K, so my front brakes were making noise of brake pads wearing out, so I take it to the dealership.

I get the call back today, its going to be 276 (!!!) to replace the front brake pads.

OF COURSE, he finds that the rear-wheel hydraulic cylinders have been leaking brake fluid onto my shoes, saturating them. Still usable, but for how long until they lock up he doesn't know. If I pay 436 for that job he MIGHT be able to save the shoes, but as it stands it would not pass a Virginia inspection.
-He explained a panic stop might result in the brakes locking up.
-Unfortunately my parking space varies so I can't verify if there's been fluid on the ground, I haven't noticed anything with the brakes though.

I'm coming home to NC next Friday and I asked if I'd be fine doing that and he gave a 'maybe, I dunno' answer.

I call my Dad and he's like wtf, shoes are only 20 bucks and that's a ridiculous price to replace front brake pads. I'm taking it out of there and taking it to Merchants for the pad replacement. What do you all think?

5/3/2007 12:04:03 PM

take it somewhere other than a dealer to get inspected. they arent gonna check the pads.

and yeah, do them yourself

5/3/2007 12:05:11 PM

your first mistake was taking it to the dealership

unless you had to keep it under warranty or something

5/3/2007 3:31:14 PM

rear wheel cylinders, $20 each, shoes, $20 for the set, brake fluid $5, and an hour of labor

do it yourself

front pads without turning the rotors, $40 and about 30 min labor

5/3/2007 4:37:32 PM

Merchants can cost as much as a dealer on some services, just buy a haynes manual and

Quote :

"do it yourself"

5/3/2007 7:53:56 PM

You people say do it yourself to anyone who has little to no experience or knowledge with that system of a car and who has no one within 2 hours to help him with it. Thanks. I have rummaged around the engine and done replacements in there myself, so I am going to learn how to do this other stuff myself soon.

Yes, google is awesome for step by step. Sometimes this isn't clear. Sometimes the instructions are hard to understand or you don't see what its talking about. I'd much rather have someone do it for me and me pay than me screw with something without someone helpin out. '1 hour' or '30 minutes' for someone playing it by ear or going by instruction booklet? Doubtful.

Yes, first mistake was dealership.

In any case your suggestions were wrong, cylinders did not need to be replaced, and shoes need to be cleaned (although they are cheap).

Anyway, I just got off the phone with Merchants and they said the pads need to be replaced, drums resurfaced, and shoes cleaned which is what I knew. However, they did say that the rear hydraulic cylinders were completely normal and the leakage was a part of the design on GM vehicles since 1994 or so. Its in the reference books for those parts not to replace them, or something.

5/4/2007 9:02:00 AM

Quote :

"leakage was a part of the design on GM vehicles since 1994 or so"

wrong, wrong, wrong

leakage is not normal, they have been overheated and the cups are leaking by, i bet they didnt even pull back the boots to see if they are completely full of fluid, wheel cylinders are cheap and easy to replace and i do them damn near every time i do rear shoes, if not, you're gonna be cleaning them again if the lining doesnt fall apart first, and its also a good time to cheack the wheel seals, and change the diff oil and replace them if leaking, you should only have to deal with rear drum brakes every 75-100k unless you do it halfass

5/4/2007 9:37:05 AM

Quote :

"leakage was a part of the design on GM vehicles since 1994 or so"

leaking is not normal however seeping is. there is nothing wrong with a small amount of seepage.

5/4/2007 10:06:57 AM

Quote :

"You people say do it yourself to anyone who has little to no experience or knowledge with that system of a car and who has no one within 2 hours to help him with it."

You learn it once, and you've got that knowledge and foresight with you the rest of your life about what you have to do and what you do it with (tools), especially with something as standardized as brakes. How much was Merchants?

5/4/2007 4:15:05 PM