Well,

Truck finally needed brakes @58k miles. Back pads were metal to metal, fronts had less that 1MM of meat left on them. Rotors were worn down too low to be cut, so, needed brake kit front and back, and 4 new rotors. I'm not the most handy of people in terms of myself performing the brake job myself, but the bill from the dealer was $930? Man I almost fainted when he told me, does anyone think that is absurd????

 

Ooookay.

First mistake was letting them get anywhere near that bad. Probably should have been done months ago. When they start squealing, you HAVE to get the pads replaced to avoid trashing the rotors.

Your second mistake was taking it to a DEALER! Looking at a popular online retailer, I can get the parts for such a job...all expensive Motorcraft parts, too...for $332. I can settle for solid, Raybestos aftermarket brake parts for much less...

Parts aren't expensive when bought anywhere besides the dealer. Labor ain't cheap!!!

 

Ditto, don't take it to a Stealership. You can find lots of aftermarket pads that will work better than the OEMS. Search the forum and you'll find lots of threads about pads, etc.. Also, with the newer trucks, forget about turning rotors. They're so thin to begin with, that I don't know anyone who has been able to get them turned!

 

Usually brakes are a relatively simple and straight forward item to replace. Couple hundred in parts, couple hours labor and everything will be as good and probably better than new. Since you say you are mechanically challenged, I would definately seek other than the dealer to do the job. The one problem is pricing on the parts, there is a list price and a trade price. The trade price is what a garage would pay, the list is what you pay at a shop or dealer. The markup could be a couple hundred by itself, which normally covers the overhead of a shop, vs a backyard mechanic like myself, getting trade price and doing it myself and coming out on the very low end dollar wise.