Brake pad and machining question

[Purple_Power]

Anyone got a clue how much it should cost for new brake pads and/or machining disks?
The dealer wants about $220 to replace the front and back pads each, and another $220 to machine the disks, if they need it.

I'm so looking forward for the warranty to run out. :woot:

[Tigerv8]

You can bet your life the dealer will send the discs out for machining anyway. You can find it cheaper than that at most brake specialists. And the pads should be around $50 or $60 for a set (depending on specs) plus labour. I usually do it myself so I only pay for pads. However, I would think $100 in labour would be acceptable. $220 for a pad change is probably too much.

[Squid's VY]

Chequers, You buy the pads and I'll fit them for you, Seriously I'd hate to see get ripped off. $220, They're kidding aren't they. Way too much just to change pads. I bought a pair of Ferodo pads for my VY for $39.99 and got another pair free, Both sets for under $40. Fitted by me so it was way cheaper then I could ever pay to get it done. Bendix pads are $69.99. My Front discs cost me about $140 to be machined at my dealer. It's even cheaper at a brake specialist. Dealers love ripping off customers for the extra buck, not sure why, You spend enough on the car in the first place so they should discount things for you I think. Let me know how you go please?

[Tigerv8]

Well done, Squid's VY.
What an excellent spirit. That's what a club is about.
That dealer appears to be one to avoid.

[BlackOne]

Glenys give someone like UltraTune a call and get a price of them. They can provide all those things and more without voiding the Holden warranty.

Alternatively, do as Shaun suggested, buy the pads yourself and we'll fit them.

[miss_red_ice]

bugger ultra tune
rip off over there

just go to a local be cheaper than the dealer and ultra tune

shop around

or if ya don't mind the drive drop out to riverstone and see dennis at target automotive and he should help ya out there numbers in the sponsors section there cheaquers


redice

[jabba]

:goodpost:

[jabba]

nice plug there miss red ice. done well 2 slip that 1 in:lmao:

[Purple_Power]

Thanks guys ! I knew it sounded a bit expensive anyway. My local mechanic (literally one block away) might be able to do it for me. We should have a "name and shame" section. This is the second and LAST car I've bought from them. They screwed me around royally with my first car. Now all the crap that's gone wrong with this one. I only go there because it's easy to get to by bus.

[Purple_Power]

Oh yeah, I asked how much they wanted to re-gas the air conditioning. They said (get this) ONLY $150- $200. Do we have an eye rolling smiley, Matt?

[wazza]

We should have a "name and shame" section.

Mmm hope my name ain't going to be on that one !

[wazza]

Oh yeah, I asked how much they wanted to re-gas the air conditioning. They said (get this) ONLY $150- $200. Do we have an eye rolling smiley, Matt?

Seen places with re-gas signs saying $75.00

[Purple_Power]

Of course your name won't be there Wazza. Hmmm, although we could always put pink bits on all of Muirs "for sale" cars. :)
My local mechanic quoted me $403 for EVERYTHING, that is, new pads, machined disks, and labour.
He also quoted me $60 less to have air horns fitted. :woot:

[Blown355]

It's an old post but I thought I might get my 2 cents worth in.

When changing brake pads, rotors should always be machined. This gives the new pads a good surface to "Bite" onto & means that the operator should be measuring the rotor width to ensure that they will not go below minium thickness, as this can have fatal conciquences if not adheared to. At the dealership I used to work for we charged $125 an end for maching & about 1/2 an hour labour to fit pads. Technichally new pads & rotors should not be bedded in at the same time.

That being said the same dealership would be charging $6000 to replace Brembo 4 piston pads & rotors, both front & rear ($1000 per set of pads & $1000 per rotor). Yet if you were to go thru a brake specialist you would be able to get all the parts for about the same cost as 1 rotor.

As for re-gassing the A/C, that is not much of a time consuming task, the problem is that most vehicles that need to be re-gassed have a leak in the system, which is required by law to be repaired before any gas can be put back into the system as the gas type (R134a) can be fatal.

I hope this helps in any way.

[Purple_Power]

Thanks Ben,
Unfortunately some of that didn't make sense, but my mechanic did explain that you should always have the disks machined when you get new brake pads.
Only reason I had to have my air conditioning regassed twice this year was because it was damaged in my accidents.

[Tigerv8]

Ben,

How come new pads and rotors should not be bedded in at the same time? I would have thought that would be ideal.

When you buy a new car you have no choice.

[Blown355]

Sorry about that, i'm not the best at explaining stuff with out being face to face with someone.

Feel free to give me a holla whenever you want to know something about your vehicle & i'll see if I can help you out.

