I took my 2005 MCS to the dealer for a (Brake job) the car is no longer under the maintenece program. The service manager comes back and tells it it will cost me over $800.00 for brakes and rotors , of course I panic and then went into shock. I do not have my own mechanic but I'm pretty sure I could have taken it somewhere else. I ended up getting it done at the stealership and felt like the biggest loser for giving them all that cash. Does anyone have any suggestions or a reliable place were I can take my car for service and minor repairs ? I live in Yonkers, Westchester NY cause I'll be damned if westchester mini ever rips me off again.

 

That's terrible that dealerships will do that....bad word of mouth isn't good business. Make friends with guys who are mechanics......my husband just redid my brakes on my 03....he couldn't wait to get his hands on it after the warranty expired!!!

 

Yeah for that much you should just get aftermarket parts and either do thm yourself (I didn't think it was hard but I've done brakes before), or shop around for a mechanic. I got Brembo Rotors for less than 200 and I just picked up some Mintex pads. Everything costed me about 350. I'm sure if you took it some where they wouldn't charge you more than 200-250 for install.

 

I'm not understanding why there was a need to replace the rotors. That is a load of BS! All they had to do is replace the pads and just turn the rotors. I had my WRX for 5 years and never replaced the rotors. Unless you completely drove like a maniac and grooved the rotors beyond repair, then I can see why they replaced them.

In the future, just go to your local brake shop (Midas, Meineke, somethin like that) and tell them to replace the pads and turn the rotors. Pretty simple job.

 

I had aftermarket pads (Hawk HPS) & rotors (Brembo-the standard rotors rust badly, don't recommend them) installed at an indy shop for $750 so I would say your price was a bit high for OEM parts but not that bad for a dealership


p.s... I was told our rotors were made to be replaced not turned by 3 seperate shops so I also replaced mine instead of turning.

 

That is terrible. They charged you way too much. I do my own brakes, so I'm not sure if that is a normal rate or not, but the parts could be had aftermarket for well under $200. Check out NEMINI.ORG, they are your local MINI club and should be able to help you out with a good place to get work done.

 

I'm not sure that I would call it a "rip-off" if they gave you a estimate that was close to the true price, they did the work competently and within the time specified, using quality parts from MINI, and you have their warranty for the work done and parts used. Given the higher labor rate I think it sounds about right for dealership.

Personally I know that's what will happen if I go to a dealership so I look for a good independent garage or shop that knows imports and will do the work with labor rates that are about half of the dealership's rates. Right there you save half of labor costs.

If you can't find a garage then Midas shops can be OK and I've found some Goodyear shops that are fine. I often will bring in my own parts whether upgrades or OEM. I even have one Goodyear shop that actually likes to work on my MINI but I have used them a bunch of times- they said normally they don't like tuner cars to come for work if the upgrades are not really simple bolt on upgrades- too much hassle for them.

I have another shop I use that is run by a mechanic that is prominent on the drag strip scene so none of my upgrades impress him and he does them no problem.

In any case you are fine and a little wiser. You can contact your favorite local MINI club and ask them for a good MINI friendly garage or even the BMW club in your area would know about good garages that handle both BMW and MINIs- pretty common. Labor costs will be between the dealership and a small garage but they often do good work and don't mind handling upgrades.

 

Just called a dealer here in the SF Bay Area. Was quoted $995.00 for a four wheel brake job.

Jim

 

The price seems in line with dealerships in general for brakes. I'm sure you could save some money if you bought the parts yourself and found a good private mechanic to install them if you didn't want to do it yourself (I was able to do rusty brembo rotors like Teresa and EBC Greenstuff pads for about $80 per wheel, which did not include the cost of the harbor frieght brake cylinder compression tool).

