My brakes are squeaking bad when i drive.
I think i need to replace them.

Anyone have any advice if i should get a brake job done at the Dealership or at a Brake shop like Brake Masters?

 

What ever you do use factory parts...Unless you have aftermarket brakes...MIDAS and brake shops use a full metallic compound that eats into your rotors more than factory pads...So you don't want to get pads and later down the line get pads and rotors too...

 

Do it yourself. It takes 10 minutes to put brakes on the car.

Take it anywhere else and they will cut the rotors and unless you have a problem it is not necessary.

 

It is necessary to resurface rotors when changing breaks, otherwise the new pads wont wear evenly.

 

Yes! Some might disagree but i would recommend it.

 

Say what?
Rotor resurfacing is one of the biggest scam going in auto repair.
You know the pads break in much better on the rotors the way they are?

I am not going to argue with you, I used to be an A tech for 10 years and have a lot of training and experience. Look around the internet and you will see that many manufacturers do not want rotors resurfaced unless there is a pulsation or grooves in the rotor that are larger then a dime in thickness.

Resurfacing a rotor for no good reason removes precious metal making the rotor more likely to warp in the future. I haven't resurfaced a rotor on one of my cars in probably 15 years!

 

Not really...You are right when it comes to vibrations. But let's say you install a new brad pads that is even...But you don't want to resurface the rotors cause ti;s a scam...Even brake pads on uneven rotors...Brake shimy....Maybe? maybe not?....I rather have new even pads on even surface then other wise....

 

if you get new rotors, or pads, or whatever i can install for you for a really good price. let me know

 

What is an uneven rotor?
If it is not flat to begin with then you had a pulsation with the old pads and you already know that. Question is, is that pulsation pad tranfer or is the rotor actually not parallel? Cutting for pad transfer is useless since rebedding can get rid of the pad transfer most of time.

My point was, if you have no pulsation from the brakes and have not run the pads down to the rivets and damaged the rotor, there is no point in resurfacing the rotor.

I used to resurface rotors when I worked at the dealer because that is what the customer expects and that is what makes you money. As long as the general public believes this misconception they will continue to overpay for service.

Here is some food for thought
http://www.procutinternational.com/h...gm_review.html

 

i see your point but if you don't cut the rotors you risk the chance of pulsing rotors. Your customers are going to blame you for not doing the job right. Working at a dealship is going to tell you that they expect you to do the job right...So you are telling me that if my pads are worn out i should just replace the pads and not worry that the rotors are uneven? The chances of my uneven rotors will cause a brake shimmy is a lot higher. I used to work for a dealship and we did a lot of brakes under waranty with resuface and i still get customer with wheel shimy....But if you think well you didn;t do a good job....But your reasoning is that a un-resurface rotor is not necessary....So if i didn't resurface it right and it still shimmy then your theory about just changing the pad is not correct....If i just change the pads like you suggest and i still get a wheel shimmy. How would you go about fixning the problem? I usually resface the rotors and the problem goes away....Please tell me you solution...

 

so.....
should i buy the oem pads and take them to a Brake Master or Midas shop to get them installed?

 

buy after market... most of the stuff out there is cheaper or equal to OEM... such as stillen rotors and hawk pads

 

Your choice...I worked for a dealership for 3 years...Not that long but i suggest you get your rotors resurface when you do you brakes. It will help on rotor shimy...If you take the easy route by not refacing then you have a higher chance of brake shimy.

 

Like i'm trying to say...Unless you have aftermarket brakes...stick with OEM or you end up paying more....but if you have aftermarket brakes then this doesn't appy....

 

Ok, I'm just worried that the dealership is going to charge me a lot of $$ for the brake job. Since you worked at the dealership for 3 years, do you think there's a difference in dealership and regular shops?