I have a 2002 A6 2.7L Turbo and the "brakes worn" light just came on. I took it in to see what needed replacing and get an estimate. The shop told me that all 4 wheels needed new pads and rotors and that it would cost me just over $1200. That seems pretty extreme. I called a couple other places to get an estimate for replacing all the pads/rotors and the first two places I called gave me quotes around $800. Is that a reasonable price, or am I getting ripped off? If it's unreasonable, what should I say to get them to lower the price? (i.e. what's the cost of the pads/rotors and how long should the job take them?).
Also, I've heard that it isn't too difficult to do on your own, but I don't know if that was just for the pads or for the rotors as well. Is it something that someone with no car repair experience could handle with the right tools? Rotating my tires and putting on spares is about the extent of my experience. If it's easy, what tools would I need?
dont get fooled by that tipe of shops, they want to be rich in a 1 day, i'm sure you coulde find the mechanic who vill charge you for labor around 200$, and if you buy after market parts will cost you arround 200 to 300$ for rotors and pads front and rear. good luck
Thanks nemsiashvili. As far as buying parts, it looks like the description for the front brake pads everywhere I've found them says that they include rotors, but there's no mention for the rear brake pads. What's up with that? Do rear pads include rotors too? Do the front pads not really include rotors typically?
In the end, I paid $800 to replace pads for all 4 wheels, flush the brake fluid, machine the existing rotors, and replace the front right CV boot, which they said was leaking. Given that the previous place said the CV boot was cracked and the entire axel had to be replaced for over $800 itself, I was quite satisfied with the $90 for the new CV boot. That leaves about $710 for the other stuff. In the end, this is the cost breakdown:
$350 pads for all 4 wheels ($50 more than if I bought parts separately, from what I could find online) $160 machine all 4 rotors $60 brake fluid flush $90 new front right CV boot + labor $140 left for labor for just the brake pads (probably twice what it should be)
I don't think I did too poorly considering the original estimate was $1200 for all new pads and rotors and $800 for a new front axel at the first place, but I know this is still more expensive that it needs to be. I would have just done it myself if I had the time. I'm curious what pads SloRide found for half the cost of the prices I was seeing online.
Comments welcome, especially if one of the costs looks suspicious!
Audi A6 Quattro 2.7L Turbo Manual Transmission ~80k miles
I paid 723 w/ tax at STS for the rotors, pads, and install. Not a bad deal since it's a 50yard walk from my work but you can find blow out deals on ebay for parts below cost. Brembo drilled rotors front and rear for 180 and ceramic pads for $80. If your not lazy you can save $90 labor. I guess I wished I went that route.
I thought a brake pad set was for a single wheel? If that's the case, the links above would come out to $230 before tax. If a brake pad set is for both wheels either front or rear then the price comes out closer to $115 plus tax. I'm curious because if they do come as a 2-wheel set for both front or both rear, then I got ripped off more by the repair shop as they charged me twice for front and twice for rear.
Other than that, I have so far been pleased with the quality of the work at least. The brakes seem fine and don't squeek. I was informed that without buying new rotors and just machining the existing rotors, there was an 85% or greater chance that they'd squeek really badly because the rotors are iron and not steel and for some reason that means they'll squeek when machined. I'm still not sure if that's total BS, or if it's true. There was also a slight wobble during acceleration in low gears before (primarily in the morning when I head to work). I figured this was due to the broken CV boot and with that repaired, the wobble does seem to have gone away.
< Message edited by bobthe -- 7/16/2007 11:15:24 AM >
yes, a set of front pads includes 4 pads(2 for each front wheel). I used to work at tire kingdom and when brake jobs were done, we would mark the price up on the parts A LOT.....if you had bought aftermarket pads and rotors, it should have cost about $200-$275 depending on what quality pads you got. $800 seems rather high, but then again, every repair seems high these days.
Posts: 669
Joined: 9/8/2006 From: Holland MI Status: offline
That doesn't look horribly out of line for what was done. You might be able to find cheaper pads on special on the internet, but sometimes you can't get both front/rear and when you need them, you need them. I look at brake work as = to brain surgery....I don't try to find the cheapest.
I just had the rotors turned on my 2002 VUE down in SC and it cost me $30/rotor, so the higher price seems reasonable. And I had the brake fluid flushed about a month ago for just under $100. That should make you feel better.
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Brake pad/rotor replacement cost - 
but for future refenrence maybe
RE: Brake pad/rotor replacement cost - 
