What is the typical price range for a brake job on a 2006 Subaru Forester? Is this a job that I can/should undertake?
I don’t know what the typical price range is, but I’d guarantee that you would save a lot of money doing it yourself. Check out the prices of parts at the dealer and other parts stores. I usually have good luck with NAPA’s higher grade brake parts. Front brakes in particular are usually not very difficult to do.
If you have a friend that is familiar with doing brakes, it may be comforting to have that person walk you through it the first time.
I believe the price depends upon the area of the country and vehicle type, make, etc. I’m betting you’ll be paying in the neighborhood of $300 per axle ($600 for front and back), only because of what I hear on this forum and from friends. You do the job yourself and are in it a set of pads and your labor, unless your rotors/drums need turning or replacing. Then you can plan on paying $35-75 per rotor new, or $10-20 each to turn a rotor. You can call an aftermarket car store to get the price of pads. Usually $30-60 bucks a set. Unless you go to the dealer parts department, then it will be closer to $75-100 set. Those are rough figures. If you have the tools and ambition, I’d certainly tackle it myself. That is how most mechanics started, they were not born knowing how to repair cars, they jumped in not knowing, and taught themselves, or had a friend show them. If you attempt it by yourself, I’d get a good repair manual with pictures, and even take pictures yourself so assembly goes as smooth as disassembly. After you do a few “brake jobs”, you’ll be ready and comfortable moving up to more complex repairs.
If you have to ask, you should not try it. Training does matter.
$200 to $450 is a range dependent on parts needed(rotors/pads vs pads only) and local labor rate.
Call around, ANY mechanic can perform this work.