Took the vehicle into Firestone, front brakes are squeeking.  


Wants $500.  Says the front rotors are need to be replaced. Rear shoes are worn.  Also wants to drain and refill brake lines.  

I feel like I'm getting $crewed without being kissed.  

Comments?

Yup, a ROYAL screwing it is...

Front pads should cost $20-$40
Rotors can be turned on a lathe for about $40
No need to "drain and refill" the brake fluid, it doesnt friggin spoil like milk.

Rear brake shoes should be around $20...

You are being raped...


Edited to add:

Go to your local Autozone parts store, and price the parts out seperately.
This is probably where Firestone will get your replacement parts anyway...

if you are not comfortable with the quote, get another.

If they are doing the following, it maybe avg.

Loaded Calipers
Rotors
rear shoes
turn drums
flush lines
adjust and guarantee


I paid $600 for my jeep, it was my fault, as I had let the rotors get scored.

I used to turn rotors @ $7.50 each same for drums

Pads and Shoes are pretty close.

Brake fluid doesn't spoil, but it does attract water, which can rust and clog the system. If you do it yourself, then don't do it.

You could probably get by without replacing the calipers too, but do it yourself.

The rotors must meet minimum thickness requirements, sounds like they are past that.

Rotors will run $45 - $125 each, depending on the mfg'r

You could save some money by doing it yourself, but if you don't know what you are doing, it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Most places will replace all this stuff for liability reasons, and I don't blame them.

How many miles you got on that beast?

If it's high, then you may in fact need to replace the front rotors.  I doubt the caliper will need replacing, but pads are cheap, as mentioned above.  

I always to brake pad replacement myself.  I visually check the rotors and calipers.  Never had any problems with any of the vehicles I've had, but if I spotted any, I'd take the rotors off and have them turned for a few bucks.  

$500 is assrape for that job.  It can all be done in an hour, maybe two, by someone that has a little experience.  


Biggest pain I ran into was my old Saab.  The front pads wore completely out on me (hey, I was a kid then!), so I jack it up and get the pads.  Well, the stinking piston is self adjusting for the parking brake! (yes, the parking brake is on the front wheels on a Saab) Normally you'd just use a clamp and squeeze the piston back in, but NO.  On the Saab, it has to be twisted like a screw to go back in.  Special tool from Saab: $100.  I go buy a pair of bent needlenose pliers and work it back in.  Took me three freakin hours to do one side.  30 minutes for the other side.  Rotors were fine.  Cost me about $30.  If a dealer had done it, prolly would have been $300 easy.  Probably more, because of genuine Saab parts.  

My 2001 Silverado recently had some brake work done at a Chevy dealership. I had been quoted about $850 for a complete front and rear brake job at a shop which I use for routine service. They had noticed the excessive pitting/wear while doing an annual inspection and rotating my tires. The brakes were still working fine with no metal-on-metal contact. Truck only had ~28,000 miles on the odometer. Plenty of pads left in the front, getting a bit worn on the rear. In fairness to the shop, they did suggest going to a dealer and "complain," which I politely did.

The dealership did a complete rear brake job (new rotors/pads, etc.), and turned the front rotors, reinstalling my old pads with plenty of wear left. My total ended up being around $55 (rear pads plus tax).

Here in the NE, a lot of road salt is used during the winter months. Corrosion is a big problem. I was surprised Chevy covered the bulk of the job under warranty. I do think Chevy has a durability/quality of materials problem with their light truck braking system.

I have a 99 GMC Suburban and it eats brakes. The front discs generate a lot of heat due to design limitations- and a vehicle weight of nearly three tons.

The rears should hold up longer- most shops are conservative on drum and rotor thickness out of liability concerns.

You might want to consider some slotted rotors in the front to help dissipate heat.

I know for a fact, that they had a problem with the dually's brakes...

I bought a brand new Silverado Dually in '97...
Only 10,000 miles or so, I had a bad brake vibration. (warped rotors)
Took it to the Chevy dealer, and they just turned the rotors...
I told the Service Mgr this would only make the problem worse, due to the thinner rotors up front...
He said there was no recall or service bulletin on the duallys, but there was a problem with the proportioning valve on the HD suburbans...
Seems the brake bias was too much on the front end...
This caused premature front brake wear, and very little on the rear...

Sure enough, just after my warranty had expired, the rotors were warped again...

Visit to the Chevy dealer again...
This time I was quite firm in my belief that they should have installed NEW rotors the first time I was in with warped rotors...

They agreed, and installed new front rotors, new pads, and special high friction rear shoes under warranty...

I never had another problem with it after that...

And before you say the warped rotors were a result of poor driving habits, I will say that was NOT the case...

The 3/4 ton pickup I traded on the dually had 68,000 miles on it, and still had the factory front brakes...

Chevrolet brakes suck... always have, look like they always will.  That firestone price is a bit high, I'd want to see a breakdown of the parts and labor.  There's only a little more than an hour of actual labor for that job.  I bet they'll talk turkey if you start asking questions.