Pair rear brake shoes and cylinder

23rd January 2012, 16:54

Just got a quote for a pair of rear break shoes and rear brake cylinder for passenger side for 138 in total. Is this right. He now says he cant put them back on or smething so it has to be done. 1 hours and half labour they say. I just dont want to be conned

23rd January 2012, 16:57

fuck that mate the rear shoes on a saxo are dead easy do them yourself.

only thing that maybe a pain is the bleeding of said cylinder. but it deffo doesn't take 1/5 hours

half hour to 45 mins max

23rd January 2012, 17:16

he said the brake fluid is leaking as well from the cylinder i guess. He just showed me it and it needs doing asap. I'm not very confident at doing these sort of things and need to get to work. 138 way to much? how much it cost you normally? They did say if it takes them any less time they would knock some money off.

23rd January 2012, 17:56

I changed both of my rear shoes and Both rear wheel cylinders for £51 for parts and that included brake fluid , (that was trade) and fitted it myself and id not done much work cars before.

You just have to be careful removing the brake lines from the old cylinders. Best of getting a proper brake line spanner about £5 from Halfords but much better than trying to make new brake lines.

Wheres the fluid leaking from the master cylinder?

£138 Does sound a little steep to me have you tried somewhere else?

23rd January 2012, 17:59

about half thats what we'd charge tbh, its hardly a huge job!

23rd January 2012, 18:19

£10 per cylinder. £20 ish for the shoes... Hour labour max. I'd do them for circa £80

23rd January 2012, 18:31

maybe if we put our prices up to that sort of rate (£138) we'd have plush workshops with vending machines and waiting areas.....i've got a sofa the dog sleeps on if you ever visit but you'll have to fight for it with an irate staffy lol, thats our waiting area

23rd January 2012, 18:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Futurism

I changed both of my rear shoes and Both rear wheel cylinders for £51 for parts and that included brake fluid , (that was trade) and fitted it myself and id not done much work cars before.

You just have to be careful removing the brake lines from the old cylinders. Best of getting a proper brake line spanner about £5 from Halfords but much better than trying to make new brake lines.

Wheres the fluid leaking from the master cylinder?

£138 Does sound a little steep to me have you tried somewhere else?

Can't really try anywhere else. I cant get my car anywhere as its very unsafe to drive due to no breaks. Also they have took things off which they said they cant put back on. So i guess I'm just gna hve to pay it

23rd January 2012, 18:54

Sounds like they've got you by the balls there mate. I'd never pull that on any of my customers. They're free to leave at any time and if no work is carried out the car gets put back how it came apart and the customer can sign a disclaimer to say he is aware of the problem and takes full responsibility.

However, most big garages charge you Retail price on parts (usally about another 40%) and charge you silly labour like £65 an hour. My prices are trade price and my labour is less than half of most.

23rd January 2012, 19:00

Yep they've defiantly got me by the balls. I couldn't do owt they told me they wouldn't do anything until they have told me whats up with it. Next thing i knew they rang me up and had took everything apart and want 138 to fix it. I cant drive it away now or anything. I never really had a choice due to my car not being safe for the road so had to just take it to this garage.How much am i getting ripped off by. I'm fuming

23rd January 2012, 19:03

Well any decent mechanic would charge you a maximum of £50 for an hours labour and if you can get the parts for trade price then about £40 for parts. So £90 to 100 would be reasonable.

23rd January 2012, 19:04

kris is right
a leaking cylinder normally you can tell as the back plate is normally wet due to fluid leaking.

how much it cost me i dunno actually round £30 depends how much the parts are. (i'm a mechanic by trade)

at work we charge £50 an hour labour but personally i think is a little too high and as kris said we charge retail on parts. i understand putting a little bit onto parts but not retail. there would be no point in going to a garage.
and tbf you don't really need to be a pro to sort the rear brakes out.
however they should be able to put it back together as all they had to do was remove the wheel and drum. they shouldn't have taken anything off without calling you first.

take it somewhere else. you've got a handbrake (i would not advise this)

and if going by how much we would charge to replace pads at the back.
you would be looking at £75 for the replacement of the shoes and about £15 for the cylinder

23rd January 2012, 19:07

What bugs me about some garages is... How much they charge for a bit of brake fluid.

I breifly worked for a vw/audi specialists and if your car needed so much as a drop of water for the screenwash or a few hundred ML of brake fluid you got charged a tenner.

23rd January 2012, 19:13

thanks 2 both of you for all the info. So I'd be looking at around the 100 mark normally if taking it to a garage. So I'm probably losing out around 40 quid. I cant tell them to put it back together and take it somewhere else i would rather not drive it the brakes are really bad and the thumping noise also need to get to work asap. So I pretty much have to get it done.