How much for a brake job Ford Escape?

My brakes have been pulsating for some time…another mystery of my Ford Escape that no one can seem to figure out. I was told that the rear drums needed replaced, which thankfully I didn’t have to pay for, the dealership I bought the car from paid for that. The pulsating didn’t go away after that and it is getting worse. I would like to get it figured out before winter hits. Ford is doing a sale on their brake jobs… $100 rebate, so it would be $78 per axle for either pads or drum/rotor machining, and all installation labor. Is this a good deal?

Pulsing is usually caused by out of round rear brake drums or front rotors being out of parallelism; which means the rotor is thinner or thicker in some spots than others. Replacement or machining of the rotors (within limits) and pads would be answer to the problem.

In some very rare cases, a bent wheel can cause a brake drum to distort when the lugs are tightened and this can lead to pulsing. Odds are this is not the problem; just throwing the weirdo potential out there.

The price you’re being quoted is great for the customer; not so much for the mechanic working on flat rate pay… :slight_smile:

Hope that helps.

I agree with ok4450 on the OP getting a good price. I just paid $378 for a brake job at an independent shop. This included new front pads and rotors and new rear pads. The vehicle was a 2011 Toyota Sienna.

It is a good deal, but note that they may find other things to fix or replace during the replacement of pads or shoes and machining of the drums or rotors. The rotors, calipers, rear brake cylinders, hoses and master cylinder may suddenly be worn out. In their defense, working on brakes opens any mechanic up to a world of liabilities.

As stated above, the problem is likely to be with warped front rotors, especially since you’ve supposedly already had the rears fixed.

??? You were at dealer to replace rear drums AND you have brake vibration and somehow did not mention it to service manager during work? Or was car perfect after new drums were installed and now you have vibration long after drums were replaced?