I'm a firefighter and my time to work on my own cars is limited, so when my wife's 2002 S10 blazer needed brakes I called around town. The best deal going appeared to be the "friction reline" at Just Brakes. We carried the car there one morning and decided to get breakfast during the repair. While the "technicians" were inspecting the brakes, I stayed around just to make sure no unauthorized work was being performed.
I've worked on cars since I was in my early teens and had a clue what needed to be done. Since the pedal had a slight pulsation I knew the rotors needed to be turned and I had no way at home to do this, which meant a couple of trips into town taking up a good portion of my day. Anyway, the tech took me into the shop to walk me around our vehicle and began explaining the parts that "needed" replacing or rebuilding. Of course the pads were worn out (I knew that, that's why I brought it in) the rotors were worn too much to re-surface and needed replacing, brake hardware, and he was going to "do me a favor" and rebuild the calipers instead of replacing them to save me money. I didn't even let the man finish. "How did the rotors become so worn down" I asked. He said "whoever did your brake job before cut them down too much and they are under spec"."You'll have to take that up with GM, I've NEVER had brakes put on this car before" was my reply."60,000 miles and the calipers were worn out?" (me)."Happens all the time" (him) Nice try, nice guy, but a liar none the less. Also turns out that if you don't let them do all the work they try to sell you their warranty is WORTHLESS. What did my car need? Pads front and rear ($70.00 at Auto Zone,) rotors turned (by a reputable shop) and a little grease on the brake pins. Total cost... Less than a hundred bucks. And a little time for me to do the work. Just brakes... JUST CROOKS! Also, all the parts stores in town know about these folks. Run away!!!
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