 

You must have different wheels that the rust compliments PD, it just clashes with mine

 

Thanks guys, I don't feel so bad now. I have owned 4 bmw's in the past including my mini. My first car was a used 325i and the rest were all new. I would always switch cars right before my service was getting ready to expire so I guess the brake job came as a shock. I was not able to trade in my mini this time around due to financial reasons, hopefully I will be able to replace the one I have now before my service lights start blowing up

 

So I can understand this logic, please do not take offence. Normally instead of performing normal wear and tear maintenance on a car you just trade it in for a new one and drop another $30,000 on a new car which you view is not shocking? But when you decide to keep a car and have to pay $800 for normal maintenance you are shocked?

Is that right?

 

Let's consider some general numbers. $100 for a BMW Rotor + $100 for a set of BMW/MINI pads. Multiply by 4 and that's $800. It sounds about right.

The numbers are big, but I wouldn't say you're getting ripped off. I feel the brakes do work pretty well.

Please note that they don't generally flush the brake fluid either. You might be able to get them to do that at the same time.

 

Brake fluid flush is done every 2 years as routine maintenance.

On the low estimate side
Rotors are about $40 each x 4 = $160
Brake pads about $40 each pair x 2= $80
Labor x 5 hours x $80 per hour= $400
Total = $640 or more.

 

Napa rotors are $24 a piece on the front, maybe less on the rear. Pads vary depending on quality, I think the last time I got Mintex they were less than $80 an axle. 2 hrs labor. I would rather let Midas or somebody do it before I went to the dealer. I almost would drive to you to do it for $800

 

Sounds right on par for cost. Shop rates for Mini is on the high side. Parts sourced at a dealer are also on the high side. Combine the two and you have classic sticker shock.

I'm suprised you didnt walk away and have a good think about it. As posted before there are many alternatives to dealers, so do your due diligence. For $100 you can just replace the pads in your driveway. For a little more you can put your own rotors on. Cars today are like legos the way they are put together... pretty simple stuff.

FWIW $800 gets you a spark plug change on my Lexus. I just about fell over when I got that quote. I walked away and did it in my garage... granted the intake manifold needs to be removed to get at three of the plugs, but still...$800?

 

$800 for all 4 wheels sounds fair for a MINI dealer. If you do it yourself you can put a lot better brake system on and upgrade to stainless lines for less than $800.

ALWAYS replace MINI rotors if they have lasted the life of the pads. As said .... the rotors are not made to be cut or cam ground.

 

If you do it yourself you can save quite a bit.
New front rotors (OEM) ~ 120
New front pads (OEM) ~ 40
New rear pads (OEM) ~ 40
Rear rotors were ok so 0

Did mine for about $200.00

Nik

 

Hate to say this but you may have been ripped another way. I know of a dealer who developed an interesting propensity to tell owners who came in for their first "out of service coverage" visit that they needed brakes and rotors.

A couple of folks decided to do the work themselves and/or upgrade and lo....when they pulled things apart the pads weren't significantly worn.....wrong words...worn but not 'gone' (these were also 02 models, pre wear indicators)

They told me my pads were "totally gone" .... funny thing was I'd replaced 'em my self not long b4..... I decided to pull a wheel and look....funny thing, there was no evidence they'd pulled a wheel.....I guess that's one good thing about brake dust .

an amazing coincidence....I don't go back there anymore

 

Contact Shoe aka LordOfTheFlies on here or on http://nemini.org. He will work on your car right at his house.
I think he lives in Tarrytown(?) not sure how far that is from you, but I know you'll get good work at a fair price.

I'm not able to access nemini.org here at work, but he has a thread on there quoting prices for specific jobs.

 

Thanks partsman for the heads up, I will contact him next time tarrytown is not that far from me. I am NOT mechanically inclined so that is definately out of the question Thanks for all the suggestions and info.

 

I buy a new car , I keep it for two years +, I trade it in for the latest model (the dealer pays balance of what I owe on the trade in ,100% or very very close to it.) I get a new one.....

 

I had taken my car to get new tires and the guy working on the car called me into the work area and showed me that the brakes pads were almost gone, I took the car to mini about 3 weeks later (maybe longer)

 

$800 for Lexi plugs? I thought most all plugs lasted 100K miles or so these days?

 

Out of curiousity, because you already had this done, what did you expect to pay?