1300 dollar brake job??!!!

[Tuck&Poke]

I concede for my errors. I appologize.

edit: i just wanted to add that i have the utmost respect for technicians who take pride in there work and perform quality service. it does take a lot of training and dedication to get to that level and they deserve every dollar they make. My previous posts were not referring to that caliber of mechanic. I was talking about the people with little to no education who basically act as parts changers, like SOME of the ones that worked at my dealership, and other dealerships that i have had experience with that do hack jobs or dont do some of the work paid for by the customer. You should see the hack job of a recall they did on my fuel lines and heat shields. THATS what i dont appreciate. Hopefully i didnt offend you guys too much, i know the difference between good techs and bad and i do now the amount of schooling and training it takes to get to that level. My posts should have been a bit clearer. Again, sorry.

[dinanm3atl]

god hourly rates have gotten ridiculous, 95/hr! I'd rather slice my penis off than pay 95/hr to some dude who didn't go to college. Maintenance on cars in NOT difficult, not 95/hr difficult. What the fuck is it with labor rates in this country.

It has already been said... but dude. Wow.

I think that part was pretty unnecessary. If you dont want to pay that much, then do the work yourself. There are a lot of people who do not want to or are afraid to learn how to work on their own cars.

Thanks Mike. After school, tools, testing and more it adds up quick and I was only working on cars in shops for about 5 years.

Tens of thousands for tools I got all my tools (craftman) for under 2k and I have more them most guys do. Besides special tools, witch most shops should supply for you, theres no way you NEED to spend tens of thousands of dolors for tools, especially if you just got out of college. Hell, even the guys who bought snap on products at my school only paid a little over 3k for all their tools.

Now if you own your own shop you have to fork out the big bucks for tools, but no where even close to tens of thousands of tools to just start out at a dealership or a indy shop.

Welcome to stanceworks btw.

So customers go to people based on what kind of tools they have? And since when did a Craftsman wrench fail to do the same job as any other kind of wrench? The only difference between Craftsman and Snap On is that Snap On pays a guy to come replace a tool (witch takes forever btw) and polishes them. Sure they look all fancy, but they do the same job as any other wrench on the market. I doubt costumers would care if you used a Craftsman tool over a Snap On tool. Most of the time they don't even know the difference or care about what tools are used. Just like you said in your above post, "Point is that if you do quality work, and deliver on all your promises the best clients will not only find you. . . they will pay what ever you ask." Not what kind of tools are used.

I never waited more than a week for broken tools from SnapOn, Mac or Matco. The difference is when you use them everyday you really can tell a difference. Just feel the ratchet in the big 3 verse craftsman. Small tweaks in wrenches that snap on makes then everyone else copies. It really does matter and is different.

For real with all the dick swinging. Brakes are an easy enough job do DIY. I've learned that yes you do pay for what you get and some things are better left to professionals.

It comes down to some people wanting the peace of mine for something like brakes. Are they easy? Yup. On most vehicles they are. With that said it is one of the most important if not the single most important item that needs quality parts that are PROPERLY installed.

Many BMW Indy shops will ONLY install BMW parts and they order them from the dealer. It means there is less margin for the shop on the parts to 'mark up and rip you off' but it means they know their clients will get BMW parts for their BMWs. This includes oil filters, brakes etc. That is how the shop worked that I was at.



When you get down to it the book time is probably 2 hours per corner. Maybe 1.5. So 8 hours at 95 dollars and you are already at 800 dollars and haven't bought a part. If you think it is cheap to purchase a shop, 4 lifts, buy all the specialty tools that allow you to do ANYTHING job that comes in... you are crazy. Then add in the insurance and paying the rent, utilities, buy all the consumables and the list goes on and on. 1300 is probably right. Most of the shops in Atlanta might even charge more. BMW dealer might charge that much per axle...

[wheelfetish]

I
I never waited more than a week for broken tools from SnapOn, Mac or Matco. The difference is when you use them everyday you really can tell a difference. Just feel the ratchet in the big 3 verse craftsman. Small tweaks in wrenches that snap on makes then everyone else copies. It really does matter and is different.

The shop I helped out at had Snap On. The guy was there almost every day, he was also a friend of the owner of the shop. Then I wen't to college and guys broke their Snap On tools but the Snap On dude took forever to come by. I guess it really matters if the Snap On guy is in/around the area or if you have a good connection with him. It was just easier to buy Craftsman since sears is a five minute drive from where I was, plus the college i'm at ran out of kits before I got to mine. So I had to either buy Craftsman or miss a whole semester of classes. If I had the choice, I would have picked up a Snap On kit, but I didn't. Once I get the money i'm going to pick up a kit then use the Craftsman set at my house for small jobs.