acc0rd1

I knew my breaks were messing up so I took my car into a shop. They also found a bunch of other things wrong with my car. I'm really pissed about all this because I bought this car 3 months ago, and I paid extra to get it from a Honda dealer thinking I wouldn't have all these issues.

01 Accord, Automatic. Nearing 75,000 miles.

This is what they quoted me for:

Front brake pads and rotors- $350
Brake flush- 120
New battery- 130
Cracked drive belts- 250
Transmission flush- 300
Power steering flush- 120

So basically I am asking you guys to help me save as much money as I can. How do those prices seem to you?

I definitely need the brakes. Do you recommend buying them from somewhere else and paying the shop for labor? ($90 an hour)

I know I need a new battery but obviously that's something I'll take care of on my own. Any brands recommended?

I can see that the belts are starting to crack. Let them do everything, or buy them somewhere else and pay for labor?

Is the brake flush neccessary or is this the shop just trying to rip me off? Same with the transmission flush, I really cannot tell that there is anything wrong with my transmission. Would not doing it potentially ruin my transmission in the future?


I thank everyone in advance.

iam7head

1)brake pads runs around 85 for all four corner, I have axxis ulitmate, they are pretty much the best pad you can get for the street, if you don't mind the dust.

the rotor is depends, i would get aftermarket, even brands like brembo is cheaper and lighter than stock disk. I brough four disk from kragen for 80 dollar, those are called raybesto, which is aftermarket disk replacement. Pretty decent brand consider powerslot use their disc to make slotted/drilled disc.(for my gf's vdub)

total=200 dollar
where=kragen, napa or autozone. axxis you can get it online in h-t

2)brake flush will only cost you 10 dollar if you know how to do it.
it's so easy and painless that everyone and their mom can do it with the proper knowledge. there's detail instruction/how to on ht. just have to search for it.
if you are still not sure, get a cheap 20 dollar haynes manual.

total= 40 dollar
autozone for the dot4 juice and manual(20 dollar)

3)battery

groupsize 24(i think it is) runs around 70-80 dollar in most autopart store.

I use interstate for all my vehicle(except the S2k, which came with a panasonic battery that seems to last forever), there's a refrubrish depot by my house, they sell battery for 20 dollar, they last at leat 5 years which is good enough for me.

total=20-80 dollar
kragen, autozone, walmart, etc

4)drive belt as the timing belt?

parts alone cost 200ish, they goes around 400 installed.

5)transmission flush

easy as oil change, just need to drain and fill it three times in a row.
you need 3 quart ever drain so it;s 9 quart total.
they runs around 5-6 dollar per bottle.

50 dollar max for OEM juice.

very very easy, there's a bolt you need to remove, drain the oil and plug it back, fill it up and you just done a fill and drain.

price=50 dollar

6)power steering flush

you just need to remove one of the clamps and drain all the fluid, refill and bleed the system by turning the steering wheel.

total=10-15 dollar


those are crazy price for non-dealer shop, almost too much consider they don't use OEM stuff for most of the time.

BlUAc

^^^^^^^^ every thing this guy said that is just crazy for what they are askin for if you can do it yourself save yourself a lot of money first check all your fluids other than the tranny you shouldn't need to change those fluids check them see if they are still clean

AccordInTheMaking

wow.... but then again its a dealer so what should you expect. you would definetly save alot of money if you did it yourself. All the things you listed to be done really arent that hard as long as you know the basic was of doing them.

Heres the real list of prices:

front brake pads and rotors: pads $15-30 rotors $60?
Brake flush: Brake fluid $3.00 piece of tube: $free A helping hand: hopefully free
New battery: $40.00 (for 130 i hope you at least got an optima of something...)
Cracked drive belts that probably didnt need to be replaced yet cause all belts have small cracks: $30 for 2
Transmission flush: $ maybe $20 bucks in ATF fluid
Power steering flush: (harder to do yourself without the right machine) so $varies

in any case they waaaay overcharged things, but like i said thats because their a dealer. you would be better off buying a repair manual for your car and the parts, and had a little fun doing it yourself, but thats just my opinion. -preston

BlUAc

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AccordInTheMaking &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">for 130 i hope you at least got an optima of something
</TD></TR></TABLE>

130 for an optima dam thats player price I paid a buck eighty for my red top but n e ways thats pretty much it svae yourself the stress and DIY

wrsimmons21

I think this is kind of skeptical that they tell you you need a new battery and power steering fluid flush. Did your car start and you drove it to the dealership?? If it started up ok I would just ride the battery until it's dead. I haven't done a thing to my power steering in 206,000 miles and I have no problems at all. My fluid looks fine. I understand the transmission flush because it is good preventative maintenance. While you're doing other preventative maintenance you may as well flush your radiator. That's another no brainer job. I think the dealership is just trying to hose you. I think you are perfectly competent to do all these jobs you listed in your post if you know how to read (which obviously you do). http://www.autozone.com has a DIY section for several of these procedures. Just study up and with some perserverance you can learn to do these and will know how to easily do them from now on. Good luck :-)

honda83

thats just a complete rip off. damn. all them prices are just way to much. now i know u know someone that can put ur brakes in for you. friend. family someone. i mean damn. 200 for a tranny flush. i payed $20 3weeks ago. with $250 i would get all that stuff done and payed for. IF THAT. thats way to much man. go to someone on the street. or not dont go to the dealer. dont see why anyone goes to the dealer anyways.

acc0rd1

i might have confused some of you, i took the car into a local shop, not the dealer. i bought the car from Honda 3 months ago.

funny enough, i talked to Honda and they quoted me $330 for the brakes, so its cheaper.

i also talked to my salesman and he said hell try to work something out for me, but im not betting my life on it.

im definitely gonna get the brakes done either way. the belts under my hood don't look cracked, so i might wait. on saturday my battery died when i had the flashers on for 20 minutes so im definitely gonna do that haha.

the rest of the stuff ill either try on my own, get someone to do it, or just wait. thanks everyone for your tips.