Just Brakes ripoff pretty much just ridiculous ...Buy the tools and avoid the fools!
I'm fairly knowlegeable about cars and do much of my own mechanic work, but for lack of a lift and air tools I needed someone to replace brake pads on my 93 BMW. I had allready purchased a set of performance pads and just needed them installed. I figured that a shop that just does brakes would be a good place to find someone very experienced and could do the job right, bad, bad assumption.
Since I was only requesting my own pads be installed they put the estimate at $100, which I should have immediately questioned since their $99 special includes pads, turning rotors, repacking bearings etc etc. I immediately got the "Uh, sir is this your car, I've got to show you a problem" . These were the comments I got from a young guy that was obviously a little too gung h*o about doing brake jobs:
Your screws that hold on your centercaps are rusted and stripped, you'll need new ones, your rotors are too worn down, you'll need new ones, your pads are really glazed over, probably what ruined your rotors, no shims on your pads so they're going to squeal, Oh, the dust caps I'm throwing away, they're not needed, I don't even know why they put them on. You bought your own pads? You know theres no difference between them and the cheap ones, no such thing as less brake dust. You'll probably need new sensors.
The guy let me watch everything and question everything so I know that everything was installed right thankfully but he did put a lot of doubts in my mind. I was adamant though that I just wanted my new pads installed so that's all they did. They still charged me $100 to put on my own pads, still better than what other people have been through. The good news is that since I watched it done I'm sure I can do the job myself next time, I think of it as a $100 lesson in how to install brake pads.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
#30
Thu, November 22, 2001
Just Brakes just want your money
#30
Thu, November 22, 2001
In spite of being told that I needed nearly $1000 worth of brake work my new brake pads are working great, no problems, no squealing etc. Just Brakes had led me to believe that basically my car would just about explode if I didn't let them do more work. Typical scare tactics. Their final comment was that they couldn't warranty anything because they installed my own pads, a set of $80 high performance pads.
It was also one of the least professional businesses I had ever been in, it was obvious that their employee turnover was extremely high. I feel extremely lucky that I got out of there with my wallet and car pretty much intact, if I hadn't had my own pads and knew a little bit about cars I could have easily been suckered into super expensive unnecessary repairs.
Buy the tools and avoid the fools!!!!!