Brake Pad Replacement Cost

I have a 2007 Nissan Versa 1.8 SL sedan. How much should it cost (ballpark) to replace the front brake pads, resurface the rotors, and replace the rear
brake shoes?   Thank you in advance for your help.

Hey there,

I would expect to pay about $225-275 for a front brake job at most repair shops, and probably about $325-375 at the Nissan dealer.

That is a pretty good rule of thumb for MOST 2 wheel drive cars these days. The brake systems on my cars are the same, and have been for years. ABS brake systems really don’t change anything as far as the wearable replaceable brake parts themselves.

The labor times are about the same on every vehicle (except some European vehicles) and the parts costs are similar as well.

What escalates the pricing is the need for new brake rotors or brake calipers. Brake rotors become warped over time, which is normal and sometimes they can not be “trued” and need to be replaced. Brake calipers can stick and leak brake fluid, it’s not very common but can happen. Those items drive the costs up drastically.

Replacing the rotors, actually is more common now than in the past, thanks to China and their cheap parts replacing is cheaper than resurfacing your old rotors.

Since both of those additional items are expensive, and profitable to the repair shop it might be in your best interest to get a second opinion if the shop is trying to sell those to you.

Here is a picture (red brake caliper) and the round brake rotor

You might want to ask around for a mom and pop type auto repair shop and see if one will let you bring your own parts, and you just pay them for the labor. You can buy the brake pads at any auto parts store pretty cheap.

You probably have rear disc brakes, so you have brake pads not shoes (assuming you have rear disc brakes)

I am assuming this is your first brake job, so I would not suspect to have to replace the rear brake pads until about 60,000 miles or so.  It will cost the same amount as the front brakes and require the same operation.

The reason why the rear brakes last twice as long as the fronts, is because the front brakes do 75% of the stopping power. If you smash down on the brake pedal in a panic stop situation the front of the vehicle nose dives and the passengers swing forward.

Please share this with your friends,
Austin Davis