the original toyota rotors that don't need to be cut. When you care and maintain you don't have to cut them everytime unless they show signs of wear after measuring them with a micrometer and doing a visual inspection. The original factory rotors are a good quality. I also haven't aligned the machine since I purchased it. If someone tells me I should get it aligned I would say show me the evidence of wear. I wouldn't need someone to tell me to get it aligned because the only mechanic that touches my machine is for inspection and tires. In this case they just didn't need it due to the quality of the machine. :boxer:

 

[hyperthread]

I would go with the dealer, I mean, how many times you would have to go to have your brakes serviced? Once every 80-100k miles? If the brake service is 500.00 I think that 0.005 cents per mile.

Well, that's coming from a guy who can't "diy". ehehehehehe

 

[LB4Runner05]

I would go with the dealer, I mean, how many times you would have to go to have your brakes serviced? Once every 80-100k miles? If the brake service is 500.00 I think that 0.005 cents per mile.

Well, that's coming from a guy who can't "diy". ehehehehehe

I hear ya, they get you on the calipers and rotors.

 

[3TonMike]

Always resurface rotors, and or replace them. New pads are flat, old rotors are not. The irregularities in the rotor will hold gases between the pad and rotors. This will compromise the stopping distance and safety. Under 250 is good for a dealer. A diy guy can do it for about half. Firestone, ntb, breaks plus, good year. Will try to scare you in to new calipers, and fluid.

 

[shuly]

Do it yourself...it's really easy!!!

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/maintenance/63934-my-4th-gen-front-brakes-walkthrough.html

 

[Inbloom]

Dude, Let me work on your Runner... It would take me about a hour to do all four brakes, and i would charge less than half !!! Honestly though i would buy new pads and rotors ! IMHO it is not worth "Turning" your rotors just for the fact that you don't know if they will "warp" or not ! I would go with something like EBC Rotors and EBC Green stuff pads awesome combo. You can't go wrong with OEM stuff just buy it online or some where other than the dealer and do it yourself, there are tons of walkthrough's on the internet and a couple here !!! I speak from experience since just about 5,000 miles ago i bought the combo i mentioned above and did it myself....Came out to about 240.00 for Front brakes.. I highly doubt your rear brakes would need any work since they barely do any of the braking sounds like Toyota is trying to bend you over...... Never cheap out on brakes you and your family and your life depend on them !!!!