It seems no one can do anything right any more. The FSM directs you to lubricate the backing plate where the shoes ride.

This is so true

Incompetence has taken over & getting worse. I left work one day & heard a noise in the front end of my truck. I'm only 3-1/2 miles from my office so I figured I'd get home, crawl underneath & take a look. Well, before I was halfway home I heard a much louder noise & felt a bad vibration in the steering. As much as I knew that the local Chrysler dealer would be expensive, it was right there so I pulled in & made the appointment to have them look at it. I also needed the annual state inspection which they can do, so it was easier to do it this way.

The next day the service manager calls to tell me I passed inspection but that I need a new transfer case & a new rear axle housing.

I said, "How can that be? The noise is in the front & the steering vibrated."

He explained, "They found nothing wrong in the front & the vibration was being transferred from the transaxle to the frame so that's what you're probably feeling."

Then he drops the bomb saying they want $6000 to fix it all. I told him to forget it, I can't spend $6000 right now. I went in, paid for the inspection & had it towed to another shop that I usually go to. The other shop calls me & the guy says, "You have a broken front axle & there's nothing wrong with the transaxle or your rear. That'll be $800 total. And by the way we did your state inspection because it was overdue."

The dealer did the inspection but never put the sticker on.

Holy Cow on tire prices is right.

But except for HDTVs ,
oatmeal,
and un-mined mineral State tax collections,
everything is inflated.

I have never vacationed in Argentina,
but I have heard an American $ buys a lot there
and they do have the world’s most southern coal mine.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacimientos_Carbon%C3%ADferos_R%C3%ADo_Turbio

South oak Dodge... I worked there back around '89-90ish

Hell .. just the price of PARTS these days to DIY is asinine.
Looked up front rotors for my Durango locally... Couldn't find em under 99.99 each anywhere in town. Got "power stop" ones WITH PADS from rock auto for $130.
Same Durango blower motor. $143 everywhere in town within a penny of each other. RA $43 plus shipping. eBay known name brand blower motor $40 to my door with free shipping, within 2 days....
As I remember none of the local places had it on the shelf anyway, id have had to wait on them too
As it turns out I've done 2 orders from rock auto 2 days apart for different stuff.... Can't afford local.

I heard RA is the best to deal with.

Many new cars have rotors that are surface hardened. It makes the initial surface last longer and the softer core helps reduce noise. If a tech cuts through the hardened surface the rotors will die quickly.

When I fist looked at rotors the pads came with them as a set.I don't think you can cut the scored rotors on the newer cheaper cars.

A few months ago (Dec) I replaced my wife's (still in All Season tread wear condition) Dunlop Winter Force dedicated snow tires with Blizzak WS90 snow tires @ $268 each. Add on $125 mounting and balancing PLUS TAX and it's just a little over $1300. Replaced O.E.M. Brake rotors and pads for her GLK and that's over $600 in parts (discounted as MB parts manager in a long, long time friend) and I replaced them with my labor, didn't even think about asking the price if she had the MB shop do it. I'm guessing over a grand if the shop did them. Check with the dealer about doing a transmission service (filter, pan gasket, level spout and fluid) $772.00 And milk WAS .25 cents and IT WAS DELIVERED TO YOUR DOORSTEP!! Nope it will never be the same, it is what it is and too many CYA costs included. Remember when a member tried to get a tire patched but the first dealer said NO. So we move on or we rant here

That isn't a recent thing. My 90 Supercoupe had the same thing. Don't buy ford rotors. The aftermarket were actually better and that is just plain nuts

Don't think the OP has priced stuff lately. I bought tires for my truck last year.....$900 and I mounted them myself. Tires for the wife's car ...$1000 and again..I mounted them. That includes a discount we get through work. Just this week we were looking at tires for my co-worker's Tacoma...very little out there under $300/tire....again mounted by us.

You're wright!It's been nearly 20 years!! lol!

I would like to know what the per tire cost increase has been to make the tire “lower rolling resistance” ...

Such tires save some money over their useable life on fuel.

....if you don't wreck the car first due to the lack of grip

Needs fact checking and or BS checking but supposedly most of the info is from the "sponsoring" tire manufacture. Just FYI and I'll post this in the EV thread so we can continue the

That's no shock. I recently paid over $1100 for four winters for my daily Hyundai. Cost us roughly that for four Cooper Cobras for the truck last summer.

I remember putting four Cooper Cobras on my AMC Hornet in 2002.... they were ON SALE.... $40 each. And I saved myself an additional $25.... because I took them to college with me and used the mounting machines we had in the shop. Buying tires never used to be such a production.

Brakes I do myself.

I'm even lucky enough to be getting a local tire shops' old equipment. Brake Lathe, Balancer, Tire machine and wash tank all for very good prices.
I figure the tire machine and balancer will pay themselves off after 9-10 uses, since a change-over now costs minimum $125.

I'll also have one of the only brake lathes' in town. I went searching last summer for someone to turn a pair of drums for me and that's when I found out - nobody has one. The only place that DID have one, was this local tire shop.... and that's when they started offering me their old stuff.

Better keep driving that parts delivery truck with no A/C.

Yeah there's an old school parts store near me that has a brake lathe in the back room that hasn't been used in 15 years or more. I've asked about buying it.
Also wanting a tire machine. Definitely have enough compressor already to run one.

Buying old equipment is fine for our old cars. It's different trying to do stiff low pro tires w/TPMS sensors on an old machine. Bust up a couple sensors and you'd likely be money ahead paying someone to mount the tires for ya. Same thing with rotors...trying to mount up thin,late model rotors on old/worn out lathes can be frustrating to say the least.

luckily, i can turn drums and rotors on a "real" lathe when needed, as well as whittle out many other projects using said lathe and bridgeport mill.
not many here can, or have access to real machinist equipment.
having fabricated a manual tire changing machine 40+ years ago, it has served my needs well over the years. however, it's a real cardio workout now that i'm old.
i have thought about purchasing a machine, but i haven't quite made up my mind. at my age, it might not be cost effective.
the one thing about having one's own machine, you have total control over very expensive tires and wheels, thus damage to said items is greatly reduced by eliminating the "bubba" factor.