The biggest problem I have with RockAuto rotors, especially the cheap ones, is the cost to ship a chunk of cast iron. Those $10 rotors might cost $15 to ship to your shop.
And $10 rotors are likely going to be junk.
Paying $15 to ship $65 rotors seems more reasonable.
The problem with your response to Nevada is you are correct for a DIYer that has time to wait a few days to a week for the rotors to arrive…
But I don’t know of any pro shop with a payroll that uses Rock Auto for any (maybe hard to get) parts, much less brake rotors, as time is money and a tied up bay is costing any shop money, not making the shop money… And that is what we are discussing here, is it worth it to pay a tech to go through all the steps to shim a rotor to hub vs replacing the hub and or rotor…
I forgot in my earlier post, that anytime I have had a hub bent enough to cause issues, I just replace them, most of the time if a hub is bad enough to warrant a “shim”, it has been damaged from a pot hole, curb or whatever and just needs replacing regardless…
Remember, most of the time there are exceptions to every case…
And this all assumes that the hub face and inner hat of the rotor are rust/corrosion free…
This is why RockAuto is completely irrelevant to any discussion involving repairs at a shop.
When your car is at my shop needing brake work, I need the correct, quality rotors here in a hour delivered for free. I can’t wait for them to be delivered on Thursday and I’m not paying extra for shipping.
I couldn’t agree more!..
Haha, if a parts store (dealer was different) couldn’t get me basic in stock parts in 15-20 minutes most of the time and they hadn’t already informed me of that, we had a problem, and I would only use them for parts I could didn’t need right away… I always had a good working relationship with most of my suppliers… A few shops, due to location, could take 30ish minutes, but most were pretty quick and a lot of the day, I had already placed another order before their driver had returned, so we kept them hopping…
Slow’Reilly’s was the worst most of the time… But we as a company spent a ton of money, normally we were their biggest accounts, so we got great service most of the time…
But yeah, Rock Auto would never realistically work for a pro shop, for delivery times and, no shop will “match price” Rock Auto for the same reason…
Makes complete sense. Your customer want their car back the same day (or hour!) and you want it out the door.
I have frustration with local parts stores selling me medium to low quality parts that still need 2-3 hours (or a day) to come in from the warehouse for significantly higher prices.
I can have quality parts delivered to my door from Walmart, Amazon, or a specialty site like FCPEuro or CJ Pony Parts if I can wait a few days… usually for a lower price.
I would prefer to buy local but parts stores seem to be slowly cutting their own wrists with bad service, parts and prices.
I thinkcould rationalize the part about sowing seeds on rock and expecting a good harvest.
At any rate when i work on my own i figured it just made more sense once they are off. The alternative is driving to a shop and paying someone to freshen them up.
The lowest priced front rotors are $20, Raybestos value line rotors are $31. Rear rotors are non-vented and light weight, front brakes wear faster and rotors need replacement more frequently.
Some do-it-yourself vehicle owners won’t buy from long distance vendors, they prefer local so they can return parts that were ordered incorrectly ($10 rotors won’t fit on the front).
I buy most replacement parts for my vehicles from Rock Auto, but I have other cars to drive while waiting. I pay high local prices only when it is an emergency repair.
I’m sure that there’s a substantial market for people who want the job done fast or cheap but that seems like a lousy consumer base for an Independent Mechanic to grow a profitable business.
Every quality repair/maintenance requires time and quality materials which is why all my work is done by my Independent Mechanic or an Independent Tire Shop instead of a “Quicky” shop using “Store Brand” parts.
Yes, the vehicle often stays overnight and sometimes longer but when I get it back it’s always done right, never a call back and the price is competitive with the Fast Service/Discount joints.
More important for the Shop’s viewpoint is that in the face of ever increasing competition from the Big Box and Chain stores, by taking the time to do quality work using name brand parts these Independents have managed to thrive and grow their loyal customer base.
Gave you a “like” and thank you for bringing everyone back to the OP’s question. I’ve almost given this forum up as it has evolved from solving a stated problem to too many posters going off on tangents and just listening to themselves
While I don’t have a problem waiting on quality work (my household has 3 cars for 2 drivers…and both of us are retired!) a great many people would be greatly inconvenienced by not having their car. Prompt repair is very important to the customer. If a shop can do quality work in a timely fashion that gives them an advantage over quality work that takes 2-3 days.
If the choice is getting cheapo or Wagner thermoquiet . . . Which I professionally consider garbage . . . Brakes installed right away
Or waiting to get quality brakes installed
I will wait
Might be okay to cheap out on a cabin air filter
But not brakes, imo