i went to the parts dept at the dealership yesterday to get some new rear rotors. They were $186.xx EACH. Thats CRAZY. I went to Oreilly's and bought some wagner rotors for like $60 each. I know I shouldn't be surprised but damn! Brake Pads at the dealership were $98.xx for the rear too.

 

If you haven't put them on yet, you might want to check Wholesale Direct. They have the cross drilled/slotted rotors and pads for less than $300. I've been really pleased with mine. Every set that I've bought at O'rielys/Auto Zone has disappointed me in the long run.

 

Please dont call us stealership's. G.M. sets our prices. Its just how it is.

 

Good point. Some of the parts from dealerships are acually reasonable tho, just not the stuff we really need.

 

That's not completely true. GM sets your LIST prices, but the actual selling price is subject to what a given dealership is willing to do.

Out of the 5 or 6 dealerships in my area, the prices vary from straight list at some, to about 30-40% off for some items.

So if you live in a large area it always bodes well to figure out which dealership is cutting the best.

 

Yea i've literally driven 10 minutes to another dealership and had a 30% price difference. How does gmpartsdirect.com get away with such cheap prices in comparison to dealerships? Im assuming e-commerce is cheaper, but you still need a warehouse and staff to stock and ready orders so in this instance I don't actually see it being cheaper for them to operate. Isn't gmpartsdirect based out of a dealership part department anyway??

 

As is SPDC. I believe they chose to make use of the internet over other GM dealerships and are reaping the rewards and passing it on. You do get hit hard with shipping from gmpartsdirect, but in a pinch, they have it.

 

fred beans is great about their prices. ive never had an issue with them. great customer service! i got the wholesale direct package though and im pretty happy with it over a year later.

 

you call them stealerships but, why do the large grocey chains sell a gallon of milk for two different prices for the same product? profit.

 

and grocery profits are outrageous.....

 

because i can go down the street and buy the same thing from an auto parts store for 1/3 of the price. The reason i'm bitching is because I have to do that. Last time i checked, the auto parts store is not a non-profit organization. Their purpose is to make money too but without the ridiculous markups.

 

I recently bought rear rotors from the tire rack, brembo blanks (in stock). The front brembo blanks were on back order so I bought some power slots from Tbyrne (sponsor) - labor day sale. They do look good. I'll see how they perform tomorrow.

 

yea i just put on all new delco/wagner rotors tonight. Works great and will be reliable for my everyday driver. I will probably upgrade to something more performance oriented later when i get some more $$$

 

Delco parts are a bettery quailty than the run of the mill aftermarket part

 

One little catch I have is Duralast. Granted, they are by NO means high-performance, but lifetime warranties ARE nice

P.S. When I worked at a chrysler dealership, I had the water-pump on my 88 Town Car replaced for about 45 dollars (includes labor AND the pump) Considering labor alone was around $60/hr for that specific tech I felt that was a nice deal.

 

Interesting. My local dealer is 15% over list, yet GMPartsDirect is about 30% below list.


Hmmm... supply/demand/volume discount????


Anyway, real deal is dealership is higher because they have folks who complain that disc brakes squeel, and then eat both part and labor cost. Parts stores don't have to eat labor. Think about it. Also, parts stores laugh at noise/vibration/harshness warranty returns; it's a matter of different expectations from the clientele.

 

interesting opinion. Got data to back it up?

Best bang for the buck, generally agreed on this forum, is the Duralast AutoZone rotor, at around 40-60 bucks. They are generally agreed to last longer, resist abuse better (less cracking) and wiegh more... more metal, more heat sink, longer life... and generally agreed to be of similar or better overall quality compared to stock rotors.

The aftermarket also has a significantly 'better' pad for you... because as a whole, the aftermarket offers far more choices, allowing you to decide what compromises to make. Stock pads would go up in smoke the way I use 'em... but I am personally willing to have a bit more noise and dust from my performance pads in exchange for far better stopping power. On the other side, there are pads that dust almost not at all... but may be less able to stop the car, or cost a bit more, etc. You get the idea.

And like any marketplace... yeah, there is certainly some garbage on the aftermarket, too. Of course, the garbage often falls at the very lowest price point... WAY under dealer pricing.

 

I hope that's sarcasm... grocery profits run somewhere between 0.5% and 1% most chains.

 

I've used Fred Beans for a lot of parts that I've needed and the prices are great and Gene doesn't take advantage with the shipping either

 

Regarding the discussion about Delco or OEM parts being better than aftermarket:

Going with OEM replacement parts is the safest bet for an average guy. Service parts provided through GM channels are typically made by the same supplier that provided the original hardware, with the benefit of including any updates or engineering changes that were made during the production life of the vehicle.

That is not to say they are the best parts, but they are the "safest" parts. Short of known to be premium aftermarket parts like Brembo or Corsa or whatever name you want to toss in there, they are the best bet unless there is a large knowledge base established (like this forum) where you can find out for sure something specific is good.

Many of the house brand parts you buy are Indian or Chinese knock-off parts. They may well have a lifetime warranty but that doesn't mean a whole lot. For example you know when the guy at Autozone says he's got 2 parts, one with a lifetime warranty and one without, w/o being cheaper? Well, those are the same parts, made by the same supplier. A bean counter has ran the calculation to say how much more that warranty works out to.

The emphasis here is not necessarily upon origin of manufacture, but rather the engineering and development that went into that OEM part. People can roll thier eyes at this but it is what I do for a living and I see it every day, from both sides of the fence.

GM has double digit page technical documents they use to spec out something as simple as an engine mount or a shock absorber. When you buy a knock off part, it's often as simple as an engineer (and possibly and indian or chinese one that could care less about what you buy) picking up a service part and saying, "well, let's make something that kinda looks like this". Many people would be scared shitless about buying aftermarket if they knew some of the worst examples of this type of copy engineering.

For vehicle specific parts not made by a specialty vendor I stick with my cheapest local dealership or GM parts direct. In case of wanting a "better" part I'll study up on common replacement choices and try to stick with a company that also produces OEM hardware.

Strictly aftermarket admittedly made in India or Chine, or otherwise mystery house branded should be avoided, imho.