[Blown355]

Jee tiger you've got me having to thinking on that one... It's been so long since I learned that, that I can quite remember why exactly. I do know that it dosen't allow for them to be bedded in properly, but I keep drawing a blank on why.

So I'm not giving you guys miss leading/missing info, I'll dig up my notes from brake modules gone bye & see if I can find the answer, failing that I'll get a hold of one of my old tech teachers & ask him.

I must appoligise for not being able to give you the answer right away.

[Tigerv8]

No problem, Blown 355,

You know more than I do. But I still like to learn stuff so I can keep the car running properly. I have done 97,000 km in my car since new 9 1/2 years ago and have used about 2/3 of the ORIGINAL set of front brake pads and about half of the rears. I hope they still make those pads, whatever they are.

[WOODY]

i got rotars machine and threw new pads in lol, so dats bad

[Purple_Power]

Wow Tiger, I want a set of those brake pads! Paul had a look at mine in April and said they had 5,000km left on them. About 500km later I had my prang, and thought I might as well change them then. My smash repairer showed me the old pads, and they had about 2mm left on them! I don't ride my brakes either.

[Tigerv8]

But you have an automatic, don't you, Glenys?

Unless you use the transmission manually, you will use more brakes than a manual car.

[Purple_Power]

Yes Tiger, my car is an automatic. True, I do brake more in an auto than a manual, but it still seemed a bit odd that the pads wore out so quickly. Maybe it's all those trips through the Blue Mountains that do it.

[Blown355]

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to everyone about this. It turns out I opened a can of worms when I started to question this further.......... It ended up going all the way to a guy who works for PBR!! What can I say, when I want to know something I'm gonna keep asking until I get an answer....

Anyway, as the story goes:

The reason you should not put brand new pads & rotors in at the same time is that 99% of brand new rotors are really soft until they have been taken thru the heat cycles generated by the Bedding in process & most brake pads are really hard before they have been run in.

This can cause hard spots to form on the disk surface, kind of like hot spots which are caused by braking to hard & with a on-off-on-off-on-off motion (like when people are going down a steep moutain & not using their gears to slow them) which "Could" lead to premature failer of the rotor (Very rarely I might add).

Even tho we have all done it before & it is the way 99.9% of workshops replace brakes, there is a reason why the should be changed seperatly. This being said, almost all the time it is unpractical to replace them this way as most pads and/or rotors are damaged at the time of replacement & the only way to avoid this is to use pads/rotors that have already been bedded in (I might add that these cost a bit more that un-bedded in items of the same range/make). Pre-bedded in brake components are more commonly used by race teams who don't have the time to bed in pads and rotors after changing them, as they are usually done in the middle of a race.

The best way is to machine the face's of the rotors (as long as the rotors is within legal limits & wont go under sized during the life of the new pads) & throw the new set of pads in, then bed in as per manfacture's advice. Just like what zwoody did.

Now go out and enjoy happy braking for many, many miles to come.....

[Purple_Power]

Ben, it's great that you're so determined to get an answer. It's all a bit muddled to me, but as long as my mechanic knows what he's doing, that's fine. As you said, happy braking!

[Squid's VY]

You certainly do seek answers Benny. Thanks for that. Anymore questions should be directed to you and then we'll get all the details. I want a pit crew not a mechanic, They can do your whole car, front to back, like brand new in a day.

[Berlina]

Dealershps are soo expensive! I remember once my left (power) window was playing up. I'd have to play with it to get to go back up again. I went to Holden asked how it'd be for a VS window switch. $250! that was for the left ones alone:o
Went to the wreakers a week later and bought one for $50 lol
And its been fine ever since.

[ladybird]

Glenys give someone like UltraTune a call and get a price of them. They can provide all those things and more without voiding the Holden warranty.

Alternatively, do as Shaun suggested, buy the pads yourself and we'll fit them.

Friend from the past, nice to see a message from you. How you doing Matt? Take care

[Vixen]

Es, this was posted in March 2008, chicky. :)

[mad085]

if they did it right the first time and put dye in the gas they wauld have found the leak and replaced a little rubber ring or maybe found the problem so it doesnt have to be done over again each year the disks need a machined each time depending on that foot so ypu dont get a wear mark and no lip on the edge of the disks

cars are money spinners where else would spend our money
martin:thinking2:

[Tigerv8]

Can anyone tell me what sort of brake pads were used as original equipment in VT SS vehicles in 2000? Series II.

I have now done 115,000km and looked at my discs and pads last week. Still a little over 2/3 wear on the front and about 1/2 at the rear. And I tow my boat every second week and have taken it up and down the coast as well.

