ok some back history.
2 years ago my brakes were grinding. so i take them in to a shop, they tell me it needs EVERTYHING
wheel cyl rotors hydro lines drums cals EVERYTHING ok.. total was around $800
the overall experience at this place was nto good and had a VERY odd vibe to it. so i knew i would never go back to them again.
then a year later my brakes are grinding. so i take my car to midas, and they say it needs just about EVERYTHING once again. bill was around $750
now it is 7 months after my last visit to midas with $750 worth of work there.
and GUESS WHAT
brakes are grinding. so i take it back to midas and be like WTF is going on.
they check it out and say that its being caused by leaking struts. the leaking struts are causing the front brakes to wear at VERY fast.
so then they give me an estimate for $1000 to do 4 struts 2 rotors and pads + labor
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im not a mechanic or really have much knowledge on the inner workings of cars besides basic knowledge.
can someone give me advise here?
am i being jipped? or does this whole scenario seem plausable?
thank you very much everyone.
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Creative Draft Image Manipulation Forum:::
you are getting jacked large!
go aftermarket... cheaper.. and better. IMO
or go to the dealership and the their lifetime pads.. that what i have and if you do wear them out and or damage them.. all you pay is for labour
Go get yourself some raybestos quiet stop pads and vsm rotors. Just about everyone I have seen post on the JBO that has the midas "lifetime" brakes complain about them.
It's not a hard job to do yourself either.
Have another shop check your struts. Or hell check em yourself. If they are leaking you should be able to see it.
its a very easy job to do your own brake pads and rotors. prices are way high man
checking you struts every 12,000 isn't a bad idea with city driving. the only thing I could think of is that the fronts are blown and making the front brakes work more than they should have to.
if you go in looking for why do my brakes grind so bad then .....
bummer of a birthmark Nathaniel
vs. I need pads put on the car. which you can do in an hour for $30 pads, $80 for rotors $3.99 for a C-clamp. not performance parts but stock replacements.
I drove for years (thats right, years...) on 4 bad struts. It had zero affect on my brakes. I think the midas man is full of crap.
I know I did on my 2nd gen with no problems you got a pic of you pads and rotors?
well thanx everyone so far
im in a real bind since this is my daily driver.
i dotn have time to learn or even attempt to do this by myself.
i went ahead and had them do the brakes
which came to a total of $225 for 2 rotors + labor + free pads+ labor + tax
im not really buyin the strusts deal. i havent noticed any difference in ride. when i get the car in just a lil bit i will visually insepct for myself the struts... i should be able to see leakage correct?
thanx again every1
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Creative Draft Image Manipulation Forum:::
next time I'm sure you must know someone who could give you a hand. pads and rotors should only have been about $80.00 at pep boys.
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
Yeah, its a good practice to learn how to change your break pads/rotors. The first time it'll suck but then you'll know all the ins and outs about it. One problem i've had is that (cant remember name) the little bolt would get stuck in the calipars and one pad would partially compress on the rotor giving an uneven wear. I usually go through 2 sets of break pads a year and one set of rotors. i have bad breaks.
Andrew: whaaooo two sets of pads a year!?!?! theres something not right here. we are talking about a street driving vehicle here right?
I'm hard on brakes, or at least I think I am I just did the front after 2.5 yrs and the rear will need changing late this year early next.
There may be other problems causing premature brake wear. Brakes may be dragging from stuck calipers and/or bad flexible rubber hoses. I did the front brakes with new rotors on my 2002 (base model OHV) Cavalier for 40 bucks tax included. Even if it's your daily driver you can do the work on a weekend or other day off where you have a whole day to work on it. Around here you can usually find someone working on their car right in the auto parts store parking lot. They don't seem to mind. Don't havta go far for parts haha.
God bless America.
Midas Brakes are just Duralast lifetime brakes from Autozone. (i work at autozone.) Go to autozone buy Duralast Gold Lifetime brakes prolly 27 bucks for your car. Put them on and voila. If they ever wear out autozone's warranties are unconditional take the worn suckers out and take them in for new ones.
I don't need no stinking SIG. Wait this is one.
DOH!
In Arizona I got the pads like for 20 bucks and 20 bucks per rotor. Did the whole job in about an hour. Took my time to check everything. If u have bad calipers and u have never rebuilt them, just buy them rebuilt saves u time. Don't know how much they cost, but they usually start at least 60 plus. Did they say that worn struts in the front can wearout ur brakes prematurely, its a possibility. Too much bouncing in the front end can stress out the brakes.
im curious, how would too much bouncing affect the brakes?
