When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Super is correct but with 2 Audis, a /13 Volvo S80T6 and a /23 911 there's always something to buy, LOL. And for other consumables with shorter lives (filters, wiper blades and similar), I just leave the credit there and use it next time need those items.
I'm fortunate enough to have access to a corporate account for shipping so even rotors and other heavy items don't kill me and make it worthwhile to use FCP Euro.
Don't pay $1,700 for front brakes. Plus tax too? Crazy.
They did give you a written estimate, complete with part numbers, correct?
Give us the part numbers, will be interesting to see how much over MSRP they charge for parts. Thats what my local Audi dealer service department does. I can walk inside to the parts counter and buy them cheaper.
.
.
Last edited by LightningTruck; 12-12-2023 at 05:27 PM.
When I purchased the car in 2021 CPO, it had 21k miles (presumably mostly non-highway miles). The 64k miles put on the car (for a current total of 85k) are all highway miles.
When my car was in the service bay and the dealer texted me the tech's inspection video and their comments, that's when they told me if I wanted to do the front pads and rotors it would be $1,700, to which I declined since they are at 5mm. On the invoice for that day's routine maintenance work, they added the classic line:
"...customer declined recommendation..."
The quote simply stated the job cost of $1,700 but did not provide the labor amount nor the part numbers.
From some of the comments above, I see the running theme of "the days of turning rotors and replacing pads" are a thing of the past. Why is that? However, I've never had a car before that made it to 85k miles w/ no brake work so i actually don't feel too bad about doing the rotors at the same time.
As I still have some life left in the front pads, I've got some time to figure it out. There are tons of Audis in my area and hence a good amount on indy shops that work on Audis so I'll probably go that route.
From some of the comments above, I see the running theme of "the days of turning rotors and replacing pads" are a thing of the past. Why is that? However, I've never had a car before that made it to 85k miles w/ no brake work so i actually don't feel too bad about doing the rotors at the same time.
Weight saving essentially. Rotors nowadays have just about enough thickness for one set of pads. In order to turn a rotor, there needs to be enough thickness to take off material and still have enough left before minimum thickness is reached. With only 2 mm of wear, there's pretty much nothing that you can take off. If you turn them you end up at minimum thickness.
The machining rotors thing has little to do with Audis. Even my Honda dealership will not resurface rotors. If the rotor is outside the wear limits no amount of machining will restore it to an acceptable minimum thickness. If it is not at its wear limits resurfacing to remove the ridge has little or no financial up side.
It is a problem of labor rates and shop space. The dealership will not have a lathe to resurface a rotor. Commercial machine shop charge out rates are about $100 - $150 per hour. By the time they install, machine and remove the rotors from the lathe you are probably getting a 1.5 hr charge for 4 rotors. So $150 - $275 for the machine work and you end up with a rotor with less future life than a new rotor at a cost that is not that much lower than the cost of new rotors. While the dealership is waiting for the rotors to be resurfaced at the outside shop the dealership has the car taking up space in the service bay not generating repair revenue. If you can find a machine shop that still does rotor resurfacing and are prepared to do the work on your own (0$ labor cost) and spend the time driving to the machine shop and then picking up the rotors (maybe the next day) then this might provide a cost savings for you. If you are operating in an environment where time = $ then it will always be new rotors versus resurfaced rotors.
The question of whether you continue to use rotors that are close to; but, not at their wear limit when you do a pad replacement is a different question. That is a risk assessment that the rotors will not exceed their wear limits before the next pad replacement. If you do your own work and value it at $0 per hour then that may be a reasonable risk.
Why would you resurface a rotor - just for the ridge? I don't see a problem with the ridge since the new pads will fit just as the old ones where fit at the same place. I haven't seen a rotor that can't survive at least 2 sets of pads and even if you use it for a while past the minimum thickness it won't be much of a problem. It can bend or overheat easily. That is what I think. I would measure the thickness which is pretty easy with tools that you can find in the store (cheap ones) and if it is above 29 mm I would change the pads only.
12-12-2023, 10:53 AM
