3rd Jun 2010, 19:50
"First, $700 was for an ENTIRE brake job because they were all warped, scraping and even the calipers were shot..."
I certainly don't question the sincerity of the commenter, but as a mechanic I ALWAYS question the sincerity of any dealership or shop that tells a customer that ALL FOUR rotors AND ALL FOUR calipers are "warped" or "shot" at the same time. I was having dinner this evening with a dealership service tech friend of mine, and we were talking about the fact that car owners DESPERATELY need to learn how to at least CHECK such things as brakes themselves. The likelihood of ALL the rotors, calipers and pads "going" at once on any car (foreign, domestic or Martian) is virtually nil. It just doesn't happen. It is always good practice to replace the rotors and pads at EACH END of the car as a pair, but this is not true of calipers.
Also, front pads generally wear out FAR before the rear pads because the brunt of braking is born by the front wheels. Rear pads on imports generally last 5,000 to 10,000 miles longer than the front pads, and on domestics the rear pads can last 10,000 to 30,000 miles longer than the front.
Shops and dealers LOVE to make extra money by telling people they need all 4 at once, but under normal driving/braking conditions you can usually go at least a year longer on the rear pads. I never do all 4 wheels at once. On average I go at least 2 years longer on the rear pads, so that's two years of money wasted if I discard perfectly good rear pads just to make a dealer or shop richer. I've never changed the rear pads on ANY car I owned earlier than 100,000 miles.
I realize dealerships and shops are in business to earn money, but most car owners, especially in these economic times need to save every penny possible. It would be an exceptionally good investment to learn how to check items on your car yourself. Checking brake pads, rotors and calipers is simply and easy, and can be done in less than half an hour. Even replacing the pads yourself is very simple on nearly all modern cars.
Any time a dealer or shop tells someone they need ALL of ANY system replaced, it is very suspect. A sweet little old lady friend of mine took her car in today because her headlights had stopped working on her expensive luxury car.
The dealership told her ALL the headlight bulbs and BOTH driving lamps were burned out, as well as the fuse. She got a bill for over $400. I KNOW the driving lights and headlights on that car are all on the SAME FUSE, so I KNOW the dealer just installed a 15-cent fuse, billed her over $400 and laughed all the way to the bank. This sort of thing is very common, and it costs the consumer BILLIONS every year. A repair manual and a set of wrenches can be a wonderful way to save thousands for any car owner.
2nd Jun 2010, 11:24
Sorry you got a rare bad GM car and a shop that duped you into thousands in unnecessary "repairs". Our last GM cost us $17 in repairs before being sold at 85,000 miles. The one before that cost us NOTHING in repairs in a quarter million miles. Our current Envoy has 90,000 miles and has yet cost us ZERO in repairs and not even required a brake job.
As for your wonderful Japanese SUV, we test-drove a Toyota Highlander before buying the Envoy. It had interior trim pieces falling off, defective brakes and not enough power to safely merge onto a freeway (and that was with the V-6). We kissed the ground and gave thanks for our lives after getting it back to the dealer's lot, then drove as fast as we could (in our safe and solid Ford) to a GM dealer and bought the Envoy. We've never regretted it. We prefer safety and reliability to Japanese ad hype.