Brake assistance needed badly!

[Mister_Ranger]

I don't have a lot of knowledge on brakes, so I'm hoping someone can please help me.

I had brand new brakes put in (fronts, backs, the whole bit) at 79,000 miles. I'm now at 108,000 on my '93 XLT and I was just told yesterday that my fronts are worn 95% and that my calipers are getting very hot from the lack of pad.

My question is ... is this normal for brakes to have to be re-replaced with 28,000 miles into them? Am I getting screwed over or is this seem legitimate? Also is this something that needs to be replaced like today or tomorrow? What happens if I wait a week to get them replaced?

Any help would be really grateful.

 

[410Fortune]

Oh baby..

Take my advice, if you can do any type of mechanical work (change a flat tire) you can do your own brakes.

Yes it is true that your brakes may need to be replaced after 28K miles. The reason is because whoever you had do it last time did it with cheap parts and probably did a crappy job.
PLaces like Midas will charge $900+ when you walk out the door, replacing rotors, calipers, wheel cylinders, pads, bearings, etc.... they will try to get you for every single possible part they can. Then they go and buy the cheapest parts they can get and use them to fix your truck! This way in 30K miles you come back in and they say, oh the lifetine warranty will cover the pads but the calipers, labor, etc.. a re gonna cost you another $500.

You know how much it actually cost to replace your own front brakes? Worst case about $175.
Takes about an hour and is a very basic proceedure.
Now
if your rotors are shot then it gets a little more tricky simply because you have to deal withthe spindle nuts and wheel bearings.

If you dont want to do any of the work yourself take it to another shop. Stay away from Midas, Meineke, etc.. Granted some of the branch's may be good and fair, but for the most part they are rip off artists.

Try Sears, they are honest and do good work. Try some of the "ma and pa" shops around town. Compare prices and get a second opinion.

Get yourself a Chiltons manual and you can do the frnt and rear brakes yourself in a weekend, it doesnt hurt ot have a buddy with tools and who knows how to do brakes on hand to help you the first time....

Good luck

 

[Robert]

If it is a 4x4 then the rotors will slide right off afer the caliper is removed. I removed all four of mine 18 months ago to get them resurfaced after getting all new pads. Very simple procedure.

 

[410Fortune]

be careful, his post doesnt say what year his truck is.
If it's an older X (before the IFS) it will be different and the rotors do not simply "slide off".

Boy I wish mine did! No more wheel bearing nighmare's

 

[Maniak]

He did say 1993.. 1993 has a nut/bearings to take off to get the rotor off.. The caliper comes out with a screwdriver and a hammer (slide pins)..

if you can follow instructions and have the book and the socket to take off the big nut and a torque wrench to put the bearing back on with the right torque you can do it. It isn't hard.. the hardest part is putting the bearings back in.. that is greasing the bearings and getting teh torque right..

just get a hayes or chiltons first.. this is actually an easy thing to do.

~Mark

p.s.
I forgot I had this.. this is the instructions for changing rotors (I was chaning to ART rotors but the procedure is the same)

http://mark.legendz.com/explorer/art/art1.htm