Brake maintenance

[Nate76]

This is what they were suggesting.

A typical brake service* includes the following:

General inspection of the front or rear brake system.
Cleaning or removing any debris or corrosion.
Lubricating the moving brake components.
Reassembling and road testing.

I said no because the cost was outrageous. Just double checking to make sure I was doing the right thing.
What else should I always say no to?

[SnowyCamaro]

As your fellow ontarian who has had this line given to him at the dealer, its a waste of time. The service manager felt ashamed he even asked me, because I just laughed. Next they will be flushing my blinker fluid! On top of that they wanted 140 dollars, the exact service he described would take me about 15 to 20 minutes using a lift by myself.

What they do is remove the caliper, clean everything with brake clean, lube the slides and lightly sand the pads to remove any glazing. They claim its needed every 30 000km!

This is a ridiculous claim. Under normal conditions, brakes need to be serviced when the pads are worn out, that's it. Re lubricating the slides is justifiable (but not that frequently), however the slides are sealed and don't need to be re lubricated unless you are doing a brake job. Don't be fooled by the dealer.

[Chevy_cowboy]

Originally Posted by Nate76

This is what they were suggesting.

A typical brake service* includes the following:

General inspection of the front or rear brake system.
Cleaning or removing any debris or corrosion.
Lubricating the moving brake components.
Reassembling and road testing.

I said no because the cost was outrageous. Just double checking to make sure I was doing the right thing.
What else should I always say no to?

This is how dealers or other shops that offer free or really cheap oil changes pay for them, by upselling.

Other things to say no to? Letting places like this work on your car.

[SnowyCamaro]

Originally Posted by Nate76

This is what they were suggesting.

A typical brake service* includes the following:

General inspection of the front or rear brake system.
Cleaning or removing any debris or corrosion.
Lubricating the moving brake components.
Reassembling and road testing.

I said no because the cost was outrageous. Just double checking to make sure I was doing the right thing.
What else should I always say no to?

Typical Scams

Undercoating
(Waste of money, usually causes more problems than solves, oil spray is good if you drive in winter climate, but don't let the dealer do that).

Tire Rotation
(Our tires are staggered, can't be rotated)

Buying any tires from a dealer
(If you want to pay triple for tires, then buy them at the dealer)

Brake Service
(You know this one)

Doing things in pairs
(If you car has a blown shock, bad caliper etc, "one is broken but it is good practice to do both sides" when the other side is fine. Dont fall for this) ** People may argue on this one...

Frequent Coolant Flushes
(Frequent coolant flushes are not necessary, I've run the same coolant in many cars for 8+ years no issues. But the newer organic coolants do need to be flushed from time to time now. VW I work on needed one, car would start to run hot when the coolant was past its prime. Only car I've ever seen do this. That being said, it is good practice to check all levels of fluid in the car regularly.)

Nitrogen Filled Tires
(Air is 70% nitrogen, really? you need that extra 30%. Their properties are not very different.)

Buying Any Generic Part from a Dealer
(Wiper Blades, light bulbs etc. If you pay them to install any of these... god help you )


That's all I can think of for now.

[two_wheel_mayhem]

Brembo calipers are high performance calipers.

They do indeed require maintenance.

[Bizaro]

Originally Posted by SnowyCamaro

Buying Any Generic Part from a Dealer
(Wiper Blades, light bulbs etc. If you pay them to install any of these... god help you )

lol

[Chevy_cowboy]

Originally Posted by Comrando

I will argue that. One side is 1/2 the job.
You wouldn't replace half of a roof, would you?

I compare it to taking apart a light fixture to change one bulb of four and next week another burns out, and the next week the another... Once you open it up change them all. They all have an engineered life span.
One brake light burns out, replace them all.

I've been in warehouses and have seen the electricians going through the whole building, row after row, of all the lights, before they fail. The cost is already in the budget, why wait until they fail?

To me, it kinda depends on what the reason for the failure was, and how consistent failures of that component are. Things like shocks, if one is bad because its old and started leaking, then yeah the rest are probably not far behind, but if its a 6 month old car and you blew one hitting a curb or pothole, I could see replacing just the blown one knowing the rest of them likely have a long life ahead of them.

