Hello again. Dallas Council back with you from AAMCO Transmissions of Venice and today, I want to talk about a very common question that we get, a question that you at some point may have asked and that is, “Can’t you buy us a cheaper part to make our repairs less expensive?”
The answer to that question is inevitably yes. You can always find someone willing to sell you a lesser quality part that will ultimately make your repairs less expensive but a big part of our mission statement here at AAMCO Transmissions of Venice says that we will never allow our customers to talk us into a lesser quality repair than is absolutely necessary to meet their needs.
So with that said, today, I want to discuss the difference between a few different qualities of brake parts as pertaining to your braking system.
So first up, what I’m going to show you is just the very lower level Duralast Brake Pad. This is a pad that is made of an organic material. As you will see, nothing very special about it. The big problem with these pads, they are very susceptible to buildup of heat, which in turn will warp your rotors, make excessive brake noise and cause excessive brake dust. So, definitely not a good pad. We do not recommend these to our customers nor do we install them here at our shop.
Second up is the Duralast Gold Pad. These are a semi-metallic pad. You will notice that they have customized shims on the back from 3M which just adds some quality. We install these brake pads on 80 percent of the vehicles that come to our shop. These pads retail for somewhere in the $60 range. The pads that I just showed you previously, the lower levels, retail for somewhere in the $40 range. So for a $20 difference, the quality and durability that you get with these Duralast Golds are an exceptional value. Again, we install these pads on 80, 85 percent of the vehicles that come to our shop.
Next up is the highest level that they offer. These are the Duralast Gold CMax. The big difference between these and the regular Golds is these are fully ceramic pads which is about the best that you can buy and then the shims on the back are customized rubber material. It helps cut down drastically on vibrations. It also saves on brake noise.
One other big difference is, the Duralast CMax will also come with the hardware clips for the front brakes. Not always is it necessary to replace these. Normally on heavier duty applications, we recommend them the CMax pads unless we have a specific request or want to meet a specific need for our customers. These pads retail for somewhere in the $80 to $90 range. Again, all the prices can vary and depend on applications.
So lastly, I just want to talk about the brake rotor. This is the part that your brake pad compresses onto to stop a vehicle from moving. It is not always necessary to replace the brake rotor. You always want to at minimum have the brake rotor serviced. At some point, you will have to replace them or if they are warped or beyond being serviced, you will have to replace them.
Brake rotors can retail anywhere from $40 to as high as $120, some maybe more depending on application. It is something that you do not want to leave unattended. You never ever want to put pads on without a bare minimum service in the rotor.
So keep all these in mind. I know everyone is very price conscious. It is much better to get the most value for your money. Again, you can save 20 bucks on your brakes and in another 30,000 miles you really haven’t saved anything but it has actually cost you more money, not to mention the safety concerns involved.
So again, Dallas Council from AAMCO Transmissions of Venice. Thank you very much for joining us. If you enjoyed this video, please leave some comments or if you have ideas or suggestions of videos that you would like to see from us in the future, leave those in the comment section too. We love to produce any video that you may have an interest in. Again, thanks and have a great day
