Oem brakes
 

I went to this independent shop called Raging Bull in Costa Mesa CA. I spoke to the owner named Frank. I asked if I can supply Porterfield as I have heard nothing but awesome things about them. He told me he prefers the oems because he had bad experience with the porterfields (they are down the street from him) in the past. I asked if he did all the proper steps etc. anyways it sounded like he works on a lot of Aston Martins so maybe he just had a bad experience? But he said oem brakes are expensive. He quoted around $1443 for the front oem pads and sensors and 1 hour labor of $145 to install them. The rear oem brakes and sensors are $747 and 2.75 hrs of labor of $398 to install them. Says that the rears are more labor intensive due to parking brake.

Does the pricing sound right? Are oem pads that expensive or is he just favoring them because he marks them up tremendously? I checked with another independent shop who also says I cannot supply my own pads. Are there any So Cal owners who use any shops in the OC area that is lax with customers bringing in their own parts?

Some days I'd say on a californian highway, you brake from 85mph to 0mph more often than you would on a racetrack! Whats the best pads for the shortest possible stopping distance at 85mph?

I had the original AM pads on until recently. They squealed terribly and left black dust on my wheels. Since switching to Porterfields that I obtained from Redpants I heard a squeal a couple of times when they were brand new. Now no squeal, and almost no black brake dust.

I don't know what problem the shop owner had with Porterfield, maybe a personal beef. But I like them.

It is not a terribly hard job to do yourself if you have the equipment to lift up the car and a couple of tools. Redpants has a video showing how to do it. There is NO way that it would take 2.5 hours to replace the rear pads. I recommend buying the parts from Redpants and buy a floor jack and some jack stands and whatever tools you need. I bought my first set of tools at Harbor Freight Tools for cheap. It will probably take you three hours to do the work yourself only because you are unfamiliar with the process. When you are done you will have probably spent about the same money and you will have equipment for the next time you need to do service.

As for independent shop options, I would check in with a Midas Muffler and Brake shop. There is nothing unique or special about the brake calipers on our cars. The main concern I would have is ensuring the shop uses the exact jacking points when lifting the car. I believe most of the Midas shops are franchise operations so the local owner has some flexibility to help out their customers.

The prices for the parts sound about right for the later years AMV8, assuming that's what you have. You can always get a quote from the dealer. Of course, the shop has to earn a bit. He may get a shop discount. Not much though I reckon.

I used to co-own a speed shop. And letting customers' bring their own parts is kind of frown upon due to liability issues, especially safety related items like brakes. Occasionally we let the regulars bring their parts. But anyone who just walk into a shop and says to install parts they bring, we said no.

Did the shop owner explain what exactly the bad experience was? My opinion...he can make a lot more money with OEM pads, so he recommended that. I would not use that shop. If you decide to spend that kind of money then why not just take it to the dealer? FYI it took me no more than 30 minutes to do my front pads.

I know a really good shop in Ontario that works on Astons. PM if you would like the details.

I'm very happy with Porterfield, both street and track pads.

Braking distance has very little to do with brake pads. It is determined by tires. If brake pads outperform tires, you'll either lock up or hit abs. If tires outperform brake pads, the pads will fade.

FYI, OEM pad prices from Scuderia Parts.

Front Pads $789.20
Rear Pads $394.72

That mark up looks ridiculous.

Porterfields
 

Posted my experience v. OEM a couple days ago. Eliminating the squeal and brake dust has been a godsend. I’m sure stopping power/distance is comparable (or better). Truth be told, I’d sacrifice a couple yards in stopping distance if it came down to it!

What the? I've had some large Brembo caliper brakes in the past and never seen brake pads this expensive???

Plus one for doing the job yyourself.

It's super simple as there is no bleeding if brakes or other "tech" headaches.

For me, the most difficult part was waiting for the jack pads to come in :-). As stated previously, you want to ensure you jack from the correct jack points, and I wanted to use the pads to satisfy my OCD :-)

(I used Porterfields purchased from Rich @Redpants)

The advice from Repants is spot on. I switched to Porterfields to eliminate the constant dusting from the oem pads. It's a simple job to changer them over. The PF's work just fine and no more dust.

There are a lot of us Vantage owners using Porterfield brake pad. I have no issues with them. If you don't mind brake dust, then sure go ahead and use the OEMs and over pay.

The oems are way too expensive for a post MY12.5. I do normal driving. No tracking or anything. I called Newport Beach Aston Martin and they actually quoted a little higher than what Frank quoted. My mistake on the 2.75 hrs labor for the rear. It’s 1 hr labor for front pads and 1 hr labor for the rear pads. I think he is probably BSing on the bad experience. Probably just trying to make money on the oems. Now, if I could only find an independent shop in OC that knows Aston’s to allow me to bring in my own parts, that’s ideal.

That shouldn't be hard at all. Another option is an indy shop that will order the brakes from your vendor at very small mark up. They make a little on the parts and they own the whole install too.

So Cal owners who have a local shop they go to, please recommend. Seems limited in the Orange County area.

I put on the porterfield 2 and a half yrs ago and it is working well. I had squeals with oem as well as the terrible dust. Now minimal dust and also no noise. I did not put any anti-squeal or shims.

Performance wise if is pretty comparable, maybe just slightly less initial bite.

But a quickjack for $1000 and diy. With wheels off it is like a 5 min job on each caliper. Pound the two pins out, remove bridge piece, push calipers back in. Slide out old pads and out new ones in. Put pins back and done