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

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?

Reply to
RJ
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SOP? No... not really.

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

Overcharged? Yep, on the high side.

Reply to
Tiger

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

Reply to
Richard Sexton

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.

Reply to
Richard Sexton

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
Reply to
mcbrue

.... 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

Reply to
Guenter Scholz

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.

Reply to
trader4

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.

Reply to
Richard Sexton

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.

Reply to
James O'Riley

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

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

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.

Reply to
Richard Sexton

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