Rear drum brake service

_chriswordley

Hi, I had my service recently at the dealership via a service plan, they advised I have a rear brake service, I have drum brakes, is this necessary or just something they try and sell to those who may not be all that clued up about cars? I ask this as the dealership quoted £60 for this service where a local garage I've had work done at previously quoted £20 as all they have to do is pop the hub off and give it a tidy up.

Stubod

..yes I would think it is fairly important to have your brakes serviced! As to cost, £20 seems a little cheap to me?...wheels off, hubs off, check and clean. Easy enough to do yourself, (You tube) if you have the time an inclination, (and a "safe" jack!).

How old is the car? how many miles?....

nb you need to get the hubs off anyway to check the pads for wear.

caprikid1

"nb you need to get the hubs off anyway to check the pads for wear."
Some have Inspection holes in the backplates , easily accessed when on an MOT ramp

chrisw

Pop the hub off and a quick inspection and tidy up is fine. Obviously they'll charge more if they find anything amiss.

£20 local garage is probably equivalent to £60 dealership.

_chriswordley

Stubod said:

..yes I would think it is fairly important to have your brakes serviced! As to cost, £20 seems a little cheap to me?...wheels off, hubs off, check and clean. Easy enough to do yourself, (You tube) if you have the time an inclination, (and a "safe" jack!).

How old is the car? how many miles?....

nb you need to get the hubs off anyway to check the pads for wear.

Hey, totally agree, I'm having the work done at the garage charging £20, was just a bit surprised in the jump in cost between dealership and independent garage. I'll be honest it does look so simple to do yourself from what I've seen on YouTube, unfortunately I've no equipment! Car is 5 years old approaching 68k on the clock so it's due these sorts of things anyway... 🙂

peter12345678910

There are different kinds of service, it has to be cleaned and greased, also parts checked. I just changed a pin that had rusted which has a spring through it, but I could not change the spring I think you need a special device. But only 5 years old...i would not bother. 

Ganga

_chriswordley said:

Stubod said:

..yes I would think it is fairly important to have your brakes serviced! As to cost, £20 seems a little cheap to me?...wheels off, hubs off, check and clean. Easy enough to do yourself, (You tube) if you have the time an inclination, (and a "safe" jack!).

How old is the car? how many miles?....

nb you need to get the hubs off anyway to check the pads for wear.

Hey, totally agree, I'm having the work done at the garage charging £20, was just a bit surprised in the jump in cost between dealership and independent garage. I'll be honest it does look so simple to do yourself from what I've seen on YouTube, unfortunately I've no equipment! Car is 5 years old approaching 68k on the clock so it's due these sorts of things anyway... 🙂

Ring up and ask your local independent garage and your local Merc ,BMW ,Audi etc garage their labour rates and you will understand the difference in price.

colino

As part of another bit of work, £20 is cheap.  I'm astonished any professional garage would tie up a ramp, even for a few minutes, just to charge that amount.  In essence they will take off the drum, clean everything down with brake cleaner, check for wear and broken/missing parts, lubricate then put it back together and adjust the shoes. A bargain and the only difference you will notice is on the handbrake. 

Herzlos

Independent is probably charging you half an hour at £40/hour since you're getting work done anyway.
The main dealer will be charging you a full hour at £60/hour.

NottinghamKnight

Herzlos said:

Independent is probably charging you half an hour at £40/hour since you're getting work done anyway.
The main dealer will be charging you a full hour at £60/hour.

Main dealer rates will be closer to double that if not more.

AdrianC

...and good luck finding any garage only charging £40/hr, unless it's in the back end of nowhere or the frozen wastes.

Plus VAT.