Another place I don't replace sets is injectors on our trucks, they have such a wide range of life spans its just a waste of money to replace them preemptively I've seen them fail at 300,000 miles and seen them last nearly 2 million. So they get replaced one at a time as they fail.

[Smokin19]

It takes longer to jack up the car and take off the wheels than to change pads and do an inspection of the calipers on Brembo brakes. They are made to change pads at track side in minutes, so it's an easy job. DIY

[Scalded Dog]

Originally Posted by Chevy_cowboy

I agree with your overall point, but I'm baffled by the math there, either you got a smoking good deal on rotors or someone was trying to really rip ya off on turning them. 10-15 each is what it costs around here, that would put your rotors at < $5 each

Also make sure you're buying quality rotors, new isn't always better if you're downgrading from OEM stuff to cheap crap from Autozone.

Dang! $10- $15 would make it something to consider. Turning rotors 'round THESE parts gets quoted at $80- $100 per rotor... not for the pair, but per each side!

[Scalded Dog]

Originally Posted by SnowyCamaro

Typical Scams

Undercoating
(Waste of money, usually causes more problems than solves, oil spray is good if you drive in winter climate, but don't let the dealer do that).

Tire Rotation
(Our tires are staggered, can't be rotated)

Buying any tires from a dealer
(If you want to pay triple for tires, then buy them at the dealer)

Brake Service
(You know this one)

Doing things in pairs
(If you car has a blown shock, bad caliper etc, "one is broken but it is good practice to do both sides" when the other side is fine. Dont fall for this) ** People may argue on this one...

Frequent Coolant Flushes
(Frequent coolant flushes are not necessary, I've run the same coolant in many cars for 8+ years no issues. But the newer organic coolants do need to be flushed from time to time now. VW I work on needed one, car would start to run hot when the coolant was past its prime. Only car I've ever seen do this. That being said, it is good practice to check all levels of fluid in the car regularly.)

Nitrogen Filled Tires
(Air is 70% nitrogen, really? you need that extra 30%. Their properties are not very different.)

Buying Any Generic Part from a Dealer
(Wiper Blades, light bulbs etc. If you pay them to install any of these... god help you )


That's all I can think of for now.

Another great one from the dealership is pushing--- pushing HARD, because they really really REALLY care about me--- for the scheduled maintenance LONG before it's even close to due. At 25,000 miles, there was much hand- wringing at my dealership because I was WAY overdue for a transmission flush (The book says do it at 100,000 miles, or at 50,000 IF you track it, tow heavy things up mountains, use it to plow cornfields, or engage in tractor- pull competitions). It HAD to be done now, or else my warranty would be toast. I had to argue, using the book as my Bible. And they ALWAYS want to replace the belts and the hoses and the brake pads and wiper blades and replace ALL fluids every time I'm in there (Yes, I go for the $40 oil change... so hate me).

And, seriously, the oil change chains? They ONLY survive by performing--- or CLAIMING to perform--- utter bullshit repairs/ maintenance. They would not survive, except for the soccer- mom/ elderly person/ dude- who- has-never- turned- a- wrench contingent who actually believe that their transmission fluid is badly burned (and needs a full flush), that their coolant has expired (because it needs to be changed every 5000 miles or less), or that the differential is only three miles from disintegration... unless they do some MAJOR work on it right f'n now. If you walk out of an oil change shithole spending less than $250, they are pissed off, because they NEED to squeeze more out of you.

(Oh, and, yes, many will argue with the "doing things in pairs" notion, but I fully agree: Just because ONE headlight has gone out, does not mean that it makes sense to throw out a perfectly good one, too. I'll wait until the next one goes, which might not happen for 15 years)

(...and nitrogen- filled tires? I'll even counter that the air we USUALLY fill our tires with is nearly 80% nitrogen (as opposed to 70%, above), so "filling them with nitrogen" simply changes the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen only very slightly, and changes the ratio of expenditure to savings by a certain amount)

[JCunningham]

replace your rotors with oem or better. the crap you buy at the parts store is at ar below min thickness already. I use to drive my own van for a living. replaces rotors and pads every 3 months. I would bring a micrometer with me.

[TAG UR IT]

"Brake" thread moved from the general section to the proper "brake forum."