I need to put new brakes on my grandson's car-where is best place to get parts?

[dennis thompson]

My grandson is turning 17 & will get his license next month . My son gave him a 1999 Ford Taurus which needs brakes (it has disc brakes on all 4 wheels) & I plan to do the brakes myself. Do you ever buy auto parts over the internet? If you do where would you recommend I go for them?
Thanks
Dennis

[Larry Edgerton]

To qualify, until recently I owned a share of a repair facility. We refused to use brake parts from all of the new style chains like Autozone, etc. etc. Too many problems, which reflects on the shop. So if you wanted to use discount parts, you had to take it somewhere else.

Currently Napa seems to supply the best quality parts, and has the biggest share of parts made in the USA. Shopping for brakes, which are somewhat important, I would not use price as my guideline.

Larry

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

+1 on NAPA. I have used them a lot.

I have had success with Pep Boys and Auto Zone parts, although I usually do not get the lowest priced option. The middle of the road one often has a better warranty.

Have you ever done brakes before? They're actually pretty straightforward but be prepared for obstacles (frozen bolts etc), and replace *everything*. I would also replace (purge) the brake fluid.

[Matt Meiser]

I've never been good enough at planning ahead to order on the web other than customizing parts. I've had good luck with the chains as well. But for my wife's Focus, NAPA beat the price on the rotors by a wide margin and like Larry said they were made in the US. The pads were comparable in price. Plus with the local places you can pull off a part and take it in to compare and make sure you are getting the right thing. I.e. when they asks if you have the 10" or 11" brakes and yours measure 10.5". Umm... Then there's the warranty. If you've got a warranty on the pads are you going to take them off and mail them to the interweb place and wait for replacements to come back? What if you get a warped rotor (it happens?)

I'd buy a lot more at Napa if my local Napa store would stay open later in the evening, Saturday afternoon and/or Sunday. I'm lucky to be finishing dinner by the time they close at 7 on weekdays. The local lumber yard didn't learn that lesson and a feed store bought the property at the auction...

[Jim Sears]

I've used rotors brake pads on my truck, my wife's car and my son's car from O'Reilly's. Never been disappointed with them. I don't mean to dog Larry here, but the real reason most shops won't use owner supplied parts is because it cuts into their profit margin. I have a good friend who is the parts manager for a Ford dealership. I've been in the shop when Auto Zone or Advanced Auto Parts delivers something to them. They will get the part at a discount because they are a dealership, and then charge list price plus their markup on the part.

[Jeff Monson]

Dennis, I'd stay away from the internet for this project. It really stinks to get the car tore apart only to find you got the wrong parts. Chances may be slim....but it's a whole lot easier to run to the parts store to get the right ones. I'm a fan of Wagner MX series pads, they are a great pad. You get what you pay for in auto parts.

[Chuck Wintle]

and before you start the job you may want to squirt loose-nut on the caliper and other places...especially the bleeder screws which are likely rusted in place.

[Joe Angrisani]

AND....

Don't do a "pad slap". You MUST address the rotors. If there is enough metal left, you can resurface the old rotors. If there is not enough metal left, you have to replace the old rotors. But installing new pads against old, untouched rotors is NOT a brake job.

And since you're in humid New Jersey, flush the brake fluid (as JohnT suggested), if it's been more than a year since the brakes were flushed.

ps...Check the actual pad material front and rear. Odds are it doesn't need both at the same time. Be sure to check the inner pad and outer pad at all wheels. I'll bet a shiny quarter it only needs front brakes.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I agree with Joe!

We had a Blazer that the dealership couldn't get the brakes to last or work properly. We had 4 brake failures on 4 steep mountain roads Once it was off warrantee, I did the brakes. After that until I broke my back I did the brakes on all my vehicles because my wife trusted only my brake jobs.

Flat surface against flat surface....new surface against fresh surface. I always turned or replaced the rotors when I installed new pads.

[Greg Peterson]

I work in the parts industry from the wholesale side. The independent shops do have a vested interest in selling their customers parts, it is a logical and reasonable profit center for them. Now some shops do have outrageous markups on their parts, but you can not begrudge a shop for trying to sell a part that has a warranty backed by the manufacturer and the wholesaler that sold them the part.

Our customers, the installers, know that if a part they bought from us goes bad prematurely, they are going to be covered by OUR warranty policy, which is beyond generous by a country mile. Bringing your own parts to the repair shop is similar to bringing your own popcorn to a movie theater. Except if the popcorn is bad you can always go out to the lobby and buy fresh. If the parts you provide are wrong, your car is now sitting on the rack costing them money (time) while they source the correct parts.

I have dealt with part numbers and parts look up on a daily basis for twenty five years. I will tell you that even with the vast improvements in electronic cataloging in recent years, they still have not surpassed the paper catalogs and expertise of a well seasoned parts person. And when a shop's bottom line is predicated on turning as many cars in a day as possible, the smart operators will trust their local parts guy over a novice looking to save a few dollars.

And I don't know if many of you are familiar with the cost of professional tools, but the average mechanic and shop owner have an enormous investment in both tools and training. You won't see Craftsman tools in many professional tool boxes, just like you won't see Craftsman CS in cabinet shops. And those analyzers you see them plugging in to the car? Not only are they expensive, but there is a subscription fee for the data they require to read your cars computer.

Most of these shops are owned and operated by guys that love cars. They certainly didn't get into it thinking they were going to be wildly wealthy. And if you think the independents markup is outrageous, try the dealer. That's they bread and butter. Selling the car is practically a loss leader for them. They make their nut from the service department.

As for OE brake pads from the dealer? They are not the same pads that were put on in the factory. So don't think that a dealer supplied part is going to be identical to the original component.

As for the DIYer, you may want to consider a local, independent parts store. They would appreciate your business far more than the big national chains. The company I work for is one of the last privately owned, independent wholesalers in our market. We have to compete against the big boys every day. I like to keep my dollars as close to my front yard as possible.

Give that little parts store a try. Chances are pretty good they are going to give you great service.

[Joe Angrisani]

.....Bringing your own parts to the repair shop is similar to bringing your own popcorn to a movie theater.....

No. It's like bringing your own food to a restaurant and asking them to cook it.

[Greg Peterson]

No. It's like bringing your own food to a restaurant and asking them to cook it.

+1. Excellent.

[Scott Shepherd]

Maybe if I weren't getting ripped off on my pop corn and parts, I wouldn't have to bring my own.

My Dad just had a quote to have spark plugs changed in a 6 cyl car, from the dealer. $285 in parts.

Get serious. For what? Funny, when a car dealer walks into our business and wants signs made, they always want them for a bargain. I can't take a sign that everyone else sells for $100 and tell the car dealer it's going to be $315 for the sign. They'll walk out my door.

It always seems to be fair to charge someone crazy high prices, but no one ever thinks it's fair to pay them when they need to buy something.

[Curt Harms]

Where in New Jersey? I've gotten parts from National Parts Supply store in Lambertville. They seem like they might be a step up from Pep Boys et. al. Try googling "national parts supply+nj".

[Curt Harms]

No. It's like bringing your own food to a restaurant and asking them to cook it.

A local shop we use is okay with installing owner supplied parts, they just charge an hourly rate. They of course won't stand behind owner supplied parts; they install them and that's it. If the part fails in 2 weeks they collect the labor charge again. The risk to the shop is an owner claiming a part failed due to improper installation but it apparently hasn't been a problem so far for him.