brakes

I had my trucks oil changed and serviced today before I head out on my next trip. The tech came in and told me everything looked good except the front brake pads should be replaced. He even had a little guage to show me how thick they were. They offered to replace them for $159.00. I said no thanks I will do the job myself. I was not suprised they were worn, because they are the original pads and I have 72,000 miles on the truck. I stopped at O'Rileys on the way home and picked up a set of ceramic pads with a lifetime warranty for $36.00. I have done a few disc brake jobs before so I didn't think this would be a problem. I have to tell everyone this was the fastest brake job I have ever done. No need to remove calipers, just pull two pins, compress pistons, pull old pads out, drop new pads in and replace pins. The hardest part for me was lifting the wheel and tires back into place. I think the whole job took me 15 to 20 minutes. I know shops need to make money, but where do they come up with a charge like that for such an easy job?

Seems like it went well and was really easy, Ill have to remember this when we go to do our brake job next time.

OEM pads generally cost a minimum of $50 (and many places charge much more than that) and one hour of labor puts it right at your quoted price. It's not often that shop will charge less than an hour. I don't think you were quoted a bad price but it's great when you can do it yourself and not have to pay someone else's labor.

Let us know how you like those pads. I put on Raybesto's best at one time and did not like them as they were not as grabby as the OEMs; I ended up switching back to OEM.

Tell me you re-surfaced the rotors? 72K should definately require a turning or nowdays...replacement. The shop price might seem expensive but, any shop worth their weight would require a fresh surface to insure proper break-in of the new pads. I don't think $159 is too bad. I'm getting ready to do a brake job on mine, and I'm spending $120 for just the front pads! There are vehicles where I would slap a set of $36 pads on it and go....but not my H3. Its heavy, and the brakes are like a swiss watch. I got a quite a few complaints with the engineering on the H3...but GM totally nailed the braking system.

There. I said it.

:thumbs:

I can't believe you just complimented GM, that's unlike you! :wink:

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I agree wth 4speed. Those rotors will at a minimum need to be turned, if not replaced. I don't know about the H3, but many of todays vehicles rotors are pretty much disposable, as in they don't come with enough material to be turned, or machined down, and reused. Only way to check them is to measure them with calipers.

4speedfunk said:

<snip> Its heavy, and the brakes are like a swiss watch. I got a quite a few complaints with the engineering on the H3...but GM totally nailed the braking system.

There. I said it.

:thumbs:

Click to expand...

Don't give them to much credit. Hop in a manual that has sat over night and start driving it without touching the brakes. Get up to speed and try to stop. The pedal will go to the floor (you may wet your pants at this point) then a second later the brakes kick in and you get pinned against the seatbelt. They work great for stopping the truck, but it would be nice if the booster would presure up on its own.

I think the booster is electric. I say this because my headlights occasionally flicker when I hit the brakes. I read a thread somewhere, that this is caused by the booster motor firing up, and hoggin the 12v juice. Not sure why a manual tranny would matter?

In my area, the price is $99 per axle.

Labor is $75/hour. I think $99 is ok for me.

Once a service advisor quoted me $200 for resurfacing the rotors, I replied NO

I loved doing the brakes on my H3. The last time I did them I did both the fronts and rears and I think I maybe had an hour into it.

I can recommend the EBC Yellow pads for the H3. They squeal a bit for the first week or so before they bed in but they give great bite & heat resistance and a definite upgrade from the OEM.

If you order direct through the UK you get a good price & don't pay the tax either.

4speedfunk said:

I think the booster is electric. I say this because my headlights occasionally flicker when I hit the brakes. I read a thread somewhere, that this is caused by the booster motor firing up, and hoggin the 12v juice. Not sure why a manual tranny would matter?

Click to expand...

Yes, the booster is electric. Manual tranny makes a diferance because with an auto you have to put your foot on the brake to get out of park which fires up the booster. Easy fix for me is to just make a habbit of touching the brake before I start driving, but you may also notice on long highway drives the brakes may be soft after a few hours of not being used.

4speedfunk said:

Tell me you re-surfaced the rotors? 72K should definately require a turning or nowdays...replacement. The shop price might seem expensive but, any shop worth their weight would require a fresh surface to insure proper break-in of the new pads. I don't think $159 is too bad. I'm getting ready to do a brake job on mine, and I'm spending $120 for just the front pads! There are vehicles where I would slap a set of $36 pads on it and go....but not my H3. Its heavy, and the brakes are like a swiss watch. I got a quite a few complaints with the engineering on the H3...but GM totally nailed the braking system.

There. I said it.

:thumbs:

Click to expand...

Yes I had the rotors re-surfaced,that was not included in the price quote. My intent of this thread was to let people know how easy it was to do the brakes yourself. As far as the brakes being like a swiss watch, I have no complaints with the H3 brakes they do what they are designed to do, but I don't think they are any better OR any worse then most other cars or trucks I have owned (I have owned close to 50,all American made) I do like the ease of the pad replacement design.