[i'mbleedin]

My wife took her 08 with about 19k miles in to have the oil changed and they called her to advise that she needed to have the front brakes serviced at a cost of $1200. They said "not metal to metal" yet but soon would be. Does this sound right? Should the cost be so high? She doesn't drive it hard at all. Thanks.

 

[Ted C]

That doesn't sound reasonable

One, I don't know how hard you drive your car but unless you track it, 18K miles for front brake service seems too soon. Two, if they are just replacing the pads, $1,800 is too high. A set of Hawk, Porterfield pads probably cost around $300K max and swapping pads on those big Brembo calipers is quite easy.
I have not had a satisfactory experience with dealership service, be it, Lexus, Toyota, Honda, BMW or GM. In fact a friend of my father in-law was a mechanic at a dealership and he said they were told to push customers to get more service done (sometimes unnecessary). I found a private shop with ex-Lexus certified technicians and they are great. The key is to search the web for feedback on any shops you plan to use.
Good luck.

 

[FChampOH]

Have you owned the car since new? If so, and it hasn't been tracked then it does seem a bit pre-mature. If your not experieincing pedal vibration when stopping then I would consider just a pad replacement. A self inspection might help as well.

 

[F'n around]

You could always bring it to a tire/brake shop and have them take a look for a sense of security as well. These are pretty aggressive brakes that we have and they are not cheap to replace. There are a lot of factors to how fast your brakes will run down, and the type of brakes on our cars aren't made to last real long.

Good luck. Post back what you decide and how it turns out.

 

[Magic61983]

Cost for mine was $1300. The car had 32k miles on it at the time they were changed.

 

[phlabrasca]

My wife took her 08 with about 19k miles in to have the oil changed and they called her to advise that she needed to have the front brakes serviced at a cost of $1200. They said "not metal to metal" yet but soon would be. Does this sound right? Should the cost be so high? She doesn't drive it hard at all. Thanks.

$1200 is for new brakes and rotors at my dealership. You can save by buying the parts yourself and then take it to a Toyota dealership. I suggest the hawk performance ceramic pads so you don't pit out your wheels with the metal pads (1 winter on metal pads = pitting damage).

 

[avgj0F]

You can see a built-in sensor on the pads. My front pads were gone at 16k miles but rotors were still within tolerance.

Sign up with Sewell, order OE pads/rotors and have an indie shop do it for much less than the dealer.

My wife took her 08 with about 19k miles in to have the oil changed and they called her to advise that she needed to have the front brakes serviced at a cost of $1200. They said "not metal to metal" yet but soon would be. Does this sound right? Should the cost be so high? She doesn't drive it hard at all. Thanks.

 

[2URGSE]

OP:

You can go with DBA slotted rotors and hawk high performance pads. Will cost you a lot less with just as good of a performance.