About how much should 4 rotors and new brake pads cost?

[DPK]

I have a 1990 Toyota Camry Wagon and it needs 4 new rotors and brake pads. About how much should this cost me to get done with parts and labor?

 

[funboy6942]

If rotors need to be replaced then 400+

If you do the work which is not really all that hard to do you will cut that in half and then some for about half a days worth of work since you may have never done it before. I would pick up a chiltons automotive manual found at any parts store on your car and you can see how easy it is for you to do yourself 🙂

Brakes, tunes ups and belt changes are all easy things most people without skills can do on their own and can save alot of money by doing it themselves.

 

[DPK]

So if I can build a PC it shouldn't be to hard to replace the rotors myself with a manual? I will need to by a decent jack though. Looks like they cost about $100.

 

[jlee]

You have rear discs?

(cheap) rotors for my '98 Corolla are about 25 bucks apiece..I could pay 80+ for really nice ones, though..pads, anywhere from $20-50/set. You should be able to do it yourself for under $200..

 

[funboy6942]

If you can build a computer you shouldnt have any troubles. You dont need a fancy jack but a halfway decent one from wal mart with a set of jackstands ($20-$25) A decent set of tools. Can get a 100+ set a sears for under $100 and the manual and you will be set.

Yes the tools and stuff cost you money now but it will still be less if you do it yourself even with the tool purchase AND keep in mind you will have the manual and tools to be able to tackle what ever else comes up in the future!

Please feel free to pm or email me I will help you out in anyway I can. if you live close I would be even hapier to come to your home and point you in the right direction 🙂

But go to the parts store. Most manuals are already opened so thumb throught it. It will show you with pictures tep by step and what tools you will need. You will see it is not complicated at all. If you can turn a screwdriver you wont have problems. Aside of a set of tools you will need a c-clamp to push the caliper back in so make sure to get one while you are there. Once you do a job well done the feeling you did it yourself will be priceless and the amount of knowledge you will get from this as well will be priceless.

 

[DingDingDao]

There are a couple of things moochadime hasn't touched on.

1) You will need to change the brake fluid, and bleed the brake lines. You can do this with a brake bleeder, or another way to do this is to pull the brake line away from the caliper and pump the brakes until the fluid flows without bubbles. You'll end up wasting some brake fluid, but it's the only way I know of to bleed the lines without a proper bleeder.

2) Don't forget to properly bed the brake pads, or you'll end up with uneven wear and a) shortened life on your pads and b) warped rotors. There are a couple of techniques for bedding brake pads:

--slow method: brake easy (nothing more than 75% braking pressure) for the first 200 miles or so. Obviously, if you have to brake hard, you have to, just try not to do it all the time.
--quicker method: do this at night so you won't cause an accident. Drive down a straight, level road at about 40 miles an hour, and brake hard to a slow roll (~5 mph). Repeat 8-10 times. This will probably burn off a small amount of pad, but it will effectively bed your pads in a very short amount of time.

 

[psiu]

I've done it. Not too hard. Although trying to get the rotor off a friend's Dakota once took 3 of us about 4 or 5 hours. Eventually it was my wife who managed to get it loosened (she got mad with the rubber mallet and pretty much beat the hell out of the thing).

Find a Chilton or Haynes manual, read through it first, look under the car and get an idea what you're going to be doing.

Shouldn't need to spend $100 on the jack. Remember the jackstands are going to be holding the car up, not the jack--it just has to lift it up so you can put them under it.

Good luck :beer:

Wait.....nevermind the :beer:, have a instead.

 

[DPK]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Should be fun.

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: DingDingDao
There are a couple of things moochadime hasn't touched on.

1) You will need to change the brake fluid, and bleed the brake lines. You can do this with a brake bleeder, or another way to do this is to pull the brake line away from the caliper and pump the brakes until the fluid flows without bubbles. You'll end up wasting some brake fluid, but it's the only way I know of to bleed the lines without a proper bleeder.

