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Posted: 5/3/2024 8:17:39 PM EDT
Took an old buddy of mine to get his car fixed, he’s kinda a retired hermit type (but a cool hermit type, he’s a former state pistol champ and flies model airplanes as his only social outlet) and keeps an ancient Crown Vic he’s had since new.
The battery was giving him fits last year so I helped him get another this spring and noticed his terminals were corroded and the positive side was partially dissolved from lot-rot as he doesn’t drive it much. He was adamant that he was ok to clean up the connectors and tighten them down, so I left him to his devices. Fast forward a month and he’s calling this week me to help him out again because his “cheap Chinese battery took a shit on him!”…. I cleaned his terminals and tightened them as best I could and checked the battery voltage….. 12.67v… it fired right up. He had made arrangements to take it straight to the shop after “I jumped it for him” to get brakes, a front end, and to advise on the battery connections vs. just new cables…… Holy Fuck. They want more than $3,000! For a brake job amd suspension!! I had no idea I was this out of synch with the times, for me, $2k would have been a lot-and thank goodness I told my buddy I would change his alternator if he needed one or he may have asked for that too.. |
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Dang OP, just a replacement set of tires for my truck is 2k.
Everything cost more in clown world sir. |
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A fucking fast food kid's meal costs $8 these days. What do you think that means for auto repair work?
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Find a little shop and ask for a price. I see regular $1300 quotes for just brakes from Firestone. My shop will cost you $280+ tax for one side or the other. $560+ tax for both sides.
A home town shop that has been around for 50 or 60 years is what you seek. ETA: For a complete front end suspension package and brakes on both sides you'd be looking at $1300-$1600. Frost Alignment, Clarksville TN.. |
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wait until you see body/paint prices. boomers are the worst at this and still keep talking about stupid fucking earl schwab
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Quoted: Find a little shop and ask for a price. I see regular $1300 quotes for just brakes from Firestone. My shop will cost you $280+ tax for one side or the other. $560+ tax for both sides. A home town shop that has been around for 50 or 60 years is what you seek. ETA: For a complete front end suspension package and brakes on both sides you'd be looking at $1300-$1500... View Quote |
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Old Crown Vic is still very DIY friendly.
Now you need a Bachelors in Computer Science with a minor in Electrical Engineering, just to diagnose. |
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Define the model year of "ancient" and list what is included in "brake and suspension job". And in what condition is the car? Way too many variables here. That might be the deal of the century. Or highway robbery.
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My work pickup just had brake pads installed, I think the shop charged $650-ish. For brake pads.
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2015 Mustang GT. A/C compressor shit the bed last week. $1800 at the dealership. Not a whole lot of other choices in my area.
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We charge right at $480.00 for pads,rotors and labor for most FWD vehicles and 1/2 ton trucks with sealed bearings. 3/4 and 1 tons or packable bearings gets closer to $600.00 or more depending on the vehicle.
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Just did spark plugs on a late model Jag V8. I think the total was over $1100 to the client.
Our labor rate is $192 from $120 in 2019. I believe the dealers for highline(what I specialize in), are 300/hr. People are refusing to pay new car prices and paying whatever it costs to keep their current vehicle running. |
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Quoted: If fucking millenials and zoomers would quit electing communists maybe the sticker shock wouldn't be so bad for the grownups. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: wait until you see body/paint prices. boomers are the worst at this and still keep talking about stupid fucking earl schwab If fucking millenials and zoomers would quit electing communists maybe the sticker shock wouldn't be so bad for the grownups. Attached File |
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Without a detailed estimate it’s impossible to have an opinion on this…
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Just did this on a couple of my vehicles. I've always worked on my own shit, and current prices make me glad I can still do the work...
In the process of doing brakes (pads and rotors), rear shocks, loaded struts, NGK plugs, drive belt... on a 2011 Charger. $672 shipped from Rockauto for mid-grade or better parts, + plus a couple weekends of my time (I'm old and slow) 2018 Nissan Frontier, rotors and pads, NGK plugs, drive belt and tensioner, plenum gaskets.. about $390 |
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Quoted: Just did spark plugs on a late model Jag V8. I think the total was over $1100 to the client. Our labor rate is $192 from $120 in 2019. I believe the dealers for highline(what I specialize in), are 300/hr. People are refusing to pay new car prices and paying whatever it costs to keep their current vehicle running. View Quote And thus repair costs go up. Capitalism. |
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For and older car, $40ish for a set of front pads & around $60 a rotor. $20 for misc fluid, cleaner & grease.
Chances are, since it's sits a lot and doesn't sound well maintained, there is going to be more that'll need changed or replaced. |
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Haha I do the brake pads on my truck for about 50 bucks an hour's worth of time. Brake jobs are the biggest freaking rip off at mechanics.
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Get a local mobile mechanic. You can find them on Facebook or nextdoor
$200 labor for rotors and pads. Front. |
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Quoted: Find a little shop and ask for a price. I see regular $1300 quotes for just brakes from Firestone. My shop will cost you $280+ tax for one side or the other. $560+ tax for both sides. A home town shop that has been around for 50 or 60 years is what you seek. ETA: For a complete front end suspension package and brakes on both sides you'd be looking at $1300-$1600. Frost Alignment, Clarksville TN.. View Quote I’ve NEVER paid for a satisfactory brake job |
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Manufacturers are making usually individual parts into units. Recently replaced a clutch that was a complete unit. Flywheel, clutch cover and disc all riveted together, wasn't cheap.
