Is this a fair price? | Ford Explorer Forums

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Is this a fair price?

ctate2

Member
Joined
June 22, 2012
Messages
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City, State
Phoenix
Year, Model & Trim Level
2001 Ford Explorer Sport
I took my explorer to the mechanic, and am getting front and back brake pads and rotors replaced. I also had the check engine light come on and it was an O2 sensor. They are charging $600 to do everything. Does that seem about right?
 



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Well, the appropriate price would be what you're comfortable spending to get the end result of new brakes and maybe the CEL going off. O2 codes are notorious for not actually being the problem. You may get the O2(s) replaced and still have the light.

I would get a 2nd and 3rd opinion price in yoru area, as to me, that seems a little high... Even dealers are doing brakes and rotors around here for $!50 per axle, so that means they're charging you $300 to replace a $40 O2 sensor...
 












I'm sure they're using cheap pads and rotors. They're charging 450 in labor for a half days work at the very most.
 






It's definitely overpriced, and yes 9/10 times they use cheap pads, rotors, parts in general.

Do the brakes yourself, it's super easy.
 






Well they used nice ceramic brake pads and rotors.
 






Which ones, though? They can say "nice ceramic braks pads and rotors" but not sure what that means- you can get ceramic pads for your truck on eBay for $16. Doesn't mean I'd want to use them...

I don't think people are coming down on you, just pointing out that the 2 jobs you're looking at usually take a few hours to do for the DIY'er and can cost under a few hundred for really good parts...
 






For that price, you can almost buy all the tools you need to do the job and OE Motorcraft parts... Though shipping would probably put you over the top, you can get equivalent quality stuff for less and you don't need ALL the tools I listed.

From Sears online
Craftsman 3 ton service jack......................................$79.99
Craftsman 3 ton High Lift Jack Stands........................$29.99
Craftsman 12 pc metric wrench set............................$39.99
Craftsman Brake Bleeder Vacuum Test Kit..................$59.99
Craftsman Heavy Duty Disc Pad Spreader..................$19.99
From RockAuto
Motorcraft BR47B Front Brake Pads............................$41.79
Motorcraft BR2 Rear Brake Pads.................................$41.79
Motorcraft BRRF32 Rear Rotor Pair.............................$89.98
Motorcraft BRRF110 Front Rotor Pair..........................$107.58
Motorcraft DY843 Front O2 Sensor.............................$37.89
OR
Motorcraft DY1081 Rear O2 Sensor............................$44.79

Total if front................................................................$558.98
Total if Rear................................................................$565.88

If your truck doesn't have the lug wrench included, you can pick up a 4 way wrench for 20 bucks. I can't remember what size wrench you need to take off an O2 sensor off the top of my head either, but you need one of them too.

Just saying, if you don't want to do the job yourself, find a different mechanic. You are paying $200-300 in labor (depending on the cost of parts he is using and the amount he marks them up) for work that will take 2 hours at most, or he is just marking his parts up a lot higher than he should.
 






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