In April this year Honda (Ed Voyles) changed my oil and advised me I needed new front pads "soon" that they were below 4mm with 2mm being the service limit. Car had 40K miles. They wanted $240 for a front brake job.

I ordered OE pads from Majestic ($42.50) and bode my time. Yesterday (July 7) 4,000 miles later, I raised it (new jack stands and floor jack!). Pulling the wheels was a pain; someone (NTB?) way over-torqued. Surprised the studs weren't stripped. Pads had 5mm (not 4). Service life is about 10mm to a minimum of 1.6mm per FSM. I left the original pads on; they should be good for another 30K miles at least. The replacements went back to the shelf.

I did flush the brake lines with new Honda DOT3 (recommended @ 3 years). That was a slow boring job requiring two people. Not skilled though. I think Honda wanted $150 for this.

The moral is, get a floor jack and some stands even if you don't think it's worth it. It is. What you'll save on unnecessary work, or damage to your car, more than pays for them.

Graphic pictures follow:

 

I've got the stands, use them when I rotate the tires....perhaps this will help me persuade "She Who Holds The Chequebook" that I really need that floor jack...

 

Harbor Freight had a good deal on this one. I think it was $80.

 

Hmmm... in Harbor Freights ad in this issue of Autoweek they have a 1.5 ton one for $69.00- will have to look into this.

 

This one is 2.5 tons, but more importantly it has a high reach (18"?). Some people have to put spacers under the jack to get to the highest jack-stand position in multiple steps; you want to avoid that. This one also is low enough to fit under the Fit, but if you've lowered it you still might have a problem; the front jack point is behind the engine in the center (people drive the car up on spacers, maybe a 2x8 with an angle cut on one end). The entire jack except for the handle is under the car when in use.

 

Someone posted a DIY brake fluid replacement this last week. As soon as someone posts a DIY brake pad replacement and an AT Transmision flush I'm all in.

Oil change
Brake fuid
Transmission Fluid.
Brake pads
Tire rotation
Air filter
Cabin filter

Can all be done at home for a fraction of the price. Time for this noob to take the plunge!

I may never go to a dealership ever again!

 

Even though I work at a dealership I will agree that shop fees are way expensive. Our shop charges $199.99 per axle. Sometimes the advisor will cut a deal for $99.99 if the customer is well known and been coming for years. Ill give you a secret... Cars with steel wheels, most of the express techs will not pull the wheel off and actually measure the pad. They just shine a light at the inner pad and take the best guess. I know our dealerships express is guilty of that and we've been caught with unhappy customers who take theirs elsewhere. Its not good that they do it but it "saves" them time and not the "hassle" when the customer finds out.

 

Don't get me started on mechanics and repair shops! I do as much of my own work as I can do which is almost the entire car minus computer related flash work. One thing that gets me fired up is dishonest mechanics (99% of them).

 

I've always found it difficult to trust a whole lot of them but.. It became acceptable to overcharge, lie about work performed and product quality awhile back when Reagan was in office and it has been a continuation since..

 

I'm still kinda torn on doing the oil changes. I'll probably start doing my own again now (it's been about 40 years). The time before last, Honda insisted on checking the engine air-filter. When I got it home I found the airbox left unlatched (well one latch had fallen off and was resting on the transmission housing below).

My rational has been it wasn't cost effective to do myself, but after getting the jack I sorta want to. That, and it pisses off the Mrs, "What are you doing down there now?"

 

hahahahahah

I get it too.

 

For your creaking joints...

A year ago when I mentioned to honda the bushings were squeaking when going over speed bumps, and could they squirt them with something, they offered to replace them (I think this involves replacing the control arms). I assumed my puzzled dog look, thanked them, and drove off. I think squealing bushings are common on Hondas.

Anyway I got some 3M "wet" automotive Silicone spray and squirted some on all the rubber bushings (control arms, shock ends, spring pads, torsion beam joints). Noise went away. Road noise seems to be less too (might be my imagination). Stuff is non-destructive to rubber. The "wet" formula seems to wick into the joints well. No embarrassing drips or mess and my joints are now quiet. Not for use augmenting body parts.

We'll see how long it lasts and how well it works on cold winter mornings in 6 months...

 

FYI - If you use a wood block and jack from the front lift point located under the rocker panel you can lift both wheel off the ground with a single jack.

 

Both front or both side? Suspect the latter courtesy of heavy front Fits.

 

best inversion ever mase i got the floor jack at advance for 60 bucks and the jack stand for 40 up to 4 tons

 

@Steve244

Get a $10 3/8 breaker bar (17 inch handle) from Harbor Freight and a 19mm socket to break the lug nuts easily. It's a lot better than stomping with the foot on the wrench that comes with the car.

The jack stands cut into garage concrete floor, so I put the stands on top of rubber desk mat sold at staples.

When it is time to replace the pads, and if you are going to do a DIY, consider replacing the rotors too, instead of turning them. You will definitely need impact driver ( the one you hit with a hammer ). My Fit's rotor screw was stuck and the impact driver could not turn them. I found some help from YouTube video on "how to remove stuck rotor screw" where I "double hammered" the screw to loosen it a bit and then use the impact driver. The pad/rotor replacement with lubing various metal to metal components as well as lubing the caliper bolt took me 2 hours (this was my first time!) to complete. There are A LOT of YouTube video on Honda brake jobs which applies to the Fit as well. The breaker bar came in handy loosening the 17mm bolt for the bracket on top of which the caliper floats.

Since you can raise the car, you may want to start DIYs for oil change as well as ATF drain/fill at the same time (if you have an auto that is).

I am applying various DIY's learned from this forum on DIY's to other brand cars at my home. It's fun buying tools and tinkering with the cars.

Honestly, if I knew what I know now ( and can do by myself), I would not have paid nearly $800 to do "complete brake overhaul" on other car couple years back ! (pads/rotors/brake line flush for front/rear )

 

Would like to sell 2010 Honda Fit Sport

 

Impact driver is the best way to remove tight lug nuts.

 

1/2" drive deep socket with a 15" handle works for me.

 

thanks for the advice!

Lugs pained me because some monkey had overtorqued: not that they were that difficult to get off. Half inch drive with 15" handle here. Half inch torque wrench too. Might need to get a smaller one to finesse small bolts...

Don't think I'll replace rotors as a maintenance item. Last honda had its original rotors when I sold it @ 225K. I don't believe in machining them unless they need it, and mine never needed it. Even Honda until the last few years didn't recommend machining them.

I'll do the oil changes now that I have the jack and stands.

I really got them for my son's '95 Miata (don't tell my wife). It's spent a lot of time hovering in the garage. New struts installed yesterday (tein adjustables). Now I need to learn how bad -2.5 degrees negative camber really is. The alignment guy didn't like it. I may need to convince my son to to raise it some.

edit: Put it back up 0.75" (still a lot lower than stock). Alignment guy's happy now.