SteveJ_in_TX

Okay, my stepson comes up to me and says his brakes are making a funny sound on his GMC Yukon 4x4. I go and listen to it and sure enough one of the front calipers is bound up and sticking, no pad left on it so it is metal to metal.

I look online and the rotors show around $100, so I tell him we'll do the job and plan on replacing the rotors. Go to the local Napa store and ask if they have them in stock, yes they do and they're $25 each (!). Ask about the calipers and a fully loaded rebuilt caliper with pads is $35 each (!).

I grumble about the fact that those prices are way cheaper than Audi parts (yes I know GM stuff is common as dirt and the economies of scale allow low prices on high volume), we buy the stuff and head home.

Tear into the truck and its a simple, straightforward swap, two bolts holding each caliper and they pop right off. We started at 7:30pm and had her bled and back on the road by 11:00pm. Bear in mind this is the guy who swears up and down that he will never start a brake job at night. End result is $130.00 and change for two new rotors and two rebuilt calipers.

So here I am, in front of the computer, suddenly understanding how folks can put up with cars/trucks that are less visceral and finicky than an Audi - they're way cheaper to fix.

The Audi is in the garage, so we did the work in the driveway. The garage door was open and I could imagine the 5k saying "don't work on that thing, work on _me_. Get _me_ running"

Soon, old friend, soon.

MarkPan

:-(

The audi has some screwy things, but I've never had a problem doing the brakes. they seem straightforward enough for me. Price of the rotors sucks though.

This reminds me though, my sister has a Golf II. I went to the local shop to get rotors for it.

$20 "performance"
$10 "basic"
hahahhaha. you can do the whole front brakes on that thing with "performance" for less than the cost of one rotor on my car.

4Driver4

It sucks spending nearly $100 to fill it with regular, but I was giddy when I found out how cheap parts are. New radiator for NAPA: $180 for the "expensive" one.

MarkPan

unless you go to the stealer, i guess.

SteveJ_in_TX

That was one of the reasons I wanted to get it done as the 'cold' front is scheduled to hit today, temp is supposed to be 38 by this afternoon (wacky weather influenced by the fact that we are an hour from the Gulf of Mexico).

But then again, you guys get Quattro weather and we don't...

dwengi

In college I did a clutch job in the dark, in the rain, so we could drive to spring break in Florida. I still vividly remember bench pressing the transmission with water running down my back. But I'm getting too old for that nonsense. These days any Audiectomy begins with 1. turning on the garage heater and 2. restocking the Spaten Optimators.

jurq

1. turning on the garage heater and
2. restocking the Spaten Optimators...