went into a dealer last week for a warranty/recall issue, something simple, they came back with needing this and that, one was a 100 dollar clean brake job said my brakes were sticking which I sort of knew they were. SUV is 3 years old and 46K miles. So, took about 5 hours today after watching youtube video of how to do it and was not that bad. Am sure dealer could have done it in 1 hour since took near 1/2 the time jacking up each tire one by one and moving to each tire all the tools needed for each wheel.
Rear INSIDE brake pads were horrible to get off as I thought pretty stubborn and grimy thru 3 WI winters. Used brake/caliper synthetic grease sparingly on contact points and used up a whole can of brake cleaner spray on all 4 brakes.
Front brake pads were much easier to get off and much bigger, but the grooves were horrible clogged solid with packed in dirt which took a VERY long time to attempt to get one of each pad groove cleaned out was like concrete flush to the pads themselves was shocked that the grooves were completely filled in on both sets of the inside ones on both front tires. I chipped a few groove edges off in the process but was very minimal I think they will be fine.
cleaned grime off and re-greased and put back on, good to go for another 3 years. Brake pads I would say are 1/2 shot (especially smaller rear ones) but now that I know how to do it (simple but time consuming) I will be doing it every 2-3 years and probably next time in 2-3 years just replace the brake pads vs. attempting to try to clean the grooves again out.
Plus, will be doing the other 3 year old car before winter with 36K miles on it since I also hear while backing up out of the driveway some grinding/sticking going on especially when first backing out of the driveway in the morning. I backed the SUV out after done and NO grinding noise or dragging of the brakes and quiet and took it around the block JUST IN CASE I SOMEHOW MESSED IT UP.
I also took out the 2 caliper sliding long bolts out of the boot but they all looked fine and greased up and still clean since the rubber boots were in tact on them, but cleaned and regreased those up as well with CRC synthetic brake/caliper grease as well. Good to know if I ever need rotors or brake pads replaced, I can do it myself just takes most of the day to do it is all.
Saving 100 bucks having dealer do it plus another 20 bucks for removing snow tires which were on there since WINTER IS FINALLY OVER to put my summer passenger tires on is 120 bucks for GAS MONEY to be used cycle riding this summer. NOW it is Valk related...
Plus, wanna bet those front 2 brake pads that had the entire grooved clogged flush with the top and compacted in like concrete, the dealer would have said NOT able to clean and charged me with NEW brake pads since it took me about 20 minutes on both inside front brake pads to clean the grooves out being very difficult.
I though would feel a whole lot LESS tired after 5 hours of doing all 4 tires if I had a whole vehicle lift and was able to jack up all 4 tires at once vs. doing one by one and moving all the tools/jack, etc. from tire to tire.
One word of advice: use a bungee cord or string and tie the larger piston bracket to the inner shocks, especially for the front tires. The rear tire clamps rested easier on the frame not needing tied down, but the front tires needed that done or could easily slide off ruining the brake lines hoses am sure.
At least I did not spend 44 bucks for a 12 dollar cabin air filter that when at that dealer last week a lady got suckered into getting it done at the stealer. I told her she could EASILY do it herself takes 5-10 minutes tops, is behind the glove box but she said oh well, next time I will know better. Cabin air filters (newer vehicles have them) state should be replaced in 15K miles, but I always go 25-30K or so since all hwy. miles not dirty/dusty roads.
