Brakes

[mjrocks98.livejournal.com]

So I have a 2005 corolla with over 53K miles on it.  I haven't had to replace the brakes yet - does this seem normal?  When I had the car in to the shop in Nov. they told me I still have lots of wear left on them & I would be good for awhile, but I'm getting nervous.  Just for my own piece of mind I'm taking it in tomorrow to have the brakes looked at  (they were a little funny after all that rain in the beginning of April)- if they need replaced any goood guesstimates as to a range it may cost?  My mom was saying she usually pays $100 per wheel.  Thanks for any feedback!

Comments

[cynickalone.livejournal.com]

really?

[nu-luba.livejournal.com]

It depends on who you go to to get your breaks looked at. I would stay away from the dealership since that tends to be the most expensive.

I go to Auto Precission on Prentiss St. in Watertown. I needed my breaks and rotors replaced last time I had work done and he charged me $240

[inahandbasket]

Erm, what do you mean by "brakes?"
Your pads wear slowly, and it's fairly obvious when they're worn. Any auto shop would be more than happy to charge you to replace them, so if they said you have lots of wear left, don't even bother thinking about it. Also they have wear sensors, aka little bits of metal that cause the brakes to squeal when you step on them. Once you hear that, get them swapped out if your mechanic hasn't already suggested it.
Brake pads shouldn't cost you anywhere near $100/wheel unless you're getting ripped off.

Your rotors shouldn't need replacing until WELL over 100k miles, and ideally should never need replacing. Likewise your calipers.

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

I had a honda civic that needed stuff at 80k, and its timing chain at 125k, both well over expected. Haven't hit that sort of mileage in a toyota yet, but not surprised.

Especially if you aren't leadfooted, pads last longer than spec.

One of the designs of brakes actually has a cool nearing-fail mode, where you will start hearing metal-scratchy sounds before you lose stopping power - actually designed so when the thickness of something gets too low a bit intentionally rubs... [edit] oops looks like the above poster knows a bit more than me :)

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Depends on how and where you drive. If your car's an automatic and you drive it in the city, you can expect to replace pads more often.

Can't guess on the price because it depends if it's only pads, or rotors too. Sometimes all they need is to be cleaned or adjusted. Especially drum brakes. Do you have disks, drums, or both? Also if you have disks, a driveway, and are at all handy, pads are very simple to change yourself.

I went through something similar a few years ago where I wanted a little more braking performance. Tried new pads and rotors, had the shop change the brake fluid as it was old. But what made more of a difference was switching to an aggressive ceramic-metallic pad and a different type of tire.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

I just had to get new rear brakes (pads, drums, everything) on my old car and it was about $300.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

This is not one of those things that if you don't do it, your brakes are just suddenly going to stop working without any warning. As other posters have pointed out, pads have wear sensors built into them so that when the pads start to get thin, they start to make noise when you push on the brakes. Aside from this wear sensor you can think of brake pads as being a bit like a pencil eraser: They have a solid metal part and a rubbery part. The rubbery part rubs against the brake disks/drums, and when that runs out, it's metal on metal and you lose a bunch of stopping power (probably one wheel at a time since pads rarely wear identically), and you get a metal grinding sound. If your brakes aren't even sqealing, you're probably several thousand miles from having that happen. Similarly, assessing the thickness of a brake pad isn't a complicated task, so it's not one of those things I'd tend to distrust a mechanic about.

Also, if I recall correctly, my last car didn't call for the brake pads to be replaced until 60k miles, so at 53k you are almost certainly fine.

$100 per wheel does seem a bit high to me. The replacement procedure basically involves removing the wheel, removing one of the caliper bolts, pivoting the caliper up, sliding out the old pad and shim, greasing a new pad and shim, sliding that in, pivoting the caliper down, replacing the caliper bolt, and replacing the wheel. Assuming nothing is severely corroded and requires special tools to remove, the whole job should only take like 20 minutes at most. Of course you have to pay for the pads themselves too. They can be pricey I suppose, but I'd think Corolla pads would be on the cheaper side...

Brake disk and drum replacement is a different story. The main symptom of these being needed is that the car shakes or vibrates whenever you press on the brake. $100 per wheel is a bit more reasonable for these.

[genesayssitdown.livejournal.com]

if you're looking for a recommendation of a place to go to, i really like mechanics over at union gulf in union square.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Well the pads I bought when I did it myself were $60/pair, so the cost of a pad replacement won't be zero.

There's other things you might want to have looked at. One time my brakes felt funny and I thought the rear pads/drums maybe needed to be replaced. Turned out it was a frozen cylinder. Another time they just had to be adjusted. Drums have this "star wheel" that's supposed to self-adjust but sometimes the mechanism has to be cleaned and adjusted.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Just to reconfirm what others have said- you'll hear when it's time to replace your brakes. They make a squeaking sound when you stop.

I whole-heartedly recommend the Goodyear Service Center in Union Sq. I've been taking my car there for years and they do excellent work and are reasonably priced.

[mjrocks98.livejournal.com]

Thanks everyone - I'm feeling a lot better about this. I'm thinking since I don't hear anything they are fine, but for my own piece of mind I'm still going to have them looked at. I'm feeling MUCH better about the price range if they do need replaced - I'm no longer imagining emptying my savings account :)