hey guys i recently ordered a set of oem pads off rosenthal mazda's website. went down to my local mazda dealership and they quoted me $81 dollars to install the front pads (not with rotor resurfacing, thtas an extra 80 dollars). my question is, is that a reasonable price for install? is there any places in the socal area which would do the install for reasonably less? i am not mechanically inclined enough so i cannot do it myself. thanks.

i am leaning towards the dealership b/c that way with oem pads installed by a factory authorized dealership i am in the clear with any kind of warranty issue.

If you change your mind about doing it yourself, here's the Do It Yourself (http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=38037&highlight=brake) by polak. It's one of the easier maintenance jobs.
I'm not sure if that rate is decent, sounds high to me for removing wheels, remove caliper and pads, goop up and replace.

how much is the hourly shop rate at your dealership? i work at BMW and our hourly shop rate is $95. we charge 2 hours for both front brakes (which includes rotors, pads, and pad wear sensor) i'm gonna say that the mazda dealership isn't $95 an hour, maybe around $80. so for them to slap some pads on (which is half the work on a full brake job) they are gonna charge you an hour. so $81 sounds about right. honestly though, pad slapping takes no where near an hour.

Are you sure the ones you have now don't "squeak"? If so, you could probably get them replaced under TSB: http://www.finishlineperformance.com/rx8/docs/pdf/04-006-04-1369b.pdf

Although if your car doesn't qualify, I guess you will need to pay for it or do it youself.

Just a thought ;)