e1over
06-07-2004, 06:51 PM
Longish story, summary at the bottom..
Background info: I have an '01 WE Jetta, with 30k miles on it. I bought it used, but still got up to 20k maintenence free under warranty. I brought it in to the stealership for 30k maintainance.
Anyways, they get through the regular mantainance, and the inspection showed a potential problem with the rear brakes. Stealership said that there was only about 4mm left on the brake pads. I'm thinking "Ok, this is faster than my old camry as far as brakes go, but they're really responsive, and I've avoided an accident or two due to good braking, I'll shell out $100 or so for new pads, my baby's worth it." This is when I find the bad news: Replacing brakes on German cars are teh sux. You see, virtually every German car manufactured (whether it's assembled in Germany or Mexico) is designed to be driven on the Autobahn. As such, the brake system is designed for performance, not economy. The up side; Very very good braking from any speed. The down side; the rotors are so thin that they have to be replaced whenever the pads are replaced.
Long story short: I need to replace the rear brakes on my Jet, the dealer is quoting $343 for the job, and the mechanic that a friend of mine referred me to said they're not going to be able to do any better than that. I can't save any money on the job either, because A). I don't have any car tools. And B) I have no place to work on my car.
Background info: I have an '01 WE Jetta, with 30k miles on it. I bought it used, but still got up to 20k maintenence free under warranty. I brought it in to the stealership for 30k maintainance.
Anyways, they get through the regular mantainance, and the inspection showed a potential problem with the rear brakes. Stealership said that there was only about 4mm left on the brake pads. I'm thinking "Ok, this is faster than my old camry as far as brakes go, but they're really responsive, and I've avoided an accident or two due to good braking, I'll shell out $100 or so for new pads, my baby's worth it." This is when I find the bad news: Replacing brakes on German cars are teh sux. You see, virtually every German car manufactured (whether it's assembled in Germany or Mexico) is designed to be driven on the Autobahn. As such, the brake system is designed for performance, not economy. The up side; Very very good braking from any speed. The down side; the rotors are so thin that they have to be replaced whenever the pads are replaced.
Long story short: I need to replace the rear brakes on my Jet, the dealer is quoting $343 for the job, and the mechanic that a friend of mine referred me to said they're not going to be able to do any better than that. I can't save any money on the job either, because A). I don't have any car tools. And B) I have no place to work on my car.