economic brake job.... - CEG Archives

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i need brakes extremely bad. they are very bad. my question is....What will be the cheapest way to go? I am short on money right now so I can't buy Stazi's kit although I would love to. I don't know if my rotors are too gone to get turned but I probably do need pads. I don't know much about brakes but that doesn't mean I can't learn. All I'm looking for is what I can get by with doing to have stock-like brakes until I can buy Stazi's stuff? thanx.

Most shops will do a free brake inspection, around here they do at least. Try that out, they should tell you if you need new rotors or not, most will tell you that you need them because they can bone you harder that way. If the rotors are still within spec, get them cut, and have new pads put on, you should be able to accomplish this for $150 or so I would think, unless you run into a sticky caliper or something.

BAT has some good package deals.

I don't know how you're going to do much better than $220 even with cheap pads & rotors. Say you're in traffic and someone jams on their brakes in front of you? I know the better stopping power saved my front end a few times. If you're going to get them in the future you're going to be spending even more $. You're not making sense. How many miles are on the car? If your rotors are not warped and slight turn is only needed then pads for four corners from him are about $100 I think. Do seaches in this forum. I once thought brakes were were difficult until I did them the first time. Now I look forward to working on them. VERY EASY. Just need a C-clamp to push in the front pistons back on and a torx bit for the rear calipers. Common tools are used for the rest. Find another CEGer close to you to help as well.

i don't mind doing them myself, i just need to know how much money i'm looking at and what that consists of for a brake change. my rotors have a pretty thick lip on the outer edge and they are discolored a little bit. at the goodyear by me, they have 180 for lifetime brakes and i'm sure midas has a 69.95 per axle, lifetime brakes as well. i'm just trying to get by until i can save the money for stazi's kit. i don't even really need them as i don't encounter much traffic at all, so maybe i'll just get stock replacements. i just hate all the dust on my white rims.

Stock from Ford is going to cost more than Stazi's.

Don't encounter traffic? So I take it you don't drive the car at all and or don't need it to stop well/unsafely. Your posts are so wrong on so many levels.

let me know where you're driving so I can avoid those roads! brakes are too important to cheap out on.

LOL! Looks like somewhere in CA. Don't plan on being there anytime soon thank goodness.

WTF? what are you guys talking about? all i was asking is how much i was looking at if i bought cheap or near stock pads and rotors or what else i need. what is so hard to understand about not having money? i barely have extra money, so i need to get a cheap set of brakes to last me until i can save up some money. i am in a little ditch moneywise, but not for long and i neeeeed brakes. i know it is not a place to skimp on. i wish i didn't have to, but that's how life works. i don't encounter traffic where there is wild drivers and i need to slam on the brakes. i'm usually taking back roads to work 5 days a week and i rarely go long distances on the freeway. i put like 800 miles a month on my car. why is it so hard to understand that i don't encounter much traffic? i hope you guys are just yankin on my pickle, because so far i haven't had a straight answer.

At your local autoparts store you might be able to get both front rotors for $70. Cheap pads will set you back $30. C-clamp/piston compressor $3. Slide pin grease $2. With taxes, your looking at $110+. Or you can just replace the pads and save for the rotors.

$30 brake pads will suck worse than the original pads. If you can swing $50-$60 for pads, you will have more choices.

Originally posted by JonnySVT:
i hope you guys are just yankin on my pickle,

Nope, don't swing like that.

lol
Can anyone let me in on what Stazi's breaks are excatly? Are they pads or a whole kit?

They are just a good price on Bendix Titanium pads with Autospecialty rotors. You should be able to get them anywhere Bendix is sold at a higher price. Notice the post at the top of this forum?

i got napa pads and they totally suck !!!

my breaking is horrendous, they even caused me to have a small fender bender cause they are super horrible.

dont buy cheap pads and learn the hard way like i did!

ok, unfortunately, it looks like i have no choice: credit card, here i come....

If you're not metal-to-metal just yet, just replace the pads and not touch the rotors. That's your cheapest option and is safer than worn pads. [Rara is prolly having a coronary right now!] It is a compromise, however, and you should drive accordingly. As soon as money is available, buy Stazi's kit.

[Edit: Before I'm completely flamed for the above advice, I read this thread as a dire situation where the pads are within a couple of stop signs of being toast and there is like $40 in the cupboard. We've probably all been there and just needed a solution to just keep the wheels turning.]

Originally posted by JonnySVT:
WTF? what are you guys talking about? all i was asking is how much i was looking at if i bought cheap or near stock pads and rotors or what else i need. what is so hard to understand about not having money? i barely have extra money, so i need to get a cheap set of brakes to last me until i can save up some money. i am in a little ditch moneywise, but not for long and i neeeeed brakes. i know it is not a place to skimp on. i wish i didn't have to, but that's how life works. i don't encounter traffic where there is wild drivers and i need to slam on the brakes. i'm usually taking back roads to work 5 days a week and i rarely go long distances on the freeway. i put like 800 miles a month on my car. why is it so hard to understand that i don't encounter much traffic? i hope you guys are just yankin on my pickle, because so far i haven't had a straight answer.

not trying to bust on you, I gave appropriate advice further up the post. It's just that your thinking is way wrong when it comes to "not encountering much traffic, don't need brakes much" philosophy in this situation. What happens if you have a blow-out? Yeah, it's rough not having much money, but I also noticed you've got some fairly pricey mods on your car. The safest car is the one you can control the best. You can't control a car with marginal brakes, bad tires or worn struts. This is not only for your benefit but for the others reading these posts.

the fairly pricey mods on my car is my last car's ashes. I sold my Nova when I got the SVT and the money from that went to rims, tires, exhaust, intake, suspension, and gone

. I make enough money to basically pay my bills and sometimes eat. I know I need a new job so I can get out of this whole thing. I'm in school, so I can't exactly get a 9-5 yet and I will probably have to work graveyard shifts. Last time I did that, I flunked my classes because I was sleeping during class. The benefit of more money is kind of thrown off by wasting 1,000 a quarter for flunked classes. So I'm just in a pickle for about one more year. Thanx for the advice everyone, I just hate spending money I don't have (credit card)and I was looking for an easier way out. I appreciate everybody's help, even the ones I got offended by.

