Thread: Am I bening taken for a ride or not?

Originally Posted by thrower78

Today I got my disco back from one of the local brake places. I have had work done here before on another vehicle with no problems, they had done a check on my brakes because I was experiencing less brake performance and a little bit of screeching. I thought I would go get it checked because when we were 4wding the other day I was struggling to hold the car stationary on a steep slope. I can still stop reasonably well though.

Anyway the quote was, wait for it....$1600 for the following
new pads front and rear
new rotors front and rear (apparently mine are not mechinable)
rebuild both rear callipers (apparently stuffed)
full bleed and flush
labour

He couldn't or wouldn't explain to me what was wrong with the rear callipers just said they were stuffed and because it is a land rover they would need new pistons. At this point I stopped listening to anything more he had to say. This to me sounds very very excessive. What do you think?

I think I am just going to get some new pads and do it my self.

Keep in mind a brake place has to obey the law about the minimum thickness of the rotors. It would pay you to have a closer look. Also I have seen plenty of calipers that have been damaged by water rusting the pistons, so it's not unusual. You can do the lot yourself, just go at it one end at a time and check for prices before proceeding. Someone on this forum might have some good used calipers for you as well.

I was quoted $1,100 for the same job except I only needed two new rotors.

you should be able to do that job yourself you dont neeed many tools and its fairly straight forward

and you will be able to do it much cheaper than quoted!

how much do you reckon it would cost to do it yourself nearly half

changing pads and rotors I am fine with but when he said I would need to rebuild both the rear callipers that threw me a bit sounds like a pretty specalised job. Super cheap sell bendix pads at about $90 a set (front or rear) and dba 4x4 rotors at about $170 each, so that is almost $900 in parts without anything done with callipers. Going to change pads this weekend and see what that does will have a look at rotors and calliper condition while I am there. Not sure how I will tell if the callipers need something done as I have no idea what I am looking for.

well when you take the pads of you should notice wether the pistons will move

I bought new front rotors for my Disco (solid I think) for $240/pair and new rear rotors for $140/pair. Pads were about $70 per end. I bought these from Ricks 4x4 who are Land Rover specialists so you get free advise with your purchase unlike SuperCrap.

There is no great trick to the job if you are mechanically inclined but remember you have to pull the complete hub assembly off to change the rotors. This entails adjusting the wheel bearings etc.

As for the calipers. If you aren't confident with what you are doing then brakes are one of the places not to f*%$ up. Maybe take the rotors off and take them to a Landy specialist for reconditioning.

The following site lists prices for brake parts. Not too expensive.

Land Rover parts - BRAKE CALIPER - DISCOVERY 1

Good luck.

Damian.