Brakes are a problem for most shops. In ours it has the highest return of any repair. Noise, shaking and excessive wear. We can't do any shortcuts. Pad slaps are gone today. Systems are just heavy enough to get by. Resurface a rotor vehicle will likely be back in a month even when everything is within specs. Front end repairs run from a simple tie rod to every moving part needing replacement. Cost depends on what style the suspension is and how many parts are needed. Then the minimum age and loaded employee cost needs to be paid by someone. If an entry level know nothing employee gets $20 an hour the senior one with 25 years' experience also wants more money. |
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Originally Posted By : Old Crown Vic is still very DIY friendly. Now you need a Bachelors in Computer Science with a minor in Electrical Engineering, just to diagnose. View Quote It is, but I don’t have the time to fix my shit and his or I would do the front end myself-well, that and losing everything in a house fire means I don’t have my tools. Yeah, I was just looking at the component layout in the engine bay and was tearfully reminiscing about cars made in the 80’s. |
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I just dropped 3300 on new front pads and rotors, new brake lines, cv axle, and valve gasket....Fucked up my plans.
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Quoted: Define the model year of "ancient" and list what is included in "brake and suspension job". And in what condition is the car? Way too many variables here. That might be the deal of the century. Or highway robbery. View Quote Well, they had not even looked out the window at any point in the word order, so they definitely saw one coming. |
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I just spent a couple weeks wrenching on the girlfriend’s car while she’s recovering from surgery.
New radiator, hoses, mounts, and coolant. New front brake pads and shoes, rotors, calipers, brake fluid, struts, and tie rod ends. New serpentine belt. Rotate tires. I outsourced tire balancing and alignment to a shop with the right equipment. Estimates for everything ranged from $5,800 to over $7,000. I think I spent $1,300-1,400 in parts and labor. |
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Thank God I can work on cars, fix almost anything around the house, software dev, electrical most things, fly a plane, speak multiple languages...huh...I'm actually probably the most interesting man in the world.
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I've got seven tagged autos. No way I'd keep my rag tag fleet going if they had to go to a shop, and no way would I get the next turd back on the road.
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My wife broke my old truck last week and I'm incapacitated by osteoarthritis at the moment, so I'm about to get a hard fucking in that regard.
Oh well. That's one of the many reasons why you save money for old age. I'd rather fix it myself, but I'm not going to worry about it. |
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I changed my rear pads a few months ago. Stuff like that, that is easy to DIY is a no-brainer. Shops charging that much are charging a stupid tax. The only people who should pay that are folks who make more money in a couple of hours than what the shop charges.
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My 03 rangers 4.0 sohc finally died a 270k. I found a used 4.0 with 74k for 1900.00 compression checked w/ 90 day warranty. A local shop installed the thing for 1500.00 plus taxes. The thing runs great again, was definitely pleasantly surprised by the total cost. There are good local mechanics out there that need your business
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I recently put $4k into my 2005 GMC Canyon. Massive electrical issues. Replaced the Body Control Module, the Body Control Module Cable, the Instrument Cluster (twice), the Engine Control Module, the battery & cables, and some miscellaneous stuff to get it through inspection. It took a while to get it fixed because the dealer was ordering parts through EBay. I had just dumped $$$ into it the prior year for brakes all around (frozen calipers, scored rotors, shot pads) and front end work to pass inspection.
I looked at used trucks before putting more money into it. A later model (and nicer) truck with more miles on it than my Canyon (north of 125,000) was $25k. So I spent the money to get mine back on the road. It's mostly a farm truck. |
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Quoted: My wife broke my old truck last week and I'm incapacitated by osteoarthritis at the moment, so I'm about to get a hard fucking in that regard. Oh well. That's one of the many reasons why you save money for old age. I'd rather fix it myself, but I'm not going to worry about it. View Quote I figured that I've saved plenty of money by my own sweat, many times out of necessity. I don't |
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Quoted: My wife broke my old truck last week and I'm incapacitated by osteoarthritis at the moment, so I'm about to get a hard fucking in that regard. Oh well. That's one of the many reasons why you save money for old age. I'd rather fix it myself, but I'm not going to worry about it. View Quote Osteoarthritis is an issue now for me too. I'm a little young for it. Definitely makes working on shit harder.... |
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Daughter hit a deer in her 2023 Honda Pilot at highway speed. Doesnt look great but not like a head on either. Estimate is $22k and climbing.
Likely a total loss. |
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I just installed a 3.5” lift kit on my son’s Tacoma. New coil overs, the whole nine yards. Wonder how much I saved him? I told him prob $1200 but damn you guys have me wondering how much my skills be worth
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Quoted: Akebono for pads View Quote Just used a set of Akebono ceramic pads for my 2001 RAV4. As a former Lexus technician, I was going to buy the Toyota pads but christ they wanted like $130 my price for JUST pads. for $140 I got the Akebono pads and 2 front rotors from Amazon. Ill say, the pad material is excellent. The backing plate was painfully obviously a multi fit design. I had to file the tabs to get them to fit and move in the caliper clips. definitely had minimal contact in the bracket and frankly disappointed considering that Akebone and Advics are partially owned by Toyota. Next time, Ill just pony up for the Toyota pads and shims. |
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Quoted: I changed my rear pads a few months ago. Stuff like that, that is easy to DIY is a no-brainer. Shops charging that much are charging a stupid tax. The only people who should pay that are folks who make more money in a couple of hours than what the shop charges. View Quote My 'FORMER' mechanic used to hit me up for rear brake pads on my old van for around $125 every 30,000 miles or so. Not bad for $20 worth of parts and about 15 minutes of time. The pads weren't even worn out either. I had close to 75k on a set he put on before I changed them. |
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