2) Don't forget to properly bed the brake pads, or you'll end up with uneven wear and a) shortened life on your pads and b) warped rotors. There are a couple of techniques for bedding brake pads:

--slow method: brake easy (nothing more than 75% braking pressure) for the first 200 miles or so. Obviously, if you have to brake hard, you have to, just try not to do it all the time.
--quicker method: do this at night so you won't cause an accident. Drive down a straight, level road at about 40 miles an hour, and brake hard to a slow roll (~5 mph). Repeat 8-10 times. This will probably burn off a small amount of pad, but it will effectively bed your pads in a very short amount of time.

Where did you get your skills man???
You dont need to bleed the brakes or change all the fluid after doing a brake job UNLESS he replaced a brake line or has a leak in the system. If he was to bleed the brakes you do not remove the line from the caliper or brake cylinder. That will cause air to get into each of them. The proper way to bleed is using the bleader valve located on each caliper or cylinder. You can gravity bleed where you open it and let gravity take over OR 2 person it where one pumps up on the pedal holds it and you turn the valve letting the air out, close the valve, then pump again till no more air comes out.

But your changing pads and rotors and you do not need to empty your system of fluid christ he will have to bleed the master cyclinder then as well and that can be very complicated.

As for the seating the brakes your sort of right but dont need to go through all of that. Just drive the car normal. If you normally brake hard all the time then yes your going to warp your rotors no matter if you have new brakes or not. You just need nice gentle stops letting friction take over and you can get 100K out of a set of brakes. I cant recall the last time I had to replace the brakes on my own car to be honest.

If I was new to this and saw what you wrote I wouldnt tackle it 😛 But I did forget one extreamly important thing. After you are done DO NOT MOVE THE CAR untill you sit in park and pump the pedal back up. Because you pushed all the calipers in they will not be touching the rotor and you need to pump the pedal before moving the car or you will no thave any brakes at all untill you do. by then you will be out into the street before they catch.

 

[DingDingDao]

Originally posted by: moochadime

Originally posted by: DingDingDao
There are a couple of things moochadime hasn't touched on.

1) You will need to change the brake fluid, and bleed the brake lines. You can do this with a brake bleeder, or another way to do this is to pull the brake line away from the caliper and pump the brakes until the fluid flows without bubbles. You'll end up wasting some brake fluid, but it's the only way I know of to bleed the lines without a proper bleeder.

2) Don't forget to properly bed the brake pads, or you'll end up with uneven wear and a) shortened life on your pads and b) warped rotors. There are a couple of techniques for bedding brake pads:

--slow method: brake easy (nothing more than 75% braking pressure) for the first 200 miles or so. Obviously, if you have to brake hard, you have to, just try not to do it all the time.
--quicker method: do this at night so you won't cause an accident. Drive down a straight, level road at about 40 miles an hour, and brake hard to a slow roll (~5 mph). Repeat 8-10 times. This will probably burn off a small amount of pad, but it will effectively bed your pads in a very short amount of time.

Where did you get your skills man???
Ypu dont need to bleed the brakes after doing a brake job UNLESS he replaced a brake line or has a leak in the system. If he was to bleed the brakes you do not remove the line from the caliper or brake cylinder. That will cause air to get into each of them. The proper way to bleed is using the bleader valve located on each caliper or cylinder. You can gravity bleed where you open it and let gravity take over OR 2 person it where one pumps up on the pedal holds it and you turn the valve letting the air out, close the valve, then pump again till no moreair comes out.

But your changing pads and rotors and you do not need to empty you system of fluid christ he will have to bleed the master cyclinder then as well and that can be very complicated.

As for the seating the brakes your sort of right but dont need to go through all of that. Just drive the car normal. If you normally brake hard all the time the ys your going to warp your rotors no matter if you have new brakes or not. You just need noce gentle stops all the time and you can get 100K out of a set of brakes.

