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If you have any type of shake or vibration in your vehicle while stopping this is a sign that your brakes may need servicing. This shake or vibration is caused from your brake rotors, or drums, being out of round. Several things may cause this. One of the causes may be from aggressive braking. Late braking, or a panic stops causes excessive heat to warp the rotors and or drums. Another cause could be that the rotors are too thin and should have been replaced at the last break job. Every rotor or drum has a specified discard measurement. if you do not replace it, there is not enough material to dissipate the heat and in turn, warps the rotor or drum. That the most probable cause is that your brake pads or shoes have worn down so much that they make excessive heat and then warp the drum or rotor.

Do not even think about coupon shopping for the $79.00 total brake job. It is not possible to do a brake job on any car for that price. At least not a good job. The actual brake pads themselves cost on an average of around $50.00 or so. You should always resurface the drums or rotors every time you replace the pads or shoes so they have a true flat new surface to mate to. If you do not have a flat surface, you are only getting a small percentage of the stopping power your vehicle was intended to have. Resurfacing rotors, or drums usually costs around $15.00 a piece. That's $30.00 for the pair. You are already up tp $80.00 if the shop installs the parts for nothing. Not likely. There are no frills brake pads that you can buy for around $20.00, but these do not provide the stopping power intended for your vehicle, they will wear out in about 1/3 the time, and they will most definitely make a lot of awful noises.

If you find a shop with this coupon price of $69.95 or so, I can guarantee they are going to try and sell you rotors, calipers, drums, or any other parts that you may not even need, so they can turn a profit from the job. At my shop, for most cars anyway, we charge around $70.00 labor, $30.00 total to cut rotors or drums, and average brake pads are around $50.00. That's a total of $150.00. The most common type of brake pad we use is Bendix, which comes with a one time free replacement warrantee. This means, the next brake job, you pay just the labor. That's not bad for a quality brake job. I have a coupon for my labor charge to be $39.95 that is a part of my shops ad. That is plus parts, and labor to resurface drums or rotors.

Do not skimp on brakes. They are one of the most important parts of your car. If you can't stop, you may have a bigger problem than if you saved $50.00 or so on your last brake job.

Thanks for listening to my thoughts.

Robert Avanti

Phone # 631-462-4416. Email [email protected]

Address: 100 Smithtown Blvd. Smithtown, NY 11787