My sister has a '97 4runner 2WD with the 3.4L and a 120K on the odometer.

The dealership told her that her rear brakes needed to be replaced because they were making some noise. How long should they last? I've heard of rear brakes lasting a long time on 4runners.

She was dumb and let that dealership (Classic Toyota of Round Rock, TX; the same place that did my HG recall) do the work and now she says her brakes are louder than they were before (no suprise there). So I called up there to my service guy and they are going to put the shop foreman on it.

She's going to bring it out here to Bossier-Atkinson Toyota to have her timing belt replaced. They quoted me $250 + tax which seems pretty reasonable to me. What do you think?

Later

 

Yeah, that's about right. It really depends whether they have been properly adjusted over the last 120K or not. 120K miles is not uncommon for rear brakes.

Here in AZ a timing belt change is $219 plus tax. That is with a coupon that seems to come out each month.

I hope that helps!

 

that's your problem, be careful with them, I ordered some parts and when I went to go pick them up, they tell me, "You did'nt order nothing". Bunch of dummies imho. Also, my friend took his tundra in for an alignment and they screwed it up the first, second and finally on the third try they got it right. Just becareful with them, I don't trust them and will never go back. For now on I get my parts/rig fixed at Fred Haas Toyota or Joe Myers Toyota in Houston. Much better in my opinion...

 

I have yet to have a problem with them. Classic on the other hand is one of the worst dealerships ever.

I took my truck in once because it was idling high and the tech spent 3 hours on it before finding the problem. They only charged me for one hour. Sounds pretty good to me. The second time I took my truck in for an intermittant hesitation. They felt it once but couldn't replicate the problem. They still looked for TSBs, checked my plugs to see if the injectors were leaking, and something (though I can't remember what) else too. They couldn't find anything wrong with it so they didn't charge me anything for their work. That's what I call service.

I've ordered stuff from there before and never had a problem with receiving the right parts.

My service guy up there seems to be a great guy and has spent quite a bit of time talking to me about my truck.

They've got my vote.

 

Unfortunately, from what I've learned the expensive and hard way is that the rear brakes last so long because they are out of adjustment most of the time and never wear as much as they should. Both my 92 and 2000 have to go in approxmately every 4000 miles to make sure they are in adjustment. Most of the time they are not, and must be adjusted in order to prolong the life of the pads and rotors up front.

When you say that the rears need replacing, what does that include? Unless there is some unusual leaking of brake fluid or major hardware problems, the only thing that should need attention would be possibly turning the drums and getting new shoes.