If you're so short on cash why did you buy a MSDS y-pipe and are now looking to buy an Apex-i? FWIW, people here don't appreciate b.s., at least I don't. So eager for performance mods, so reluctant to do maintenance

JonnySVT-

The straight scoop is that you want pads like Bendix Titanium Metallic's. They're roughly $50, call around to a few auto parts stores.

If you look at your brake rotors, do they appear smoothe and flat or do they have grooves in them? If grooved, you'll need a resurfacing at the least, maybe new ones if they're too thin to cut on a lathe. Certain auto parts stores also "turn" rotors. $15-ish.

Do you need fronts or backs?

Get some help in identifying what you need (pads and/or rotors) and where (front and/or back) and then it's easier to tell you exactly where to get your best deal.

Brian
99 SVT

bigmoney ooooh so funny, are you retarded

? first of all it is a POS Brullen y pipe that does not fit (which is the reason i am broke!), not MSDS....second, about the apex'i....i was asking about it mostly to learn, that's a funny word "learn", you should look that up in the dictionary, and if you didn't notice, it does say i might be looking into one of these in about 6 MONTHS!! That's cool if you misunderstood those posts, but don't come at me talking about "people here don't appreciate b.s."

I've got a clue for you, most people don't like taking heat from an idiot who has no idea what he is talking about. Go try to punk someone else, just hope I am not in your area anytime soon because my brakes don't work.
i saw your post before you got crazy and you seemed like an ok person, i even thought your advice was good, thanx for that. seriously though, you got crazy for no reason, bad day?

Damn guys lay off. Are all of you saying you've never had to skimp because you're low on cash? You've never put sheetz gas in your car because you're on E and only have 5 bucks? He said he's upgrading as soon as he gets the money. I agree that he should get better brakes, but if he cant't, he can't. Hell, cheap brakes are better than no brakes.
Go to autozone and ask for the cheapest pad they have. When I bought brake pads, they had several choices, one of which was a 'lifetime' no name set. I think they were around $20-ish.

Originally posted by JonnySVT:
bigmoney ooooh so funny, are you retarded ? first of all it is a POS Brullen y pipe that does not fit (which is the reason i am broke!), not MSDS....second, about the apex'i....i was asking about it mostly to learn, that's a funny word "learn", you should look that up in the dictionary, and if you didn't notice, it does say i might be looking into one of these in about 6 MONTHS!! That's cool if you misunderstood those posts, but don't come at me talking about "people here don't appreciate b.s." I've got a clue for you, most people don't like taking heat from an idiot who has no idea what he is talking about. Go try to punk someone else, just hope I am not in your area anytime soon because my brakes don't work.
i saw your post before you got crazy and you seemed like an ok person, i even thought your advice was good, thanx for that. seriously though, you got crazy for no reason, bad day?

Not a bad day at all, guess I'm an a$$hole all the time. It's common sense, really, the prudent thing to do is not to skimp on essential's (like brakes or other regular maintenance) in order to buy performance. Maybe I'm an old coot, but starting with a solid car and going from there tends to keep you out of trouble and off the side of the road.

Re-read this thread and notice how many CEGr's have brought up issues with your brake plan. Perhaps I'm not the only "crazy punk"...

BTW, I followed the thread about the y-pipe and that is just plain wrong. SVTCuervo did a great job keeping the buy going and following through to delivery but he sure dropped you like a hot potato when you started having fitment issues. Hopefully Brullen will offer a solution but the person organizing the group buy should be leading the fight.

Originally posted by bigMoneyRacing:
It's common sense, really, the prudent thing to do is not to skimp on essential's (like brakes or other regular maintenance) in order to buy performance. Maybe I'm an old coot, but starting with a solid car and going from there tends to keep you out of trouble and off the side of the road.

Re-read this thread and notice how many CEGr's have brought up issues with your brake plan. Perhaps I'm not the only "crazy punk"...

maybe my posts about what i was looking for in brakes was worded wrong or something, but seeming that many people reacted the same way, i know that something must have come across wrong. i was not trying to skimp on things, just short on money at the particular moment and frustrated because i'm short on money. hopefully i'll have a new job lined up at a casino where i'll make almost twice as much as i am now, then i'll buy super duper cross drilled, extreme slotted, ported and polished, carbon, kevlar, diamond, 20 inch rotors......just kidding of course. but yeah, things might be looking sunny over the horizon. i will get stazi's kit now because i am getting an extra paycheck in october, so i'll use that. question: i heard demon say don't worry about the backs, just get fronts in another post. i need new fronts bad but my rears can be turned if even necessary, correct? i'll still need pads of course. or is this considered skimping?

Turning the rotors (front or rear) isn't considered skimping at all. Just replace the pads and it'll be like new. The key is to have true mating surfaces.

The front brakes do all the work and wear the most. Your rears are most likely in fine shape.

that's what i was thinking. like i said before, i don't know too much about brakes but i know they are easy because my friend can change them, and he knows NOTHING about cars. thanx for the civilized answers.