I'm starting to get a little bit of a squeal when I brake too heavily. I'm presuming it's time to change the pads. Does anyone know estimated dealer charge to change pads? Perhaps I should stop being lazy and do it myself.

 

Should be very easy to do yourself, just have those rotors turned while they're off. It takes longer cuz you don't have an air impact gun, but after the day is over, you've saved yourself $200 easy on labor.

 

Yeah that's what I'd normally do- but I've been INCREDIBLY lazy lately. I guess I won't have a choice since my credit card is maxed out for the month on school books. I can't pay jag dealer for labor so I HAVE to do it myself.[>:]

 

Jaguar is verrrrry expensive on brake jobs. They toss the rotors even if their good and replace them. I got a quote for 680.00 for the fronts only on my XJ6 from jaguar and any shop can do the brakes. I took it to a local shop and they did them for 89.00!

 

Yeah I didn't think it was that much to do just the pads. The rotors are fine, I had assumed it'd only be 60-75 to get the job done. I'll check this weekend to see if I can set up a job.

 

I got a bid from a couple of repair shows (not dealers) and they both said $550 to $600 per axle! WTF?! $1,200 to get a brake job?! Both said the rotors have to be replaced with the pads.

 

I just did my brakes last night. Took me 45 minutes to to the fronts.

Popped wheels off. Stuck screwdriver in the caliper hole and mushed the pad/piston back into the caliper. Got out the 12mm wrench and got the calipers off. Got out 15mm deep socket and had the calipers mounts off. Banged the disc off with my hand. New rotor on. Sprayed with brake claner. Put mount back on. Put new ceramic pads on. Greased back of them with copper. Slip caliper on. Wheel on.

Do other side.

Total cost? $40 a rotor. $109 for ceramic pads. $5 for brake cleaner. Had some copper about. 1 hour of my time and $200. Rears are just pads only and they were $90 for ceramics. I already have the wind in tool.. Lots of brake cleaner and copper left. They should be an hour too. Might do those Saturday morning.

Total cost of brakes all 'round excluding rear rototrs since they last nearly forever? $300. 2 hours of my time. Easy as pie. Next up is the front sway bar bushings. Those will be easy too.

 

Nothing like the feeling of DIY is there? That's why I love cars!! Did all 4r's on mine too! All the rotors were replaced just before I bought the car by the dealer but the stock Brembo pads were super dusty and noisy so off they went.
Now no more noise and no more dust for about 1 hour and 150.00.

 

Cosworth & Bad Mojo, could one of you swing by Dallas and give me a hand?

I think I read somewhere that the rear brakes required a special tool? Is that right? Cosworth - why not replace the rotors on the rear?

One mechanic I talked to called to find out the cost of the parts and he told me thery were expensive. He gave me the lowest quote and it was still high due to the parts. Is that becuase he is checking the cost of OEM?

It sounds like the brake job is pretty straight forward from your descriptions so it seems like I could buy the parts and get a decent mechanic to do the work for me. I changed pads once on an Alfa RomeroI owned but that was some 20 years ago!

 

I'm planning on doing the brakes myself when I get back from some training. Akebono Euro's and Magnum Ultra rotors all around. Should be close to 500 for parts and I'm pretty handy in the garage.

 

Guess I'm going to end up doing them next weekend. Its a new month, and I can't get my parents to do it till the 18th. I don't know that the pads will last much longer, so it'll more than likely go metal to metal before then. But I HATE the shop out here on base where I work at. I need to stop putting it off. I mean, it won't be hard to go to Autozone and take an hour or two out of my day.