What does this cost in your state?
California is the costliest state and Arkansas the cheapest; each square shows that state's midpoint of the estimate.
Lower-cost states ($862)MiddleHigher-cost states ($1,098)
What it shows: CA is the highest at $1,098 and AR the lowest at $862, across 51 states.
Counts below are complaints filed with NHTSA, not failure rates: a longer bar means more owners reported it.
Is your car affected?
What it shows: The most common band for complaints about this repair is under 3 years old (74%), against 40% for all complaints: the biggest difference between the two.
How fast were owners driving when it happened?
5-24 mph leads at 58%.
Owners reported it most often in parking lots and slow traffic. Tell the shop what speed it happens at, because that narrows the diagnosis.
Which model years show up most in the complaints?
Among the 39 owner complaints naming this part that state a model year, complaints cluster in a few model years instead of spreading evenly.
What it shows: 2021 is the largest at 7 (18%), followed by 2015 at 6 (15%); the smallest shown is 2016 at 1 (3%).
What do state inspectors fail cars for?
Among 8,738,476 initial safety inspections in North Carolina in 2017, brake components caused 1.9 failed items per 1,000 inspections, the fewest of the four components the state reports.
What it shows: Tires is the largest at 8.5, followed by Lights at 5.2; the smallest shown is Brake components at 1.9.
Are the parts for this repair getting more expensive, or only the labor?
The federal producer price index for new brake systems rose 36.2% from December 2019 to August 2026, while the consumer price index for motor vehicle repair, labor and parts together, rose 55.2% (BLS, national).
Prices of new brake systems, as shops buy them from makers, since December 2019, against consumer prices for motor vehicle repair. New brake systems: +36.2%; All motor vehicle parts: +17.4%; Motor vehicle repair, labor and parts together: +55.2%.
How many lives have brake improvements saved?
NHTSA estimates dual master cylinders and front disc brakes (FMVSS 105 and 135) saved 217 car occupants and 201 light-truck occupants in 2012 alone, and 15,560 occupants from 1960 to 2012.
| Technology | Car occupants saved in 2012 | Light truck occupants saved in 2012 | Car occupants saved 1960 to 2012 | Light truck occupants saved 1960 to 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| dual master cylinders and front disc brakes (FMVSS 105 and 135) | 217 | 201 | 10,559 | 5,001 |
| electronic stability control (FMVSS 126), the system brake work keeps working | 500 | 824 | 2,420 | 3,604 |
Which metro areas have the most stop-and-go freeway traffic?
FHWA's 2022 urbanized-area table shows the most crowded freeway lanes in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA (22,026 vehicles per lane a day), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA and Las Vegas-Henderson, NV, against a median of 10,257 across 493 urbanized areas.
| Urbanized area | Vehicles per freeway lane per day | Freeway lane-miles |
|---|---|---|
| Riverside-San Bernardino, CA | 22,026 | 1,292 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 21,245 | 5,780 |
| Las Vegas-Henderson, NV | 19,820 | 650 |
| Chicago, IL-IN | 19,246 | 3,005 |
| Miami, FL | 19,023 | 2,579 |
| San Francisco-Oakland, CA | 18,674 | 1,903 |
| Concord, CA | 18,541 | 497 |
| San Diego, CA | 18,437 | 2,016 |
| New Orleans, LA | 18,409 | 390 |
| Baton Rouge, LA | 18,398 | 342 |
| Median of all 493 urbanized areas | 10,257 |
How much traffic do New York state roads carry in each county?
New York State DOT's 2019 traffic counts average 12,562 vehicles a day per station in Bronx County, 12,095 in New York and 12,074 in Queens, against 2,542 in the median county; this is one state, not a national figure.
What it shows: Bronx is the largest at 12,562, followed by New York at 12,095; the smallest shown is Richmond at 7,924.
How many miles does a car of my age really drive in a year?
In the 2022 National Household Travel Survey, US vehicles aged 10-14 years are driven an average 15,415 miles a year against 12,170 for vehicles aged 0-2 years, so 50,000 miles of brake wear comes up in about 3.2 years at the faster pace and 4.1 years at the slower one (reported mileage, survey-weighted).
What it shows: 10-14 is the largest at 15,415, followed by 0-2 at 12,170; the smallest shown is 0-2 at 12,170.
How often does this part fail a real inspection, by car age?
In 181,256 New Jersey initial inspections in 2025 of vehicles sent through the safety lane, 6.4% of cars aged 16+ years failed the brake test against 0.5% of cars under 3 years, about 13 times as often (record counts, not a sample).
What it shows: 16+ is the largest at 6.4%, followed by <3 at 0.5%; the smallest shown is <3 at 0.5%.
Has the maker published a fix?
A bulletin is a repair procedure a maker sends its dealers, not a safety defect: if your maker is listed, ask the dealer whether one covers your car and quote its number.
| Maker | Vehicles | Bulletin number | Date | What it says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet | Traverse 2020–2023; Colorado 2021–2022 and 1 more | 21-NA-142 | Mar 9, 2022 | This technical bulletin provides repair information to correct a customer concern of hearing front brake grind/groan noise after sitting overnight. |
| Honda | Odyssey 2015 | Service Bulletin | Sep 27, 2014 | Service bulletin - The front brakes grind, rub or screeches. |
What do owners say?
