Learned a new money saving tip for Auto Repairs

jbalicki10

Hello,
I needed to save money so I decided to try and to do it yourself on my front disc brakes. I went to an auto supply store and bought the brakes pads, lube, and rotors. I went ahead and tried to do the job but got stuck on taking off the rotors. They were frozen(rusted) on. I needed to get the car on a lift so I could use a sledge hammer to get them on. I didn't want to do this with the car on a jack stand. Sooo I decided to call someone to do the job. Here is what happened:

Me: How much for a brake job with new rotors for X car?
Mechanic: $534
Me: How much for labor?
Mechanic: $115
Me: Great! I have the the all the parts, can I bring her in?
Mechanic: Fine by me.

Sooo... The moral of the story is that I only spent 125 bucks on parts and 115 on labor for a total for $240. Much cheaper than $534. I wonder if this would work for other repairs?

BetterThanYou

i've been putting on my own brake pads and rotors for quite a while now, for the same reason as you: i got sick of being raped by auto mechanics. i've had the same problem as you with the rotors refusing to come off easily. but instead of using a sledge, i've just used a regular hammer and continuously hit the rotor all the way around with a little force. eventually, it pops off.

if it doesn't involve taking apart the engine, i usually do my own work on my car. saves a ton of cash.

blackredyellow

Good tip...

I'm gonna have to change rotors on my car the next time I change pads. I probably should have changed them last time I changed pads, but I couldn't easily get the rotors off. Now I have a house with a garage (and a much better set up than I did at my at my apt), so I'll give it a shot next time.

It amazes me how much garages charge for brake work.

PatrickBateman

Some places won't do it with customer parts and if they do, won't guarantee anything (understandable).

I do most general repairs/maintenance on both our cars; Brakes, Oil, Tranny drain n' fills (all fluids), Plugs/wires/etc, Valve cover gasket, etc.....

Haynes, Chilton, and google are your friend:)

I know a guy that owns a garage and pretty much uses a 110% markup on all parts. I also know another guys (way more honest) that got screwed a couple times because of bad parts (from the store) and had to basically redo the entire job for free.

iluvcats

BetterThanYou wrote:

i've been putting on my own brake pads and rotors for quite a while now, for the same reason as you: i got sick of being raped by auto mechanics. i've had the same problem as you with the rotors refusing to come off easily. but instead of using a sledge, i've just used a regular hammer and continuously hit the rotor all the way around with a little force. eventually, it pops off.

if it doesn't involve taking apart the engine, i usually do my own work on my car. saves a ton of cash.

awesome! my husband does mine too. good thing, we have so many vehicles.