They put out virtually no pad dust on the wheels and seem to pull me up adequately when the sutuation calls for it, except that they are a little slow when very cold first starting out.

When they need replacing, what shall I use? Do they still make that pad type?

[Vixen]

Tiger, I just called a friend of mine who works for Holden, he says they were PBR, but they may have changed suppliers or compounds by now, or this brand may not be made now.
He says the asbestos free compound would have very minimal dust, which is what yours sound like.
He suggested you go for 'genuine' pads from a Stealership, which will probably be what you're looking for. They'll be more expensive, but will include an anti rattle kit and bolts, which the others don't have.

Please don't shoot the messenger, as I've only quoted word for word what he told me. :D

[Blown355]

Yeah PBR is still around and kicking & genuine pads do cost more, but they generally last longer...... the down side is, as you have found Tiger, they can take a little bit longer to get upto temp & they fail rapidly when pushed really hard.....

At the end of the day it all comes down to how you want to drive your car. Myself I want a pad that's gonna come upto temp really fast & is going to have a consistant stop to them all the way thru the temp range after numerious heavy stops, but this comes at a price........

1) The actual cost of these pads is a lot more than your run of the mill ferodo or super cheap bargin bin.....
2) The make heaps of dust
3) When your not using them at full temp, they squeal like a banshie
4) They wear out ALOT faster

If you want cheap, you get cheap..... if you want quality, it costs a bit more but it's worth it the one time you really need them :)

Yep that's my 2 cents worth....... LOL

[Tigerv8]

Thank you, Karen and Ben for your advice.

I guess when the time comes I will get the same again as it suits my driving - I don't really use brakes, just the accelerator. And I seldom need more than a couple of hard stops, although I have yet to go down Macquarie Pass and see how they stand up to that.

I once went down the Pass with my little 1976 VW Golf and the brake pedal went halfway to the floor by the time I got to the bottom, but the brakes still worked. Guess there was some moisture in the system which boiled. It was a scary feeling, though.

[VZCalais]

i currently have an awesome set of pads and the way i drive and the roads i drive on really put them to the test
DONT EVER BUY BENDIX THEY ARE SLIPPING FAST dusty as hell and massive fade

the pads i have are QFM HPX Pads they are the new replacement pads they use on pursuit cars in QLD (i think its QLD)
and i find them great even when wet (after car washes the bendix let go and didnt wanna work)

or factory brake pads dunno never had replacement pads from holden put on but i guess they shouldnt be to bad with a 2 year warranty on genuine parts

[Blown355]

Where as I have been using bendix pads in my cars for years & I haven't had an issue, I even dropped my PB by almost half a second at my first meeting after fitting them to my current ride :) Horses for courses I guess.........

[VZCalais]

dropped lap time by half a second would mean the brakes arent working as well as they used to wouldnt it lol
they also have a new compund (dunno how long ago it was you replaced ya pads)
the bloke at the brake and suspension shop raved about them but when put to the test they FAILED bad. dusty as hell, expensive as all f***, and hard braking was horrible felt like it didnt wanna stop at all with a hard pedal these were bendix ultima or something like that

[Blown355]

No, more got a consistant pedel so I was able to stand on them harder & later LOL

But like I always say, what works for me might not work for the next guy and so forth........

My ultimate street/track set up would be (keeping in mind that I drive my car everywhere, everyday, I'm also limited to standard sized Rotors & Single piston OE calipers in my class) DBA5000 Rotors & EBC Green stuff pads, add to this steel braided hoses front & rear......... The only reason why I don't run this is because I can't afford $850 each for the rotors............. YET!! LOL

[Purple_Power]

Tiger, whatever you do, don't get the same brake pads as a lady I heard about. At the stealership a couple of weeks ago, they got a call from a lady who has an Astra with 18,000km on the clock. She was booking it in for it's second replacement set of brake pads! That's right, not the second set of pads, but the second replacement set. Scary huh?

[Tigerv8]

Crikey! She must drive around with one foot on the brake all the time or she uses her car in motorsport events.

[Vixen]

There are alot of drivers with automatics who ride their brake constantly with their other foot.
Maybe this is her problem??

[Purple_Power]

Maybe she's a taxi driver? The ones I follow seem to constantly have their foot on the brakes. Then again, so do most drivers I follow. Must be something to do with their tailgating.

[VZCalais]

i once drove 15km with my foot on the brake doing an excessively slow speed
I HATE TAILGATERS
tailgate me you wanna hope to hell the next light aint red

[Vixen]

And you gotta hope the guy behind you isn't a big biker type with huge biceps and a temper to match. :lol: