Midas break pads - $39.95 per axel

[DPK]

My car needs better brake pads and Midas just happens to be advertising a deal for lifetime brakepads for $39.95 per axel. Does this sound like a good deal?

Don't poke fun, but how many axels would a Toyota Camry have? 2? 4?

 

[foolish501]

sounds about right, it cost me $76 recently to get the brakes changed with their lifetime warranty

 

[Rustynuts]

Unless they're trying to screw you, it should be 2 axles! Technically, with independent suspension and such, you could claim an ordinary car would have 4 axles, as essentially each wheel is attached separately. In the old days, you pretty much did have a rigid axle going from wheel to wheel, so 2 axles. So in standard terminology (even if incorrect now), you have only a front axle and rear axle in normal cars.

 

[mastarecoil]

If that is $40 per two wheels, thats a good deal. After changing my pads, I wish I would have just taken the car in. Damn screw in pistons, who ever invented such a crazy thing?

 

[sumrtym]

Midas pads are junk, and they tack on a ton of labor to that $39.95 so it doesn't come up anywhere near that cheap.

I had them do mine once, and never again.

 

[skruffy]

I've never looked at Midas' lifetime warranty, but every lifetime brake pad warranty I have seen covers manufacturing defects only and explicitly excludes "normal wear and tear". Since brake pads are designed to wear out to do their job, this makes the lifetime warranties worthless. So take a closer look at the warranty before you buy.

 

[imported_Kckazdude]

I am a service manager at a local shop and can tell you I have taken off many sts of Midas lifetime pads in favor of my $139.95 brake jobs. People complain of noise and brake pulsations very often with these lifetime deals. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Look closely at the offer. Usually it states additional parts & labor are extra.

Also, may not include turning the rotors.

 

[dspiel]

their lifetime guarantee is worthless and they try to rip you off on labor for anything.

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: DPK
My car needs better brake pads and Midas just happens to be advertising a deal for lifetime brakepads for $39.95 per axel. Does this sound like a good deal?

Don't poke fun, but how many axels would a Toyota Camry have? 2? 4?

1st, a car has no axels. It has axles. Axel is a person's name (ie. Axel Rose, Axel Foley).
Next, Midas, Budget Brakes, etc. are not good places to get brakes. When I was a service writer at a dealership, seems like every other day we were swapping customer's Midas pads for ours. They squeaked bad, made grinding noises, and we honestly saw a few that only lasted about 5K-10K miles and were close to worn out. Do not get Midas brakes.
Also, FYI, there's no reason to turn a rotor unless your brake pedal vibrates while braking, in case they try to tell you otherwise.

 

[MiataPaul]

Yea, this is good if you want some one to try to talk you into $600 worth of work. I am sure there is one Midas shop around that does good work, I just have not found it. Find a good local repair shop, and develop a good relationship with them. Then when your transmission goes bad, or something else major goes bad they know who you are and are less likely to rip you off. These small jobs are perfect for "developing a relationship" and let you find out if the shop is good. I NEVER use the chain/franchise stores for anything not even oil changes. Why put your hard earned car in the hands of young kids, that is all you see working in these places. I usually give my mechanic a Christmas card, and give the mechanic a six pack of beer when I pick my car up. They remember me, and treat me fairly. Have often had them find cheaper "alternate" routes to fix things. I do most of my work myself on my cars, but it is good to have them in my corner when I need them.

 

[huesmann]

Gee, I hope they don't, um, BRAKE.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: MiataPaul
Yea, this is good if you want some one to try to talk you into $600 worth of work. I am sure there is one Midas shop around that does good work, I just have not found it. Find a good local repair shop, and develop a good relationship with them. Then when your transmission goes bad, or something else major goes bad they know who you are and are less likely to rip you off. These small jobs are perfect for "developing a relationship" and let you find out if the shop is good. I NEVER use the chain/franchise stores for anything not even oil changes. Why put your hard earned car in the hands of young kids, that is all you see working in these places. I usually give my mechanic a Christmas card, and give the mechanic a six pack of beer when I pick my car up. They remember me, and treat me fairly. Have often had them find cheaper "alternate" routes to fix things. I do most of my work myself on my cars, but it is good to have them in my corner when I need them.

Treat the small shiop right and show that you respect their work.

My local shop gets an order of donuts every Sat delivered to them, whether or not they worked on any vechile that day or week.

I have it as a standing order to be delivered to them from the bakery.

Does not cost that much, but the payoff in terms of service and bumping to the head of the line is well worth it.

 

[Rustynuts]

Brakes are easy anyway. For the $40 you'd spend on their crappy pads, you can get a nice set of Performance Friction ceramic metallic pads (or other brand). These are premium pads and will last. Try a little DIY, not that hard for disk brakes. Now drums are a little harde/frustrating. For a first timer, I would still take the drums in to a shop.

Also, do not ever turn rotors. Leaves you with a thinner disk which will heat and warp faster. Just get some good aftermarket disks and pop them on. Usually like $30 each or less.

 

[redass1876]

still not as bad as Just Brakes....i was watching them through a window doing my pads and they jacked up one of my calipers intentionally and said brake fluid was leaking...i told them i saw them do it and they replaced all pads, calipers, and rotors at no charge....Just brakes is the worst place...maybe midas second

 

[LifeStealer]

DIY

 

[Noirish]

I almost take my car to Midas for brakes.
Then I found some mechanic will do it for cheap so I ended up buying my own parts (pads and rotors).
I think it will only cost me at most $150 ($100 for the parts) for rear brakes.
Stealership wants twice of that not including rotors.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Rustynuts
Brakes are easy anyway. For the $40 you'd spend on their crappy pads, you can get a nice set of Performance Friction ceramic metallic pads (or other brand). These are premium pads and will last. Try a little DIY, not that hard for disk brakes. Now drums are a little harde/frustrating. For a first timer, I would still take the drums in to a shop.

Also, do not ever turn rotors. Leaves you with a thinner disk which will heat and warp faster. Just get some good aftermarket disks and pop them on. Usually like $30 each or less.

is there a good guide for that? i want to do my own brakes

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Rustynuts

Also, do not ever turn rotors. Leaves you with a thinner disk which will heat and warp faster. Just get some good aftermarket disks and pop them on. Usually like $30 each or less.

If the rotors get scored or start to warp, you will need to turn them.

Some rotors will cost over $100. If it is cheaper to replace them with aftermarket units than turn them do so, otherwise, turn as needed.

 

[tbalon]

I agree, Midas has a policy to inspect your entire brake system and will do so when you bring your car in. Then they start playing the "how much can we get out of this customer" game. Usually they find about $600 to $700 worth of so called bad parts and labor costs on your car and then if you are a poor sucker who doesn't know anything about your brakes, they hope you will say "gee I didn't know they were that bad, go ahead and fix them." But if you start to doubt the high cost as being neccessary, then they will say "well you could get away with only fixing this or that for $300." and so on and so forth until you agree to a price that is usually still too high for the work being done. But you are thinking you are getting a good deal because at least you did not pay $600 which was a false price to begin with.

 

[huesmann]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
is there a good guide for that? i want to do my own brakes

It depends a bit on the car. If you've done brakes before (i.e. you're familiar with them) you can pretty much do any car, but a complete novice might get lost.

Fronts are easier than rears. Rears shouldn't need changing as often as fronts because the rears do less work than fronts, and as a result they see less wear.

For fronts, basically the procedure is this:

1) loosen your lugnuts
2) jack the front of the car up onto jackstands
3) remove the lugs and wheels
4) unbolt the caliper mounting bolts
5) caliper should slide off the rotor, but may need some elbow grease (use a C-clamp to force the piston back into the caliper: one end of the clamp goes on the backside of the caliper, the other on the outboard brake pad)
6) once the caliper is loose, pull it off the rotor, but be careful about the brake hose--don't let it get kinked and don't hang the rotor from it
7) remove the outboard pad (there may be different ways it's clipped to the caliper, depending on make)
8) use the C-clamp to force the piston all the way into the caliper...you can use the old inboard brake pad to protect the piston itself from the clamp
9) pull the old inboard pad from the caliper
10) put in new pads (you should put in some anti-chatter goop or shims while you're at it)
11) put caliper back on and bolt it back up
12) pump brake pedal a couple of times
13) check brake fluid level (if your old pads were really worn you may have some extra fluid in your reservoir that was in the caliper/lines before)
14) consider bleeding the brakes all round (will require backing up the entire car)

 

[JHawk]

Just curious--does it cost more to have brakes done on an SUV--in my case a Ford Explorer?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: JHawk
Just curious--does it cost more to have brakes done on an SUV--in my case a Ford Explorer?

Should not. My daughters Expedition costs as much as my wife's Pontiac (10 years age difference between the older Pontiac). They were not done at a dealership, just the local shop.

Pads may be slightly different, but the labor charges and time should match up closely.

 

[onelove]

Originally posted by: Kckazdude
I am a service manager at a local shop and can tell you I have taken off many sts of Midas lifetime pads in favor of my $139.95 brake jobs. People complain of noise and brake pulsations very often with these lifetime deals. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

Originally posted by: dspiel
their lifetime guarantee is worthless and they try to rip you off on labor for anything.

yes, I've had a couple bad experiences with Midas lifetime warranty crap parts. Bait and switch - you pay labor when they have to replace their crappy parts and then they reem you. Go with your local shop - NOT MIDAS.

 

[mikeford]

Pads are the least of your expenses with brakes. I live in SoCal, so YMMV, but NONE of the shops I have ever taken a car to would warranty the work without turning the rotors. Costs are;

Pads or shoes, like $10 to $40 per wheel (BTW those fancy ceramics eat rotors and may not feel right to some users).
Rotors, like $40 to $150 per wheel, and need to be replaced when worn to a certain thickness, maybe every 2nd or 3rd brake job unless you wear out a pad and damage them.
Rebuild/replace calipers, like $60 to $300 per wheel, when they leak.
Master cyclinder, no clue, maybe $100 plus, its the thing brake pedal connects to that actually pumps the brake fluid to the brakes.

ABS brakes have sensors that can be a royal pain if they get messed up, and despite what you might be told none of the parts should really ever wear out.

Like one of the other posters said, once you find a good shop, be nice to them.

Also I don't think I would start my DIY career with the brakes on my car.