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I have a 2009 Honda Civic LX with 90K miles on it. Back in 11' at 22K I was told I needed new front brake pads from the Honda dealership so I changed them at a Brake Masters. In 14' I was told I needed the fronts changed again at 50K miles. I was already surprised the first time that they could wear down so quickly and went along. The second time around I did some research and 30K was still pretty low but I did it anyway. Today I went in to have an oil change at the dealership and I asked them to check my brakes. They are down to 4 mm according to the dealership and they recommended changing them. However this time they also noted "Drum Breaks=2 mm. Replace rear brake shoes and resurface rear brake drums."

I was planning to go to Brake Masters since I have the Lifetime warranty on the pads. I went there to have them take a look and ofcourse they mentioned the front and rear need to be replaced but cited some different things. Brake Masters said that I the front rotors need to be replaced. I asked him about resurfacing and he said there wasn't enough metal to do so. Although at the dealership their recommendation was replacing pads and resurfacing. Both places recommended brake fluid change which I last did in 2014 during the brake servicing.

I went ahead with Brake Masters and changed the pads, replaced the rotors, and changed the fluid. I decided to hold off on doing any of the rear brake service. All said and done it was $369.26 OTD. Is that reasonable?

I wasn't prepared to do the rear brakes because I didn't do much research into that before I went in today but it seems drum brakes at 2 mm "thickness" doesn't seem to be excessively low. Given the amount of time and mileage do I need to replace them? The BM person was also trying to show me the rear drum break wasn't wearing evenly. He pointed out the two pads and how the top part of the front pad was thinner than the lower half of it. I didn't understand how significant what he showed me was. The total estimate for the rear brake job is $212.63 + tax I believe. This includes rear drum brake service, shoes, hardware kit, and machining each drum brake. Do I need to do this and is this price reasonable?

I am planning on keeping the car another 3-4 years and/or 30-40K miles.

 
Rep Power: 244

If you're hard on brakes then yes you can get as low as 30k miles. Delivery drivers might get 10k. Highway folk can see as high as 100k. Rear brakes will typically last 2 to 3 times longer then the fronts. So going by that, it is not a stretch that your back brakes are ready for replacement since the fronts have been replaced 3x.

I don't know what is reasonable for brakes but around $400 is what I have seen. Brake jobs are always a rip off IMO since they are so easy to DIY. Same as a tune up.

The rear does not do much of the stopping but you should not have to mess with it again in the 3-4 years to come if they are replaced now.

 
Rep Power: 223

OEM Honda pads also seem to last way longer than aftermarket in my experience

 
Rep Power: 0

Well I'm not so sure because it was at 22K when I first had OEM pads that they said they needed to be replaced. Ofcourse I may not have been told the truth at that time...