Anybody know a good place to get brakes worked on here in Rolla?

My backyard?

What's wrong with them?

Well when I push on the brakes the pedal gives inconsistent resistance, it acts like I am "pumping" it when in reality I am apply even pressure. And when I apply the brakes my entire car shakes.

Air Bubble in the line, Dirt or debris on the rotor.. or in the worst case, your rotor could be warped

it's not an air bubble, your pedal would be going to the floor..

If you're vibrating when you're slowing down from highway speeds, your rotors are most likely warped. If they're warped to that point, you pretty much need new ones... when I got a new one for my car it was like $100 for the part and it was fairly easy to replace if you've ever messed with cars before.

But the inconsistent resistance... I'd lean towards a bubble or other contamination in the line... (in case you didn't know) air compresses/expands a lot and brake fluid barely does at all. So when you pretty the brake, you're compressing the air in the line, but the friction in the breaks heats up the fluid, which eventually heads up the bubble so it expands. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. What is most troubling is how the air gets in there though... over the summer the air got into mine and I was leaking fluid out of my ABS pump. Brake pedal eventually went to the floor without any resistance

wait... i was getting quotes of 800+ in STL for replacing 4 rotors & pads. and i'm pretty sure there wasn't $300 in labor in there

just looked at Advance Auto parts, for my 94 Integra it's

~$25/rotor for basic $60 if you go the premium route..
~$20 for pads

Seriously, Midas or any of the other big-name brake places will rape you cold hard solid. They'll charge you $800-1000 for a brake job and you'll gladly pay it in the name of safety or they'll put a mechanic's lein on your car. That sucks.

Front brakes will cost you round about $45 apiece for the rotors (you'll need two) and about $22 for brake pads (per set). If you go to the right places, they'll cut you a deal on the rotors when you buy brake pads. If the rotors aren't THAT bad, you COULD potentially get by with just brake pads, but it sounds like they're warped.

You could get the rotors turned (i.e. machined down flat), but if they're already warped it's not going to do you any good because they'll warp on you again even worse within about 1000 miles. Heat stresses and all that. Also, less material on the rotor = less material to heat up during friction = hotter brakes during heavy or prolonged braking --- could lead to premature brake fade.

You know what you'll do? Course you do, or you will in a sec.
1) Loosen the lug nuts on both the front tires.
2) Jack up the front axle of your car.
3) Pick a side to work on and remove the front tire.
4) Remove the brake caliper -- it's the big pinchy thing that grabs onto the shiny round thing. It's held on by two, maybe three Grade 8 bolts and you'll likely need a special star wrench to remove them. It's about $2.
5) Slide the brake caliper off of the rotor. Don't let it just dangle by the brake line, get you a zip tie or something to hang the caliper from the frame.
6) Slide the rotor off the wheel studs.
7) Unpack new rotor and DOUSE IT IN BRAKE CLEANER. BOTH SIDES. Get all the packing oil off of it.
While you're waiting for the rotor to dry, take the brake pads out of the caliper. They're held in by clips. You can figure it out. You're a big boy.
9) Take a caliper spreader (another $5 tool) and spread the caliper halves apart so you can fit the new brake pads in the caliper.
10) Fit the new brake pads in the caliper. Clip them in. You figured this out in step 8.
11) Slide the rotor onto the wheel studs. Realize that the only thing holding the rotor on the spindle are the wheel studs, the caliper, and the lug nut pressure from the tire. Understand why it's important to have ALL of your lug nuts.
12) Fit the caliper back over the rotor, and screw it back into its mounting holes. Don't forget to remove your zip ties.
13) All right, now it's time to bleed 'em if you choose to (you should, I mean you already did all the hard work). This is where your buddy comes in handy. I'll let you Google this part though. Be sure not to get any brake fluid on those shiny new pads.
14) Throw your tire back on there and get out the ol' 4-way and torque 'em down.
15) Switch sides and do it all over again!

DIY, it'll cost you about $115 for materials, about $5 for some brake fluid, some beer for your buddy that will help you bleed your brake lines, and $1 - $5 to buy (or rent) the socket you'll need to take off your calipers. Two hour job tops if you've got all the materials handy, and really it probably won't take you that long especially when you hop over to the other side.

Also, get a black rubber mallet. If you don't need it, keep it around for other uses. If you DO need it...you'll know.

So. Is two hours of your time worth $600?

I assume if I have warped rotors I will be able to tell very definitively when I look at them?

No you usually wont be able to tell by looking at them, you can tell if your car shakes when you brake, get vibration in the pedal when braking, or the steering wheel vibrates when braking. These will all mean your front rotors are most likely warped. If you have never done anything like it before it will probably take you the better part of an afternoon to get it done- but its an easy way to save a lot of money.

I wish I knew about all this stuff when my old car's brakes went to shit.

It was doing all the same stuff... brakes were fading to the floor and it sometimes vibrated the whole car when i braked.... but that's all old news

Oh well. Got a new car now, so it doesn't matter.

But it certainly helps to know that there are ppl who I can ask if my current car starts to go bad

Unless there has been a breach in the brake line, or for some reason it was disconnected, this step is completely unnecessary. The purpose of bleeding brake lines is to remove air bubbles from the lines. Unless the fluid has been exposed to the air in a place other than the reservoir, it is a waste of time to do.

HOWEVER, if your brakes have been surging (you push the pedal down, and the brakes seem unresponsive, then all of a sudden they work almost too well, but not necessarily vibrations, think single-step rather than Sine-wave), you probably have much bigger problems than warped rotors. If this is the case, check your entire brake line system for wet spots (hard to do when it is wet outside already, so wait for a dry day). If there are sections of hose/metal tubing that are coated with a light brown liquid, or wet dirt accumulation, check the area for damage. In places like the engine bay, it could be from another source, but the further back the vehicle, the fewer other fluid lines exist. Replacing damaged brake lines can be easy and take only a couple of hours, or it could be a nightmare that would take the better part of 2 days, lots of cuts, blood, and cursing, and a vehicle for the 2 said days, depending on the location and severity of the damage. Should you find a break in your brakes (haha), and if you aren't very experienced, I recommend investing in professional service.

And unless you want to do all of this anyway, obey bag's 5 step and DO NOT SUSPEND FROM THE BRAKE LINE. They tend to be fragile when in tension.

Having other people replace your brake pads is such a bad deal - they cost ~$30 for 4 (2 wheels), and it takes probably an hour to do, maybe two if you have never done it before... granted it can be a bit frustrating, usually the bolts (all 4 of them for two wheels!) are really hard to get started, but once you've broken them all it's a piece of cake.

Sure it may cost 30 dollars to have someone replace all four brake pads and rotors, but sometimes it's quite difficult to find the time for you or someone else to do it. So that $30 becomes a small price to pay for the convenience of not having to worry about it.

I bought break pads and rotors pretty cheap at Advance Auto, and then I took it to a place across the street from Splash designs (Lloyd's I think?). All in all I think I spent around $80 on the front two tires. Not a terribly awful route to go for working breaks considering it only cost 16 dollars in labor. I would have spent around that much buying someone a case of beer for fixing it for me.