There's a hole in the wall shop in weehawken, NJ that's charging me $130 in labor to change all 4 brake pads for my brembo brakes. Is this overpriced? or is this fair?

Thanks,

PVC

 

sounds highly overpriced to me, especially for a hole in the wall type, its very easy to do, u can change all 4 in about an hour or so, i think there is a DIY around here somewhere

 

sounds pretty reasonable to me, although I wouldn't risk it unless you know they aren't going to damage your brembo's finish. Make sure they know that the brake fluid will eat the paint(if they are bleeding)

 

That is actually about right for labor. Shops generally charge $65 to $75 an hour for labor, so you are roughly looking at 2 hours of work. Lift the car, pull the wheels, disconnect calipers, pull pads, grease new pads, install shims, install new pads in calipers (this probably takes the most time!), replace calipers, reinstall wheels, lower, test drive. It's easy but yes, but it is a little time consuming. Shops have to over-estimate just in case something doesn't work out right. If everything goes well then it may only take them an hour to do it, but they'll bill you for two hours of labor.

 

sounds normal..

 

not too unreasonable... i have a mechanic who charges me 50 front and 50 rear but i'm fortunate to have a good and honest mechanic.

 

That's a decent shop rate.

 

I pay 80 and that includes cutting the rotors

 

You don't need to disconnect the rotors, unless you mean unbolt them and suspend them by something other than the brake lines. To the OP, pads are very easy. Save the $130 and do them yourself.

 

Thanks everyone for the comments. Seems like most people think the $130 was somewhat reasonable.

I would like to do it myself, unfortunately, I live in an apartment complex. I don't have the tools or the space to change them myself. Since I'm new to the area, I also don't even have friends with a garage that I can use for the day.

I did, however, find a respectable shop that'll do it for $60 as long as I get the pads from them ($200 even).

For now, I'll cough out the money.

Thanks for the help everyone, really do appreciate the feedback.

PVC