typical brake job on an e-class... prices?

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RJ - 16 Aug 2006 20:32 GMT

What is the typical price for 4 new brakes along with rotors?

My E320 wagon (2004) has around 25,000 miles on it. The dealership told
me I needed brakes and rotors too. They charged me $1,200 for this job!

On other cars I have driven (including a C- class benz), the rotors
never needed to be changed every time the brakes were changed... in fact
the brakes were monitored by electronics and there were either dash
warnings or old fashioned "screamers" that told you to change the brake
pads BEFORE you did rotor damage.

They tell me that this rotor change with brakes is SOP for this car.

Did I get scammed, or is the typical?

Did they overcharge me? It seemed a little pricey for a brake job.

Any comments?

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Tiger - 16 Aug 2006 21:47 GMT

SOP? No... not really.

Scammed? Well, yes in a way because of the rotors.

Overcharged? Yep, on the high side.

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Richard Sexton - 17 Aug 2006 03:24 GMT

>SOP? No... not really.
>
>Scammed? Well, yes in a way because of the rotors.

Maybe maybe not. My mechanics tell me I'm really hard on brakes
and I have gone thorugh several sets of rotors. I tried Balo
because they were supposed to be the best being blanchard ground
(according to Stu Ritter) but they a) spalted badly and b) warped.

I switched to the slotted ATE "power discs" and am doing much better
with them.

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mcbrue - 17 Aug 2006 03:48 GMT

Stealerships always tell me I need new rotors. And the job is about
1200 for front and back for my 96 S420. Of course the guy in the back
yard doesn't chargethat mucn, about half as much. But he doesn't need
to change the rotors all the time!

mcbrue under the bridge in the trailer down by the water

96 S420

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Richard Sexton - 17 Aug 2006 03:22 GMT

>What is the typical price for 4 new brakes along with rotors?
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
>Did I get scammed, or is the typical?

You went to a dealer. It's about 300 in parts and maybe that much in
labour usually.

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Guenter Scholz - 17 Aug 2006 03:51 GMT

.... you got scammed big time. My, admittedly old, '89 300e 'never' has had
new rotors installed and it's going on 250k km. pads cost me around CDN 50
front and rear and it takes me 1/2 hr tops to change them.....

cheers, guenter

>What is the typical price for 4 new brakes along with rotors?
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
>Any comments?

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trader4@optonline.net - 19 Aug 2006 02:38 GMT

> .... you got scammed big time. My, admittedly old, '89 300e 'never' has had
> new rotors installed and it's going on 250k km. pads cost me around CDN 50
> front and rear and it takes me 1/2 hr tops to change them.....
>
> cheers, guenter

Given that I just looked up aftermarket rotors online for $62 front,
$46 rear, I would agree. Plus, in normal use, on any decent car, the
rotors should still be fine at 25K miles.

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Richard Sexton - 19 Aug 2006 04:25 GMT

>> .... you got scammed big time. My, admittedly old, '89 300e 'never' has had
>> new rotors installed and it's going on 250k km. pads cost me around CDN 50
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>$46 rear, I would agree. Plus, in normal use, on any decent car, the
>rotors should still be fine at 25K miles.

Usually, yeah. But there is one failure mode that can warp rotors to the
point of needing repalcement and that is using the brakes to slow descent down
a BIG hill them coming to a stop at the bottom of it waiting at a light. The
rotors experrience differential cooling and can warp in short order.

Of course not changing the pads when you're supposed to trashes them pretty quickly
too but that's what the wear sensors are for.

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James O'Riley - 19 Aug 2006 16:28 GMT

>>> .... you got scammed big time. My, admittedly old, '89 300e 'never' has had
>>> new rotors installed and it's going on 250k km. pads cost me around CDN 50
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> a BIG hill them coming to a stop at the bottom of it waiting at a light. The
> rotors experrience differential cooling and can warp in short order.

That's precisely why I shift to a lower gear on a descent. Been doing that
since I was a kid with a '36 Ford.

> Of course not changing the pads when you're supposed to trashes them pretty quickly
> too but that's what the wear sensors are for.

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Dori A Schmetterling - 20 Aug 2006 01:06 GMT

I thought current thinking was that it is cheaper to wear out brake pads
than engines/gear boxes. (Though, I suppose, one might have to watch brake
fade on long descents.)

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[...]

> That's precisely why I shift to a lower gear on a descent. Been doing
> that since I was a kid with a '36 Ford.

[...]

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Richard Sexton - 20 Aug 2006 01:15 GMT

>I thought current thinking was that it is cheaper to wear out brake pads
>than engines/gear boxes. (Though, I suppose, one might have to watch brake
>fade on long descents.)

Yeah so don't so it all the time. The guy I know that told me this lives
way way up top of a steep hill with a stop sign at the bottom. He wore out
lots of rotors before figuring this out (he has about 4 cars) and gets
better than average life out of his trannies.

Do it all the time when you decelerate and it might be a problem as it's
the shifting not the deceleration that causes wear, but occasionally and
only on drastic hills with a stop sign at the bottom and you shouldn't have
a problem.

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