Saved $500 in 7 hours

Caren's car had been making an odd sound on a single, particular on ramp in Dallas. It was worse when the brakes were put on, so we went to Just Brakes and had her brakes checked out. They said she needed new brakes and that her calipers needed to be rebuilt, so we ponied up the $550 to get them done.

Not wanting to let my brakes go to the point where I needed to "rebuild my calipers" I decided to have my brakes checked. Just Brakes told me the same story and wanted the same $500, so I had a second opinion done. The dealership said the calipers were fine and maybe needed some grease, but I would need new pads and maybe rotors due to wear. I also needed a two year brake fluid flush. They wanted $600 just for the pads and flush without even addressing the rotors. To add those was another $400.

So, I got to reading the internet. I found these articles:

I used the flushing procedure from:
http://www.taligentx.com/passat/maintenance/brakefluid/

and the brake job writeup from:
http://www.passatworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179518

I decided to do them myself. Yesterday I took seven hours and did it all myself. It cost me about $350 in parts and tools. However, I now own the tools and know that I used quality parts. I don't know how Just Brakes could have done it for $500 unless they were using some really junky parts. I'm sure they would have been safe, but nevertheless, I'm going to check the Explorer for premature wear a little more frequently than otherwise now.

I had my difficulties, but I'm proud to say that I got it done, everything works and looks fine, and I didn't swear once!!!

Oh, and my calipers were fine. They just needed a little grease. Shocker.

I'm due for a coolant flush, so that may be a project for a couple of weeks from now. The dealer wants $100 for that and I can get it done for about $30 myself. I'll also learn more about my car which I plan to keep for another 15 years if I can. I may even attempt the timing belt, which is due at 100k miles, but according to most Passat sites should be done at around 65k miles due to a lot of failures that wind up costing you $2500 in damage.

If you're observant, you'll notice this posting is being written at 4:30AM on Mother's day. Let's just say that I'm a bit sore from working out and hunching over all day.