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$990 to have wheel bearing and brakes done

rga

rga

Senior member
I drive a 2009 Volkswagen Golf. I got a quote today for CAD $990 including labour to have the brakes and the driver side rear wheel bearing done. Is this estimate about right? Thanks kindly. I'm about ready to do the brakes anyway because they haven't been done since I purchased the car. I just want to know if the price is right.
 
I did my wheel bearings and brakes with a friend for less than CAD $250. Got the parts from ebay and did it myself. That quote seems right out to lunch. Ask for a price break down and compare with other places as well as doing it yourself.
 
Demoralized said:
I did my wheel bearings and brakes with a friend for less than CAD $250. Got the parts from ebay and did it myself. That quote seems right out to lunch. Ask for a price break down and compare with other places as well as doing it yourself.
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Considering this is a quote from a service center i'd say that is pretty spot on. I'd actually expect it to be a bit more. If OP does not have any mechanical knowledge a DIY job is not an option.
 
There is no justifiable reason for a brake job to cost more than $200 per axle.

Wheel bearing components are inexpensive; you are mainly paying then for the labor.

Others here should be able to determine how long it might take on for that.
 
cabri said:
There is no justifiable reason for a brake job to cost more than $200 per axle.

Wheel bearing components are inexpensive; you are mainly paying then for the labor.

Others here should be able to determine how long it might take on for that.
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Depending on the vehicle, pads and rotors can easily be more than $200. When you factor in the OP is in Canada, I am not surprised at the cost.
 
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cabri said:
There is no justifiable reason for a brake job to cost more than $200 per axle.
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OE parts for his car (in USD):

Front rotors: $65 (each)
Front pads: $65 (set)
Rear rotors: $30 (each)
Rear pads: $40 (set)

So that's $195 in parts alone for the front brakes and $100 in parts for the rear brakes.

You can get the parts for less if you're not going OEM, but with quality pads and rotors it's very, very, very easy to exceed $200 per axle when doing just the brakes.

ZV
 
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Thanks guys. There's a lot of good info here. I don't have the space, tools or knowledge to do even the brakes myself, so I'm stuck getting these done at the shop. I also want to hold on to this vehicle for a while, so I'm willing to spend a little bit of cash now so that the car lasts.

The vehicle is six years old and has 126,000km (78,000mi), and has not had the brakes done. Does this seem about right to have the brakes done, and for a wheel bearing to have been worn out?
 
Get a second opinion and estimate. It never hurts and even when I had my shop I wrote up my estimates so people could get a 2nd opinion. I was honest and fair priced so if someone could beat my estimate or they wanted someone else then so be it; that's life.

The front wheel bearing on that car is not to hard, does require a triple square tool but that's the biggest issue some non European techs may have with it. If they do not know what a triple square is then ask more questions to make sure they know what to do.

But as Zen said depending on the parts they use it can add up real fast. Name brand front wheel bearing is over $100 in the US and generic ones are around $60, I'm sure a dealer bearing could cost double. Brake pads can be had for less than $20 or over $100, average is in the $30-40ish range. etc...

Then there is labor. What is the average rate per hour and how many hours are they charging?
 
HybridSquirrel said:
Considering this is a quote from a service center i'd say that is pretty spot on. I'd actually expect it to be a bit more. If OP does not have any mechanical knowledge a DIY job is not an option.
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From a service center that's not a bad price. I was quoted $1k for a full brake job on my wife's Civic from a dealer (with discounted labor), so $990 for all the brakes and a wheel bearing seems like a reasonable price, especially on a brand known for more-expensive-than-average repairs.
 
JCH13 said:
From a service center that's not a bad price. I was quoted $1k for a full brake job on my wife's Civic from a dealer (with discounted labor), so $990 for all the brakes and a wheel bearing seems like a reasonable price, especially on a brand known for more-expensive-than-average repairs.
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Yup, especially when you factor in Canadian prices vs US prices.
 
rga said:
Thanks guys. There's a lot of good info here. I don't have the space, tools or knowledge to do even the brakes myself, so I'm stuck getting these done at the shop. I also want to hold on to this vehicle for a while, so I'm willing to spend a little bit of cash now so that the car lasts.

The vehicle is six years old and has 126,000km (78,000mi), and has not had the brakes done. Does this seem about right to have the brakes done, and for a wheel bearing to have been worn out?
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Depends how much and how hard you drive. I replaced the front brakes and rear tires on my Genesis at about 25k miles.

My older impreza, I changed the front brakes and all 4 tires around 55k. I think also replaced the front rotors at that time too because the pads had worn unevenly and the rotors were in bad shape. So odds are, at 78k, it's time for a full brake job. I was fortunate enough to have all the tools and ability to the job myself, for both my cars (minus the Gene tires).

Unsure about wheel bearing. My impreza's front right bearing went at around 85k, but YMMV.
 
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I'm from north of 401, you can get all the parts(brakes all 4 of them and a bearing) from local less than $300 and a shop to do it for around $200. if you need hook up let me know.
 
rga said:
The vehicle is six years old and has 126,000km (78,000mi), and has not had the brakes done. Does this seem about right to have the brakes done, and for a wheel bearing to have been worn out?
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Brakes depend almost completely on driving style. I put 100k on a car without touching the brakes. No noise, no vibrations.

Wheel bearings are a wear item. How fast the wear out is almost completely based on design/manufacturing and luck 🙂
 
NutBucket said:
Wheel bearings are a wear item. How fast the wear out is almost completely based on design/manufacturing and luck 🙂
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And how many track days you've done. 😉

Pads on my Accord are 100,000 mile+ parts even with mostly mountain driving.

OP, that's a very fair price for the amount of labor and parts, especially for a Volkswagen.
 
cabri said:
There is no justifiable reason for a brake job to cost more than $200 per axle.
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Automobile Magazine reported that the GT-R brake job is $7346!

"22,872 miles The brake squeal is unbearable, and our dealer tells us that it's time for replacement. Total cost for pads, discs, fluid and labor? A staggering $7346!"
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Needless to say, I try to drive without using the brakes. 😀
 
jlee said:
Depending on the vehicle, pads and rotors can easily be more than $200. When you factor in the OP is in Canada, I am not surprised at the cost.
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Pretty much this 😛. It was 750$ just for rotors and pads on my Ford Expedition. But those are also 13.5" rotors 😀. I got the parts from rock auto and then paid a buddy 80$ to change them (famous for Expeditions with 80K on brakes, they have to be cooked off).
 
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the bearing on the rear is a press in; most times you get the whole hub assembly. autozone was $140 us for that part.
take that off the top of his $990 quote and it looks OK, IMO.
 
dont forget it probably includes a realignment as well.
I'd say considering the age of the car, the location its driven in, and all thats being done that its not at all out to lunch.
You probably already have some tough'n'rusty bolts under there.
Wheel bearings need to be pressed out and in.
Parts alone its close to $300, so $600 labor is not too out to lunch because it will probably take two guys 3 hours to do that all.
 
rga said:
I drive a 2009 Volkswagen Golf. I got a quote today for CAD $990 including labour to have the brakes and the driver side rear wheel bearing done. Is this estimate about right? Thanks kindly. I'm about ready to do the brakes anyway because they haven't been done since I purchased the car. I just want to know if the price is right.
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Please give up a break down on the parts cost and the labor cost. The price seems too high. Even throwing in the wheel bearing its too high. Front disk brakes take about half an hour per side for an experienced mechanic. The rear brakes about an hour per side, that a 3 hours of labor plus the time for the wheel bearing.
 
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