If I was new to this and saw what you wrote I wouldnt tackle it 😛

lol. Sorry not trying to make it sound difficult. I've changed rotors and pads before, and IMHO I would not do a four-corner pad/rotor swap without changing the brake fluid. Being that you're a mechanic, I'm sure you're better informed than I am. :beer:

 

[whoiswes]

Originally posted by: CadetLee
You have rear discs?

(cheap) rotors for my '98 Corolla are about 25 bucks apiece..I could pay 80+ for really nice ones, though..pads, anywhere from $20-50/set. You should be able to do it yourself for under $200..

that's exactly what i would have said...

Originally posted by: DingDingDao
lol. Sorry not trying to make it sound difficult. I've changed rotors and pads before, and IMHO I would not do a four-corner pad/rotor swap without changing the brake fluid. Being that you're a mechanic, I'm sure you're better informed than I am. :beer:

i wouldn't change my fluid either - modern brake fluid doesn't need to be changed nearly as often, nor is it in the owner's best interest to do so. sure, if you have the skills, you could change the fluid every time you change out the pads (or rotors). but to tell a complete novice to do so is irresponsible - he doesn't NEED new brake fluid, he needs new rotors and pads.

don't give him more work that he already has - he can tackle the lines next time around.

sorry if this sounds harsh - i can't tell if that last comment is sarcastic or not... :laugh:

 

[zixxer]

Originally posted by: DingDingDao
There are a couple of things moochadime hasn't touched on.

1) You will need to change the brake fluid, and bleed the brake lines. You can do this with a brake bleeder, or another way to do this is to pull the brake line away from the caliper and pump the brakes until the fluid flows without bubbles. You'll end up wasting some brake fluid, but it's the only way I know of to bleed the lines without a proper bleeder.

2) Don't forget to properly bed the brake pads, or you'll end up with uneven wear and a) shortened life on your pads and b) warped rotors. There are a couple of techniques for bedding brake pads:

--slow method: brake easy (nothing more than 75% braking pressure) for the first 200 miles or so. Obviously, if you have to brake hard, you have to, just try not to do it all the time.
--quicker method: do this at night so you won't cause an accident. Drive down a straight, level road at about 40 miles an hour, and brake hard to a slow roll (~5 mph). Repeat 8-10 times. This will probably burn off a small amount of pad, but it will effectively bed your pads in a very short amount of time.

wtf? change the brake fluid?!! As long as he's not opening up any lines he doesn't have to change the brake fluid.


If your pads are really worn (and you had to add brake fluid) be sure to take the cap off of the resovoir and wrap a towel around it; as when you compress the caliper sometimes brake fluid seeps out of the top of the resovior

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: moochadime

Originally posted by: DingDingDao
There are a couple of things moochadime hasn't touched on.

1) You will need to change the brake fluid, and bleed the brake lines. You can do this with a brake bleeder, or another way to do this is to pull the brake line away from the caliper and pump the brakes until the fluid flows without bubbles. You'll end up wasting some brake fluid, but it's the only way I know of to bleed the lines without a proper bleeder.

2) Don't forget to properly bed the brake pads, or you'll end up with uneven wear and a) shortened life on your pads and b) warped rotors. There are a couple of techniques for bedding brake pads:

--slow method: brake easy (nothing more than 75% braking pressure) for the first 200 miles or so. Obviously, if you have to brake hard, you have to, just try not to do it all the time.
--quicker method: do this at night so you won't cause an accident. Drive down a straight, level road at about 40 miles an hour, and brake hard to a slow roll (~5 mph). Repeat 8-10 times. This will probably burn off a small amount of pad, but it will effectively bed your pads in a very short amount of time.

Where did you get your skills man???
You dont need to bleed the brakes or change all the fluid after doing a brake job UNLESS he replaced a brake line or has a leak in the system. If he was to bleed the brakes you do not remove the line from the caliper or brake cylinder. That will cause air to get into each of them. The proper way to bleed is using the bleader valve located on each caliper or cylinder. You can gravity bleed where you open it and let gravity take over OR 2 person it where one pumps up on the pedal holds it and you turn the valve letting the air out, close the valve, then pump again till no more air comes out.

But your changing pads and rotors and you do not need to empty your system of fluid christ he will have to bleed the master cyclinder then as well and that can be very complicated.

As for the seating the brakes your sort of right but dont need to go through all of that. Just drive the car normal. If you normally brake hard all the time then yes your going to warp your rotors no matter if you have new brakes or not. You just need nice gentle stops letting friction take over and you can get 100K out of a set of brakes. I cant recall the last time I had to replace the brakes on my own car to be honest.

If I was new to this and saw what you wrote I wouldnt tackle it 😛 But I did forget one extreamly important thing. After you are done DO NOT MOVE THE CAR untill you sit in park and pump the pedal back up. Because you pushed all the calipers in they will not be touching the rotor and you need to pump the pedal before moving the car or you will no thave any brakes at all untill you do. by then you will be out into the street before they catch.

I was going to pounce on the comment about removing the brake lines too, but you beat me to it.

This reminds me of the thread where several people were telling a guy to fix his own body damage on a 2004 Accord.

"It's easy, just buy some bondo and spray paint at Wal-Mart" or something like that. It made me laugh, but it was also crazy because those guys giving the advice were serious.

 

[waggy]

hey if i can change pads and roters (98 escort) then i'm sure you can!

Though i did have my brother-in-law (a mechanic) watching over my shoulder to make sure i did it right. Not to mention used his tools.

edit: heh sorry forgot to mention how much i paid. it was $35 for each rotor (2) and $25 for each pad. Both were the house brand. There was cheaper for both but was told NOT to buy them.

 

[DingDingDao]

Originally posted by: whoiswes

Originally posted by: CadetLee
You have rear discs?

(cheap) rotors for my '98 Corolla are about 25 bucks apiece..I could pay 80+ for really nice ones, though..pads, anywhere from $20-50/set. You should be able to do it yourself for under $200..

that's exactly what i would have said...

Originally posted by: DingDingDao
lol. Sorry not trying to make it sound difficult. I've changed rotors and pads before, and IMHO I would not do a four-corner pad/rotor swap without changing the brake fluid. Being that you're a mechanic, I'm sure you're better informed than I am. :beer:

i wouldn't change my fluid either - modern brake fluid doesn't need to be changed nearly as often, nor is it in the owner's best interest to do so. sure, if you have the skills, you could change the fluid every time you change out the pads (or rotors). but to tell a complete novice to do so is irresponsible - he doesn't NEED new brake fluid, he needs new rotors and pads.

don't give him more work that he already has - he can tackle the lines next time around.

sorry if this sounds harsh - i can't tell if that last comment is sarcastic or not... :laugh:

No not sarcastic. He does have more experience and knowledge than I do.

Sorry guys, no need to flame. I wrote what I knew (er, what I thought I knew), but you learn something new every day and I just learned that a) you don't need to change the brake fluid and b) I need nomex for my flame-suit 😉

 

[whoiswes]

Originally posted by: DingDingDao
[
No not sarcastic. He does have more experience and knowledge than I do.

Sorry guys, no need to flame. I wrote what I knew (er, what I thought I knew), but you learn something new every day and I just learned that a) you don't need to change the brake fluid and b) I need nomex for my flame-suit 😉

ok, no problem - we were all beginners once. my sarcasm meter is broken and i'm hungover, so i apologize if i was rude.

make sure to lather yourself up in butter before donning the nomex - gives your skin that nice golden-crispy effect when you're done... 😉

 

[DrPizza]

But, regarding the brake fluid... if you've been regularly adding fluid as it gets a little lower, you'll have to remove about that much fluid before you start pressing in the calipers with the c-clamps. Otherwise, you're going to have a mess (and brake fluid removes paint quite nicely) If you haven't been regularly topping off the brake fluid, then there should be no problem.