Beware of mechanic scams!

[TravisNewman]

Actually 4 tires, new brakes on all 4 corners, flushing the fluid, and an alignment for $850 sounds about right. The other mechanic charged less and did less work, so that saved you money, it sounds like the other mechanic was just more thourough and wanted to "do it right". You saved a few bucks now by not replacing the fluid, but who knows in a year your master cylinder could go due to moisture in the system. If your rotors are bad and you install new pads, they will wear prematurely and have to be replaced again in a short time. I have to say though, unless you hit a giant pothole, or have worn suspension parts, you shouldn't need an alignment. Maybe he was trying to rip you off, or maybe the tires were wearing funny indicating alignment problems. In that case your new tires will wear prematurely. I dunno, that's why I do all of the work on my car myself. I got ripped off when I was 16 by a mechanic, so I said never again, and taught myself everything, even worked as a mechanic for a few years.

Well, it was just 2 tires, and only the rotors on the front had to be replaced (so he said) and the back ones turned. I had the mechanic in my hometown who I've been going to for years and never had any problems with check everything out, he said the brake system didn't need flushing, the alignment was fine, the front rotors were totally fine, just needed turning on the back.

[Anduu]

Check this out...

http://www.computerpranks.com/downlo...with_women.asf

[Dr. Nick]

Check this out...

http://www.computerpranks.com/downlo...with_women.asf

Only a few mins into it and I know exactly where its going

[Dr. Nick]

Hmm, for 2400 I think I woluld tell them to keep the car and I would go buy another

The one good thing I can say is atleast they asked her for permission first.

sadly not all mech are like that. Its always nice when they "notice" "stuff" that "should" be done and go ahead and do it for you. hehe

[mips]

Ha ha .... cute. For those who may not be aware, the rotor in your disc brakes is the actual 'disc' that is squeezed when you press the breaks.

If I walked into a spares shop here and asked for rotors the guys behind the counter would look at me funny. If however I told them I wanted 'discs' or 'brake discs' they would say sure thing

[mips]

Hmm... the quote they gave me says $85 bucks for alignment

I suppose some things are more expensive in the US. If people were quoted that price over here they would just laugh hysterically. When you buy 4 tires here you usually get the balancing and alignment for free or next to nothing. I had my tires replaced 3months ago and the entire bill came to about US$200 for 185/65 14", not to bad. With alignment it usually just ends up being the test on the machine and most vehicles pass, if not they fix for a small fee depending on the size of the job, last time one toe setting was slightly off and it cost less than US$10 to fix.

[em3raldxiii]

LOL isn't it funny how different places can vary so much when it comes to stuff like "what things are called"?

Mind you, South Africa's a long way from like ... everywhere else civilized LOL. You really are kinda isolated down there, hmm? I hear the weather in the winter is absolutely fantastic though ... 20-25C, light fluffy clouds, light breezes ... well, that's what someone was saying on a different messageboard anyway.

But yeah, as far as "rotor" vs "disc" goes, well ... I suppose you could get technical and say that the rotor is the whole thing and the disc is just the skinny flat part. It's all one hunk of metal though - kinda like "noggin" versus "head". haha . I'm thinkin that the guy on the other side of the counter *would* actually know whut y'er talkin about though because it's called a rotor in the manual

The ones on the back (in like 95% of cases) are actually drums. They work on much the same principle, except the pads aren't squeezed onto either side of it. Instead, it's like a ... well ... drum. Think of it this way: Imagine a tube that is spinning and you put a pair of pliers in the middle so they're not quite touching the tube. Then you OPEN the pliers really wide so they make contact with the tube, and therefore slow the tube down. Well, much the same with rear drums. The drum is the tube, and the break pads are the contact-surface on the pliers.

The drums might need to be "turned" if there's minor surface damage and/or heat-stress which can cause hardening and polishing (and therefore crappy brake power). "turning" is not like swapping them for a different angle or anything, it actually means taking them out and putting them on a lathe and peeling off a super thin layer of metal from the contact surface on the inside. It can vastly improve the effectiveness of your braking, however you are removing some of the structural aspect of the brakes and therefore run the risk of weakening them. As far as I know, you can only "turn" them once in their lifetime and will have to replace them next time for safety reasons. It should also be pointed out that your rear brakes are only strongly engaged during power-braking and E-Braking. From what I understand, your rear brakes aren't engaged during every-day light braking. It smacks a little strange to me that you were told they needed turning, but I could be wrong there.

Here in Canada, a set of 4 "good-quality" tires will run you around $60 to $120 each (cheaper = crappy tires) for "medium-size sedan" tires such as 180/70R14. In my area, it is pretty much stupid NOT to buy "all-season-radials", as opposed to summer tires. Some people have winter tires on all-year (softer rubber = better grip on ice, but wears faster on hot asphalt). Also in my part of the world, big pot-holes and rough roads are SUPER common (our weather varies more than just about anywhere else: -40C January to +40C July = lots of heaving and cracking of roads), so getting routine alignments might be more common here than most other places in the world.

... holy crow I am long-winded at 3:15 in the morning ...

[Titus A Duxass]

Disk with a K not with a C, disc with a C is normally computer based.

[em3raldxiii]

Funny you say that Titus. I think this is another colloquialism. See, I'm in Canada, so you have "Disc-brakes", and "Compact Discs", but you also have "Shaped like a Disk". For me, "Disk-Brakes" is a spelling error and would earn you a big red X from your English professor

Just for Sh!ts-&-giggles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_brake

[Titus A Duxass]

em3raldxiii - you are correct. I have been out of England to long and my spelling is going down the tubes! It is the other way round. I'll give myself a big red cross (on my ****) when I get home.

I now call them Bremsscheiben (pl).