3 complaints quoted word for word, each with its NHTSA number.
Brakes grind and vibrate and have for the past 7,000 miles, dealer continues to say this is normal for Volkswagen, this problem has been reported numerous times to VW and doing an internet search I am not the only one with this problem.
Vehicle only has 700 miles and there is a loud brake grinding noise when slowly down at speeds of around 40 MPH.
Grinding noise when braking and reversing in car under 25 miles on odometer.
Check your car
Fixing a grinding noise from your brakes costs $696–$1,288 for front pads and rotors at the calculator's default shop setting. What moves it is what the grinding has already damaged (pads only, rotors, a caliper or a wheel bearing), how many axles are involved, and whether an independent shop or a dealership does the work.
What does the default estimate cover?
It covers the front axle: new pads and new rotors, with labor, at the default shop setting. The rear axle prices the same, so grinding from the back costs the same as from the front. The estimate assumes the grinding is coming from worn-through pads that have already marked the rotors, which is the most common reason for the noise.
It leaves out a caliper, a wheel bearing and any other part a shop finds once the wheel is off.
How much does it change by cause, axle and shop?
| Setting | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Bent backing plate (intermittent scrape, no pedal feel) | $143–$363 |
| Worn pads only, rotors intact | $363–$658 |
| Wheel bearing (hum changes with speed, not pedal) | $601–$1,297 |
| Pads and rotors, one axle (default) | $696–$1,288 |
| Seized caliper (car pulls to one side) | $763–$1,297 |
| Pads and rotors, both axles | $1,393–$2,576 |
| Pads and rotors at an independent shop (about $100 an hour) | $597–$1,122 |
| Pads and rotors at a dealership (about $175 an hour) | $826–$1,504 |
Should the rotors be replaced or resurfaced?
Only the shop can say, and it should measure rather than guess. Grinding means the steel backing plate has been scraping the rotor, and a rotor that is scored or worn thin cannot be machined and stay above its minimum thickness. New pads on a rough rotor wear unevenly and can bring the noise back.
Ask the shop for the measured rotor thickness and the minimum thickness stamped on the rotor. If the rotor passes, pads only is the cheaper row in the table. If it fails, the default row is the realistic one.
How do I tell it is the brakes, and how urgent is it?
Notice when the noise happens. If it comes only when you press the pedal and gets worse as you press harder, the pads and rotors are the likely cause. If it hums and changes with speed whether or not you brake, a wheel bearing is more likely. If the car pulls to one side, suspect a seized caliper.
Treat a steady grind as a stop-driving-soon problem. Every extra mile on bare metal can turn a pads-only job into a pads-and-rotors job, and a seized caliper moves you into the most expensive rows. If the pedal feels soft or the car pulls hard, do not drive it to the shop.
How do I get a fair quote?
Ask the shop to name the cause it found before it names a price, then to quote by axle with the pad and rotor grade written on it. Compare it with the row in the table that matches the cause the shop gave. A quote that adds a caliper or a bearing should come with a reason you can see: a seized slide, a leaking boot, play in the wheel.
Ask for the old parts back.
What does the estimate leave out?
- Your exact model: the calculator uses a vehicle class.
- Brake fluid service, which some shops add to a brake job.
- Shop fees and taxes, which vary by state.
Use the calculator on this page with your car and shop type, then compare the shop's quote with it.
Frequently asked questions
Can grinding brakes be fixed with pads alone?
Sometimes. If the noise is caught early and the rotors measure above their minimum thickness, pads alone can stop it. That is the pads-only row in the table.
Sources
Data shown on this page
- NHTSA owner complaint file (2015-2019 · 2020-2024 · 2025-2026) file downloaded 2026-10-05
- NHTSA service bulletin file (2015-2019 · 2020-2024 · 2025-2026) file downloaded 2026-10-05
- CalcScrape calculator model scaled by BEA Regional Price Parities data from 2024
- North Carolina Division of Air Quality, Vehicle Safety and Emissions Inspection Frequency Study data from 2017
- BLS Producer Price Index, commodity data for motor vehicle parts (series WPU14120504); BLS Consumer Price Index item SETD for the repair row file downloaded August 2026
- NHTSA, Lives Saved by Vehicle Safety Technologies and Associated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, 1960 to 2012 (DOT HS 812 069) data from 2015
- FHWA Highway Statistics 2022, Table HM-72 (urbanized areas: roadway miles, daily vehicle miles, freeway lane-miles) data from 2022
- New York State DOT, Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) Beginning 1977 (NYS Open Data 6amx-2pbv) data from 2019
- FHWA, 2022 NextGen National Household Travel Survey, vehicle file file downloaded 2026-10
- New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, Vehicle Inspection Data file downloaded 2026-10
Terms: US government data, public domain.
Observed: records as filed; owner reports are unverified and are not failure rates. Modeled: our estimate, not a quote. Derived: computed from the records; an association, not a cause. Reported: figures as reported by the publisher, not independently verified.
What is our own estimate
The price range comes from our calculator's formula. Its parts prices, labor hours per job and shop-rate tiers are CalcScrape estimates, not a published price dataset. Checked against RepairPal's range ($901–$1,084) on 2026-10-06: our default's midpoint is 0% below the middle of that range. Methodology