How much!?

[Guest Crusty]

So, today I phoned my Honda dealer to get a price for a set of front and rear brake pads for my X.

The price? A mind blowing £85! I can get a set of EBC's for nearly half that!.....

[Scootabout 2,320]

That does seem steep.  Have you checked prices online?  If it's the going rate maybe it's a price we have to pay, literally & metaphorically, for getting the Honda stamps in the book during warranty?  I'm not sure though that even during warranty period it's necessary to have the servicing done through a franchised dealer.  I vaguely remember an EU competition-related ruling years ago to that effect for cars. And even if you must &/or want to go to a Honda dealer, I'd have thought you could fit your own brake pads if you wanted to...maybe?  

[Guest motorboy]

I'm a big fan of EBC HH pads

[Guest Crusty]

Oh, yeah, we can go elsewhere but I was just shocked at that price. That wasn't even the fitted price, just parts! Consumables like brake pads I'll always fit myself.

[Guest scrumpymike]

Terms of the Honda warranty are that anyone can service your bike provided it's done according to the Honda servicing schedule - which may well specify Honda pads. Honda dealers will know the answer to that one.

[Guest The Mad Jock]

Don't know about other makes but Honda's parts prices can be shocking; I was at dealers recently when someone came in who had hit a rock and damaged the rear wheel of his CBF125 beyond repair.  The quoted price was getting on for £300 - for a bike costing around £2600 new I found that barely believable!

[Guest Crusty]

It really niggles me that Honda seem to sell their bikes for very fair and reasonable prices, then go for the jugular when it comes to aftercare.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Crusty

[Guest scrumpymike]

The knock-on effect is that Mr Honda is jacking up our insurance premiums as well!

[Scootabout 2,320]

I read somewhere that if you bought a bike from spare parts and assembled it yourself you'd pay 3 or 4 times the price of a ready-made bike.  That wasn't specifically about Hondas.  

[Guest NCXrookie]

There are many cost factors to take into consideration.  The supply chain is a complicated one.  You also have the costs of transportation, storage, business rates, staff overheads etc.  Sponsorship of teams and  research and development does not come cheap either...it all adds up.

[roddy 845]

Just had my pads replaced, The rear ones are £20 but for some reason the front pads are the ones for the VFR which are top quality and are fitted to the NC at a cool £40 not cheap but I would always go for the best that I could afford , quite important having good brakes

[Guest Crusty]

Just had my pads replaced, The rear ones are £20 but for some reason the front pads are the ones for the VFR which are top quality and are fitted to the NC at a cool £40 not cheap but I would always go for the best that I could afford , quite important having good brakes

I always use quality pads (EBC, Ferrodo etc) but I'm not prepared to pay Honda's vastly over inflated prices.

[Guest billc700s]

Just had my pads replaced, The rear ones are £20 but for some reason the front pads are the ones for the VFR which are top quality and are fitted to the NC at a cool £40 not cheap but I would always go for the best that I could afford , quite important having good brakes

Fronts are always way more as they are made to cope with higher temps as most braking is done with the front brakes, having the combined braking and abs in Europe also mean the pads are made to cope with the greater demands placed on them by these systems so you can understand why they are the same as the VFR on the fronts. Working on the price's above £60 for pads and the Quote for £85 shows there is a great disparity between what dealers are charging for their parts, being a mechanic myself C&G parts 1,2,3 but no longer working in the trade I feel quite confident working on my own vehicles but not other peoples, I will not take that risk anymore and replacing disk pads is a basic job for me and maybe too much for some if they have not got a good tool set which includes torque wrenches.

[JaseR 213]

I was advised that to replace front and rear pads, including labour and clean up would be £130!

 

I think I may well be changing them myself, when I can!

[Guest Crusty]

I was advised that to replace front and rear pads, including labour and clean up would be £130!

I think I may well be changing them myself, when I can!

A simple job. 30 minutes tops

[Guest ronecc]

Nothing new with expensive parts for m/cycles. Back in the '70's my cousin worked in a m/cycle dealership. One quiet day he decided to see what it would cost to build a step through moped from the Parts Bin. He managed to get most of the 50cc engine built for the retail price of a complete new bike. No point a manufacturer making a bike that will go on for ever without needing spares, they would never make a profit!!???

[Rocker66 34,573]

Not only bikes. I can remember my first job when I left school was in the stores of a Ford main dealer. Typical of the rip offs was that if you had a Consoul of Zephyr you could buy a ciggarette lighter but for a Zodiac you needed  a cigar lighter which had a different part number and was circa 20% more expensive. The difference between the two items was absolutely nothing