New Shoes Set Us Back a Few Bills - 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 Long-Term Road Test

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New Shoes Set Us Back a Few Bills - 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 Long-Term Road Test

We finally fixed the parking brake on our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. It's an involved DIY process, so we took it to the pros - which wasn't exactly cheap.

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ckuers

I know the question has been asked before, but why not an independent shop? Their labor rates would be quite a bit lower. I'd stay away from the dealer unless the car needed some manufacturer-specific diagnostic work or programming.

bankerdanny

I'm sorry, did I read that correctly, $138 for brake shoes? First, why in the world would you purchase them from the dealer? O'Reilly has them for $15. Second, what is the point of having a lift in your garage if you are going to constantly be paying the dealer to fix things, particularly something as spectacularly simple as this. And if you ARE going to use a pro, why a dealer for something as basic as this. Your hypothetical millennial already stretched his budget to the max to buy this car and would surely have gone to Midas or even a local garage for the repair.

thecardoc3

Took a look at that forum post on how to do these shoes. They can be done without removing the hub flange. Otherwise the pics would help someone see what they are up against.

bankerdanny

I looked up the post on how to replace them as well. You could do it without removing the hub, but it is easier if you do and only requires spending $15 or so on a 30mm socket. Otherwise it is a pretty standard shoe replacement job.

daryleason

Thank you for the article. I've never realized that cars had brake shoes for a parking brake. I was ignorant on the subject. I always thought that the parking break manually pulled the rear brake's shoes (drums) or calibers (discs) against the Drum or Discs when you set the parking brake. I guess it's a good thing I do hardly ever use the parking brake because I have, literally, never replaced a set of parking brake shoes. I've done pads/shoes plenty of times on my trucks and sedans, though. I just never took the time to really look at it.

5vzfe

It seems strange to me that such a relatively new vehicle would need new brakes up front, unless you're just talking about pads and new rotors, I can see that. But $700 is a ton of money either way. I replaced the rotors, pads, and calipers on a 2006 Tundra using OEM parts for less than that. It only took about 2 hours since I was working slowly. Wonder if this is a Dodge thing, I remember the Grand Caravan you guys had needed new brakes during it's stay with y'all

jfa1177

Even with the relatively high shipping costs I found Power Stop rotors and pads on RockAuto.com for $202.00 shipped.
Hawk HPS pads and Centric high carbon rotos from TireRack.com are $302 shipped. I'd rather have either of these options before I'd over pay for the OEM parts.