Dealer says I need to use a machine when doing brakes - otherwise there will be vibration

Personally, I'd just take care of the plugs and coils in one fell swoop. I found a set of 4 coils on Amazon for $50

 

Been a few years but the Rotors from Toyota were not all that expensive the price was inline with what I would pay from Napa they were in stock and I was there drinking the free Coffee

 

Just did my wires and plugs. NGK dual electrode. The OEM coils were VERY expensive...

 

Denso dual-electrode for me. Just personal preference, I've heard great things about both companies. OEM shit from Toyota is almost always a rip-off; I needed a new tensioner assembly (pulley and bracket) for my 3RZ, dealer wanted $275 for the part, minus installation. $60 on Ebay and had it the next week.

 

I always thought dual electrode plugs are for 3.4 engines. 2.7 and 2.4 use single electrode plugs.

 

good! I had to argue with a guy at the boat dealer while he tells me how a float switch works...lol i just laughed and said i was an aircraft mechanic by trade i think i know how a float switch works...

on or off the vehicle...still a waste of time imo

 

In terms of resurfacing the rotors, it’s better to do it on the vehicle. That’s why the machines now hook up to the hubs to cut them. It makes up for any variances that may come into play. End results are better then cutting them on a regular lathe, and faster as well. As far as a waste of time, perhaps than replacing with new rotors. However a lot of times if the tech has other work to be done they just let the machine run while they are doing other work only adding a few minutes switching the machine to a different rotor. Saves them time in the process and allows them to do two things at once. Obviously you can just replace rotors and no need to do this service. And in some cases this may be tour only choice or the best. This is just another option and cheaper and better in certain circumstances.


They normally use a Procut machine that looks like this

 

Yep, more than likely what they have. This is what the two previous auto groups I worked for used as well.

 

My bad, meant to say double-iridium. I'm tired today haha

 

The idler arm is support by and rotates on, bushings. These bushings wear out and buying the bushings, removing the idler arm, pressing the old bushings out, pressing the new bushings in, and reinstalling the arm costs more money than chucking a new idler with new bushings pre-installed at it. Some cars idlers get hammered by poor roads and wear out quickly. Every time you brake, or accelerate, or steer, or hit a pothole there is a whole fuckload of torque on that arm. Beware of ignorance when complaining about professionals.

 

$50 for the bushings.
1 hour to R&R the control arm @$100
.5 hours to press the bushings @ $50
for a total of $200 and I'll see you in 20k for the ball joint that will be bad by then.

OR

$130 for the new control arm, with new bushings already installed and a new ball joint. 1 hour to R&R @ $100.
For a total of $230 and I'll see you in 100k.

Yeah, us mechanics fuck you all the time.

 

What kind of crap bushings wear out in 1 year.

Another example. Same caprice died at an intersection. Towed to local mechanic told my parents bad engine 2k to replace. I had it towed to my house. Dead alternator, replaced by me for 100 bucks. Engine ran until sold.

In the end every profession has bad eggs and people who don't know much are easy prey.

 

Not all of them, but sometimes, yeah, they do. Sometimes it's malicious, other times it's simply because they charge 1/2 hour labor for a 5 minute job. I do understand the concept of minimum labor charges, but that's another reason I prefer to do it myself.

I also think it's pretty wasteful to throw away what is otherwise a perfectly good part, just so you don't have to take 5 minutes to press a bushing or two.

 

And probably all they would have done is power wash it and replace a few of the hoses.

 

I did the brakes, rotors, plugs, and wires myself. Got the OEM parts for dirt cheap online and learned some new stuff. I hate the salesman I have to deal with at the dealer, he’s a scam. They always try to upsell me when I come in for my $47 oil+filter change with a wash and some air fresheners thrown in. The only other thing I’ve ever paid for at a dealer is a pressurized injector cleaning (because I don’t have the machine) made a hell of a difference.

 

It’s not a sales pitch. The dealer does indeed use a “machine” lol

 

Its a sales pitch in a way that their trying to get you to buy a brake job from them cause only "they" have the ability to do it. Anybody can slap on new rotors and get the same thing accomplished sans any fancy brake lathe.

 

We cut rotors all the time at work with the on car.


But first gen tacos we won’t. The rotors have a bad habit or warping if
You have to make more than 2 passes.

 

The taco on youtube with over 1,200,000 miles changed his original spark plugs around 750,000 miles.