Brake price for Daughter's car

[oilboy123]

96 Ford Taurus rear disc brakes. Probably needs rotors, and of course ceramic pads.
She lives near Portland, OR and I live north of Seattle.

What would be a fair shop price assuming that's all it needs? They are original rotors that have never been turned, car has 140K. She had knee surgery and a friend drove her home before realizing the parking brake was on. I'm concerned because she hears grinding, even when not applying the brakes. She thinks maybe the grinding started when she was driving down a gravel road. She said she did not hear it until driving down the road. I don't know if I want to chance her driving to me because not knowing if something will let loose.

She claims she does not know anyone who could even look at the brakes and tell me how bad they look? I would feel better knowing she could make it to see me if I knew how things looked.
I would prefer to do the job myself, at least it will be done right.

 

[spasm3]

At 14 years of age i would replace the calipers and brake lines. possibly the rotors too. I would guess its gonna be in the $350 range.

 

[Quattro Pete]

On line, a set of rear ceramic pads and rotors will cost you about $120. Figure the shop price will be about 20% higher, so $145. Add about 1 hr of labor @ $60, so about $200 total.

If the brake fluid hasn't been changed in a while, you may want her to get that done also.

 

[meangreen01]

I wouldn't change out the calipers during a routine maintenance pad/rotor/fluid job unless I had good reason to believe they're faulty.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
At 14 years of age i would replace the calipers and brake lines. possibly the rotors too. I would guess its gonna be in the $350 range.


My 96 Saturn has original calipers and they are working fine..
I wouldn't touch unless they are leaking or seizing.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Quattro Pete is about right on the price of rotors and pads for the rear of Taurus, it should cost about $120-140 online and about 20-25% higher at the shop, plus $60-70 for labor so that the total should be in the range of $200-250, and add another $40-50 for flushing brake fluid.

No need to replace calipers and brake lines if they are working, my '94 LS400 with 250+k miles has original OEM front and rear calipers and brake lines.

 

[Billbert]

It's gonna be real hard to find a shop that will offer any kind of warranty on a brake job using calipers that are that old. I can tell you that when I was working, I would have declined to do the job w/o replacing calipers also.

 

[meangreen01]

Originally Posted By: Billbert
It's gonna be real hard to find a shop that will offer any kind of warranty on a brake job using calipers that are that old. I can tell you that when I was working, I would have declined to do the job w/o replacing calipers also.


Would you mind elaborating more as to why?

 

[oilboy123]

Originally Posted By: meangreen01
Originally Posted By: Billbert
It's gonna be real hard to find a shop that will offer any kind of warranty on a brake job using calipers that are that old. I can tell you that when I was working, I would have declined to do the job w/o replacing calipers also.


Would you mind elaborating more as to why?


I think he means because they could seize up. I did replace the left one about six years ago. I'm really leaning on trying to get her to come up here.

 

[meangreen01]

Reading his post all he refers to is the age of the caliper. I'm curious if I'm missing something because I'm not aware of people replacing calipers on an age/mileage basis or as part of a preventative maintenance routine.

As to your daughter's car, who knows? She may have a seized caliper on top of needing pads/rotors. You or the mechanic will know when you dig in.

 

[PandaBear]

I guess it depends on where you are, the caliper might rust. If Portland OR doesn't snow, i.e. like here in the SF bay, the caliper can last a lot time. We have a Corolla still on the original caliper and rotor at 190k and 15 years.

For a Taurus get better pads, the car is heavy and IMO anything short of performance street pads (i.e. Hawk HPS) would be dangerous even for grandma. I put that on my dad's taurus, and he said the car "feels" a lot safer.

 

[AlienBug]

Originally Posted By: oilboy123
I think he means because they could seize up. I did replace the left one about six years ago. I'm really leaning on trying to get her to come up here.


How far are you leaning on her to drive with unsafe brakes? Is your daughter perhaps the only person in America without a cell phone camera?

 

[Johnny248]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
On line, a set of rear ceramic pads and rotors will cost you about $120. Figure the shop price will be about 20% higher, so $145. Add about 1 hr of labor @ $60, so about $200 total.

If the brake fluid hasn't been changed in a while, you may want her to get that done also.


Labor rates must be higher in Michigan. Not many places will do brake jobs for $60-70 labor anymore believe it or not.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: meangreen01
I wouldn't change out the calipers during a routine maintenance pad/rotor/fluid job unless I had good reason to believe they're faulty.


I have seen calipers work great until you push them back in to install new pads, then a few miles later they seize or stick.
At fourteen years old i would replace them and not worry about going back in to replace them. Its worth it to me to be " once and done" Especially if its his daughters car and he is not close by to fix it again. If you have a caliper drag and it gets really hot you will ruin the rotor, the pads, and possibly at that age the liquid grease will run out of the sealed bearings and they will fail shortly after=Expensive. Cheaper to just replace and not worry.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Johnny248
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
On line, a set of rear ceramic pads and rotors will cost you about $120. Figure the shop price will be about 20% higher, so $145. Add about 1 hr of labor @ $60, so about $200 total.

If the brake fluid hasn't been changed in a while, you may want her to get that done also.


Labor rates must be higher in Michigan. Not many places will do brake jobs for $60-70 labor anymore believe it or not.

I was just guessing. The local BMW indy shops around here charge about $90/hour, so I thought the domestics are cheaper since there is more of them. But even if they do charge $60/hour, they can easily tell you that it's a 1.5hr job, not 1h.

 

[bradepb]

How bout do what I do with my kids, go there check it out and if drivable trade cars ,take it home ,fix it and bring it back. If you have to have it done near her you can oversee. Kind of a pita but if you want it done cheaper and DIY it works.

 

[mechtech2]

A chain brake place may be very good.
A dealer may be bad.
Who can tell in advance?
I'd look for sales at specialized brake shops, then go there.
If it needs more than new rotors and pads, ask them to call you first before replacing everything. New rotors are preferable to cut ones - the price may not be that much different.
Be aware the fronts may need some attention, too.

 

[M1Accord]

Off topic but I hate letting people drive my car for this very reason. Most people are too stupid or lazy to set parking brake so they won't release it when they drive someone else car. This is worse for cars with parking brake located where other pedals are.

I would go to a chain brake place for this and get pads and rotors put on. That should cost a few hundreds dollars, which is high comparing to the cost of the car itself. But you should not drive around with bad brakes or tires.

 

[Scienceman]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
you should not drive around with bad brakes or tires.

Agreed.

 

[spasm3]

let us know what you do and what the cost is?