I recently brought my car in for an oil change. I went to Monroe Muffler, I know they offer an inexpensive oil change as a loss leader to get you into the shop to sell you other repairs. They told me my brakes were worn. Threy shows me the pads. the car is a 2001 with 75,000 mile so this probualy is true. They said I need ceramic pads and ceramis rotors, the rotors looked fine to me. The cost would be around $1,000. Is this true or just a rip off?
In general I find Monroe Muffler a rip-of. They now run the Tire shop at BJ’s discount warehouse. The mechanics work on commission. They are ALWAYS finding things wrong (imaginary or real) with every car that’s brought in there. They are the sole reason I no longer buy my tires from BJ’s (even though their tire prices are very hard to beat).
With that said… Why do the rotors need to be replaced?? Warpped?? Most of the time rotors do NOT need to be replaced. Shop around on brakes. I suggest finding a good local mechanic to do the work.
For comparison, the front brake pads on my 2000 Blazer needed replacing at 70k miles. My trusted mechanic charged about $120 (~$90 in parts) to replace the pads, the rotors were fine. I assume the $1000 is for all 4 brakes, but get a second opinion. Seems fishy to me.
Ed
Sounds like the “when in doubt, replace EVERYTHING” approach.
I would go a more knowledgeable independant shop and have them expamin exactly what you need. If the car was driven hard MAYBE you need alll these things. Our 1994 Nissan with 125,000 miles on ir still has the original rotors, and has had 2 pad replacemnts.