I hear ya. This probably applies to the compact cars more so then say a Caprice or a full sized pickup. The thinner they are, well sometimes it’s justifiable to spend the small spread in $$ to get new rotors compared to the cost of turning them. Something like my car, it’s worth it because they’re meaty and costly to replace because of size and not to mention the bearing cups that add to the cost in making them in the first place. It’s about $10 to turn them at Napa, and about $40+ to replace.
I’ve got a '92 Nissan Navara, which I bought in 1999 when it’d done 120,000 km (72,000 miles). I don’t know what it’s previous service history was. I’ve had it serviced every 10000km by an ex Nissian Service Manager. It’s done 349,000km (209,000 miles) now. Apart from a fluid change, I’ve had no other brake work done. The last 3 services, I’ve been told I’ll get another 10,000 km out of the front brakes 
As the disks need to be replaced, I’ve been told to just keep going until the pads are about touching and they’ll replace the lot.
Here, autos are required to past a safety check (for the age of my ute every 6 months), part of which is a brake test. Passes every time, last test 3 months ago.
With my gear loaded on, my ute is over 2 tonne, and I often tow an unbraked trailer which is usually well over the unbraked rating for my vehicle. Driving is a mix of stop/go, motorway and highway. Speed limits here are 100kmh (highway/motorway) (90 with trailer), 50kmh in towns, with various 60-90 limits too :rolleyes:
My vehicle’s done at least 137,000 miles on the same brakes, maybe 209,000 miles.
Front brakes had <15% pad remaining, so I had them replaced, and they resurfaced the rotors. The rear brakes had +/-60%, but had some corrosion (we didn’t drive the Honda much before I wrecked our primary car). So they resurfaced the rears, too. Plus I got the oil changed.
Brakes: $354.45
Oil Change: $45.00
Grand Total: $399.45
The car is a lease, and the lease is up in August. I was originally planning to turn it in, but by then I’ll be over miles by about 10K (10,000 X $.15 = $1,500), and now I’ve had to service it, so I’m leaning towards buying it when the lease is up. My buy-out is $8,000. A bargain, really, for a well-maintained 3-year-old Accord with 40,000 miles on it.
I don’t know what exactly did your brake job entitle, but my car had its 60K km shortly before moving to Switzerland and it included a lot of work on the brakes. It’s regular brakework, I’m supposed to get the same at 120K.
While it was “as per Toyota’s instructions,” I had been noticing a certain wobble which did disappear, so it looks like the engineer who created that schedule was paying attention.
My car was a “demo” which I bought with 10K km on it, so those are 10K km of bad driving.
45 bucks for an oil change? I hope you got synthetic. Out here, even dealership oil changes don’t cost more than 30 bucks.
Yes, synthetic motor oil, plus they “give it the once over”. They check and top off all the fluids, inspect the belts, vacuum and wash the car, spray air freshner in it, and get rid of any dead hookers that might be in the trunk. Yeah, it costs a few bucks extra, but it’s worth it. Plus, last time I brought it to JiffyLube, they didn’t tighten the oil filter enough and it leaked oil on my driveway. Ballbags.
Yeesh. $350 for brakes?
I’m a cheapskate. I’d have just slapped some more pads on by myself. Usually run about $20 - $40, depending on the car.
Tune ups I’ll pay for. Oil changes I’ll pay for. Brakes? No way, jose. I know how to fix 'em myself and I save myself - apparently - more than $300 by doing it that way.
~Tasha
How can you know how to do brakes and not know how to do oil changes? Oil changes are way easier than brakes.
It’s easier bring brake pad “cores” back to Adap than lugging dirty oil there.
The 2003 and newer Accords definitely have some brake issues. My 2003 Accord went in for brake service at 10,000 miles, and again at about 25,000. They had to replace the pads and replace the rotors both times. Even when I sold it after buying it out of the lease at 35,000 miles, I had a hell of a time because the right front brake was still going “squeak…squeak…squeak…” I really wish that car would have lived up to its reliable reputation, because I loved it otherwise.
I know how to do an oil change, I just don’t have the fees for disposing of the oil properly, so I’ll pay the convenience fee to have someone else do it for me.
Some places I’ve lived you actually have to have a license to do an oil change so they can ensure you’re not dumping the oil down the gutter. Not here, I don’t think, but the fact remains that I don’t want a ticket for dumping oil and I don’t want to pay the fees to dispose of it properly.
~Tasha
Save the oil in your (empty) washing detergent containers or some other suitable holder. Then when you have two or three of them sitting in the corner of the garage you can drop them off at the local service place or whoever takes that stuff. The point is; you don’t have to find a place to take the oil every time you do a change, just once a year maybe.
I’ve got a friend who uses waste oil to heat his garage so I never need to find an alternative means of disposal.
I had to get the brakes done on my 98 Civic (I even asked about it here 
) --new rotors, replace pads which had been replaced at least once before, at 120K. $400 at the dealer, $300 at the neighborhood garage.
Minimum service at the dealer (oil change and check fluids) $30. I usually go to Jiffylube instead but I have to test my dealer this time to see if they pull the same crap as last time (filling out the service form without actually checking).
Yeah, but like I mentioned upthread, I’m done with JiffyLube. I’d only save a couple bucks at JiffyLube, and they inevitably pull the stunt you’re attributing to your dealer - JiffyLube just goes down the checklist ticking off items - they don’t actually check fluid levels, wash the windows, vacuum, check the belts, and so on. My dealer does. My spin on JL is that it’s easy to underprice the competition if you don’t actually perform the work you promise.
My dealer claims they checked the spare tire pressure but the spare was buried under four tires and other items, none of which were shifted from when I loaded them just before the appt. Plus they marked my A/C at the right temp and I don’t have A/C. This time I am going to remove the spare altogether and see what they do. I ranted about it to a friend and he didn’t seem fazed at all, just took it as a given that the dealer makes stuff up. :smack:
Luckily the neighborhood guys are around the corner and can be trusted; my best friend has a long history with them and they know he referred me.