Six

Other than for parts, I have never paid a dime for a brake job.

I just had tires put on my 03 legacy wagon and they did the old sell
job on the brakes, "you really need a brake job you know" and even
quoted it. About $720.00, wow!

I checked them and they are close but not critical. In doing some
pricing the OE parts come in at about $4+ and the after market (non
sub) stuff is all over the place. Can get away for about $2+ with the
real economy stuff and the sky's the limit on the custom stuff. I will
probably end up with OE rotors at about $260+ and am still deciding on
pads. probably another $125 +-. I prefer to do the work myself.

I own a 2002 OBS and have put 107K on it and there is only 50% ware on front
and back pads.

I am very pleased.

Depends on whether you need fronts only, or both axels, whether your
rotors still have runout left on em, whether they need to machined,
whether if you machine them you'll be willing to see them invariably
warp, and maybe just beat them to the punch and do rotors at the same
time as pads.  Due for brake line bleeding?

I know a bit about this as I'm on my fourth set of front pads at 107k.
I submit this comedy of errors for educational value:

First, I'll say my local dealer's service menu here does brakes for
$175 an axel.  That I believe includes OEM pads; emergency brake
adjustment; resurface rotors; bleed and refill "as necessary".

Here's my saga though:

First set of fronts I replaced myself in mid-2004, 58k miles. I made
the FOOLISH mistake of getting pads at Auto Zone.  $29.28 for front
pads semi-metallic.  Never again.  Now, they cheerfully sold me
something that was supposedly "for" my car but suspiciously
inexpensive.  It was all they had in stock.  Put em on, they fit fine,
the car stopped, though not nearly as well as OEM.  The special bonus
on these: they shed brake dust EVERYWHERE.  My nice aluminum factory
Subie wheels never looked clean.  2 years later, these were shot. I
later learned that Subaru specs ceramics, and these most decidely were
not.  These craptacular AutoZone pads lasted only 30k miles.

So, second replacement time for the front pads was 88k miles in March
of 2006, I figure maybe I'm an idiot and have no business doing my own
brake jobs though I've done 3 other cars over the years (Mazda 626
twice, Saturn SL twice, and Volkwagen New Beetle) that never had
issues.  So, I went to a local shop.  They put something on
aftermarket on them that they charged me $65.87 for, machined the
rotors, total of $204.  And, sure as sh.t, within a few thousand miles
of that, I have friggin braking issues again.  Lousy braking feel, and
soon enough, pulsation of the warped rotor, and hanging on one pad
causing the car to pull.

So, at 102k miles in Jan 07, I meet my current mecahcnic who's an
indepedent certified master mechanic with his own shop and a one man
show.  He seems to know what the was doing.  He said the last folks
didn't clean up the caliper and guides at all and all the debris and
corrosion in the guides were causing the hang and a load of pad wear.
The good news: my faith in my own ability to replace brake pads was
restored.  So we do premium aftermarket ceramics and rotors that were
every bit as much as OEM parts after all was said and done. That job
cost 85+97+117+95=$394 worth of premium aftermarket parts (pads and
new rotors) plus $260 in labor to install them which makes for $654.
Add $80 because I also had him do a full brake line flush as it was
due.  And... get this... at 107k I'm noticing some goddamn pulsation.

The moral of this rant: I'll be visiting my local Subaru dealer for
the next brake job on this Outback and making it their problem.
They've got access to the OEM parts, and to use OEM parts elsewhere is
going to cost you, Joe Consumer, damn near $500 in parts alone for 4
pads and 4 rotors,  and I believe the quote I got from them for doing
4 new rotors and 4 new pads was just around $600.   For $100 they can
certainly have all teh fun of putting them on.

It's become apparent to me that the only pads that will last on this
car are original Subaru.   And no, I'm not an aggressive driver or
brake rider.  :-)  

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4
Chicago, Illinois USA