$870 for front brake job?
- Thread starter bhicks
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Replacing pads and rotors does not require bleeding the brakes. But if it did, my scanner will usually suffice.
Indy Mechanic
^ the reason I mentioned it: Presumably, the OP's brake fluid has never been flushed...or at least given the condition of his front brakes its been more than a few years since doing so. Now, with the brake work, would be an opportune time to completely flush and renew the brake fluid...since brake fluid can accumulate water vapor over time...thereby potentially diminishing braking performance and introducing corrosion to an expensive braking system.
Normally I'm on a 2-year brake fluid flush for the rigs I intend to keep. And given the only efficient method I am aware of for purging the old potentially contaminated fluid from the ABS circuit utilizes an expensive SST...just trying to bring a little awareness to his, et al, game.
Normally I'm on a 2-year brake fluid flush for the rigs I intend to keep. And given the only efficient method I am aware of for purging the old potentially contaminated fluid from the ABS circuit utilizes an expensive SST...just trying to bring a little awareness to his, et al, game.
Can we not do it with tech stream? I've been meaning to flush my brake fluid but if I can't do it without a tool, I'm going to have to fork it over to Toyota.
I've often looked at the ABS ECU page of TechStream but never had an extra set of hands available to bleed and actuate solenoids together, so haven't done the deed. The SST spressomon refers to is a high dollar box of trickery that plugs into the ABS controller under the hood, it's not the "hand held tester" aka TechStream unfortunately. Anyone who has seen/used the ABS SST and TechStream care to compare and contrast?
You can still bleed and changeout your brake fluid by flushing through, it's getting the fluid out of the ABS valve block that's not normally connected to the main brake system that presents a challenge.
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How about engage abs a few after the initial flush? Won't that cycle the fluid? Not perfect but better than the old fluid in the system.
That makes sense. I think every two years is more often than needed but e little extra maintenance never hurts.
You can generally just gravity bleed the brakes if you keep the reservoir full and not really worry about the abs. Just don't let it run dry.
On certain old GM cars even the factory scantool wouldn't bleed the abs. But there was a gravel parking lot nearby. That worked. But for fluid replacement it shouldn't really be necessary.
Usually OEM Toyota rotors have a ton of thickness to them and can just be machined. Machining rotors and replacing pads on a 100 series at a lexus dealer is around 330-450$ depending if you need new shims and hardware or not. Rotors are about 200 bucks a piece for OEM and rarely need replaced because they are good quality(by far better than brembos I bet) and should last a long time with just machining. Tell your dealer you want a price for new pads and machining rotors. If you do it yourself, you may save some money, but if you screw it up it could cost far more. Example: A lady's son did an oil change on her nice 2 year old lexus to "save her some money". Lady was taking the old oil to a place where it could be disposed of. Oil spilled onto lexus carpet (about 2quarts worth or more), oil pooled up underneath carpet and got everywhere. Did about 1800 bucks worth of damage to interior-expensive oil change indeed. Point is, if you do it yourself and screw it up, its on your hands. If a dealer or shop screws it up its on their hands and no additional charge to you.(Unless you get a really bad shop or dealer)
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I thought Brembo was the OEM manufacture? Maybe I was totally off on that. I didn't actually do my homework on that fact. I just took someone's word on it from this forum.
While you could, you're not flushing the whole volume so not eliminating all debris or moisture. An intermediate method is to change what you can and then go actuate all the ABS circuits (the fun way, on gravel doing dumb stuff), and then repeat a few times. This causes the ABS solenoids to fire, flushing out more of the system without the SST or the dealer fee (also probably not as thorough). Fluid should be on a 2 year change cycle, more important on older vehicles where rubber wear debris is more likely present.
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Just for a reference point, here is the receipt from my recent brake job that came out to $713.20. I just picked the truck up today and they replaced pads and rotors up front, and pads, rotors, and calipers in the rear. Within a day the metal scratch tabs began grinding and it ended up destroying the rear calipers
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@SmoothLC Yup, new calipers in the rear. They began whining just a little Friday night and Saturday morning I planned on driving it to Oaklawn horse racing track about 1.5hrs away. I pulled out of my driveway went about 40yds and immediately turned around after hearing the horrendous sound. After reviewing the receipt a couple times I realized he cut me a heck of a deal! The guy that owns the shop is a long time friend and extremely skilled mechanic who even offered to let me take the truck home today and come back to pay tomorrow as I initially had no way of getting the car I borrowed back to its owner. Honestly I have no idea where the labor charges are......I'm not sure if that's marked as the "Rear Brakes - 199.95" or what - that seems like the appropriate price for 2 new pads though. But I expected over $1000 for all of it so when I saw it was just over $700 I didn't argue and signed the papers
Quote on Lexus LX570 from Lexus dealer. Rear brake service $307.00. New pads, resurface, etc. Plus they give me a free loaner for the day, normally a new ES350 or RX350 and I never have to refuel it. Local Toyota dealer wanted $330.00 for the same job and no loaner.
Maybe my next one (100/200) will have to be a Lexus...
If you do it will cost you more in the long run because the damn things alway stop at 5 star hotels and restaurants and up scale malls. Just saying.
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So I decided to call my local mechanic who has worked on many of my vehicles and I fully trust. Used to own a built 93 80 series. He quoted me $220 for the front brakes but that was with me providing the parts. I feel like that is a great deal. I'm dropping it off tomorrow. Also gonna have him baseline a few items while he is working on it. I also called the dealer today to see what an AHC flush would cost. They quoted me over $400. that seems insane. Screw that!!! I'm just going to stick with the fluid that's in there and if the system start to fail then I will just yank it. Not worth the cost or hassle in maintenance. Stadard springs and shocks are fine with me. Cheaper, simplier, and less headache.