Peace Out!!!
i put a set of brakes on my car once since ive owned it and ive had it for 4 years. I bought it in 01 and the car is a 96. The brakes i replaced were factory. I did the new ones myself and i think pads and rotors total was like $70 for my cavalier. I did this 2 years ago so i dont remember exact cost. Car still stops great.
well midas SAYS the struts are leakign and thats what caused the premature wear.
i did call about 5 other garages and all said that bad struts COULD cause extra wear.
due to the fact that when u stop more of the weight is getting put on the front wheels from it "dipping" from lack of good struts.
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now the thing is... i dont notice ANY difference in my ride. im not bouncing or anything. so i dont see how this could be MY problem.
i needed new pads and rotors within 7 months and about 12,000 miles. mostly city driving. no symptoms of anythign except for 2 days of about %50 of the time i stop getting a bit of grinding. mid way through day 2 of this i took it in.
said rotors cant be resurfaced and the struts need replacing.
i did ask to keep all my old hardware after i had them do the brakes. so maybe ill take a pic of the rotors to let u guys see what shape they are in now. and if u think they really couldnt be resurfaced.
thanx every1
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Creative Draft Image Manipulation Forum:::
"well midas SAYS the struts are leakign and thats what caused the premature wear."
B.S. - they are shooting you a line. Worn struts can affect tire wear, but brakes?
"said rotors cant be resurfaced and the struts need replacing."
Machining rotors is usually a waste of money, they will be thinner and will warp so much
faster, you will be back in the shop in a hurry.
Must of had some bad grinding if the rotors could not be resurfaced. I changed the rotors and front pads at about 50000 miles on my 97 z24. I drove my Cavy in mostly short trips for over 4 years before I moved. They still work fine and have plenty of life left. The rear drums have the original linings on them and now the car has 83000 miles. I did replaced the rear wheel cylinders, but thats it. Bad struts will cause an increase of front brake use, but not to the point of replacing pads and rotors every year. Thats BS. You shouldn't need brake jobs done every year. I think your fronts calipers are dragging which will significantly wear out your brakes if the problem is not addressed. Basically your brakes are dragging the pads on the rotors all the time even when your not hitting the brake pedal. I bet your gas mileage and acceleration sucks too. I bet if you had the flex lines replaced, rebuilt calipers installed and your brakes bleed, the problem would go away.
69 Camaro 350, ST-10 4speed, Centerforce DF, Full Hotchkis suspension, flowmaster,
MSD ignition, Baer brakes, moser 12 bolt
96 Camaro RS Hotchkis shock tower brace, subframe connectors, trailer arms,panhard bar,
sway bars, power slot rotors, msd igintion, K@N FIPK.
97 Cavalier Z24 KYB GR2 struts, K@N filter
Sounds like the braking system needs flushing bad. Have them look at the caliper retraction also.
Tach Out Motorsport
Http://www.team-tachout.com/
Falmouth,VA
I remember many years ago, my '59 Apache pickup needed
new tie rod ends. A block away from where I worked was a
Midas shop.
So I stopped in the Midas place one evening and ask what
it would cost for two tie rod ends and an alignment.
Huh ? They quoted about 10 X what I knew the parts cost.
Turned out that they claimed the tie rod itself would need
replacing. (It had replacable ends, nobody would need
to ever replace the shaft itself.)
Never been in a Midas shop since !
if your struts are bad its not going to affect your brakes. the car is still leaning forward when stopping no matter what. if your struts are bad its gonna be more noticable. thats it. your not gonna have to press the brake pedal any harder. if your going thru brakes that fast get the rears adjusted by a real garage. keep in mind midas is an exhaust shop. they know exhaust. not all that great when it comes to stopping the car and all that stuff. ask around and see if any one knows of a good shop. usually the guys that run there own garage are the better ones to have fix your car. most of the time they wont rip you off. if they dont think something needs to be replaced they usually tell you about it and ask if you want it replaced. good luck
Think about it. When u brake there is downforced being applied to the front end. What do struts and coils do, keep the car from bouncing around. U apply the brakes so u got the car leaning forward. If ur struts are out u cant control the front end from bouncing around, this adds added stress to the brakes. Now u have a pulsating force being applied on your brakes, force, more force, force, more force. Can u really not tell me that this cant stress ur brakes and add to premature wear maybe even warp ur rotors. I know that bad struts lead to longer stopping distance. Imagine that over time on your brakes. I know thats not the whole answer for his problem, but it doesn't help his breaking situation. I think hes got a problem with the caliper sticking more than anything. I would look into that first.
