In furtherance of the blue car brake repair, I made an
Internet search and found seven near-by establishments.
The two most highly rated were Mike's Auto Repair at
735 Mt Auburn Street, and Monro Muffler and Brake Service
at 390 Arsenal Street, both in Watertown.

Mike, who works as a solo technician in his show at 735
Mt. Auburn Street, took the car for a test drive and agreed
that the barkes were spongy.  He  was willing to "bleed"
the brake lines for $100. As he hoisted the car, he muttered
"Just placing it on the lift is forty dollars."  With the car
elevated, he spun each of the four tires, and pointed out to
me that the right rear tire spun more freely than the left
rear tire, a phenomenon which he attributed to a defective
drum in the right rear brake and mandated replacement
of both right and left rear brake drums for $695.00.
As he was lowering the car, I asked, how much? and he
replied, whatever you want to pay. I gave him two twenty
dollar bills, and we shook hands.

Next I drove to the Monro Muffler Shop on Arsenal Street.
In response to my request for an inspection of the brakes,
one of the mechanics asked for the model and make of the 
car and computer printed out an estimate of $547.91 for
the repair of the front brakes, reduced to $369.00 if accepted
by tomorrow. When I asked him, how he knew the front brakes
were at fault, he responded by computer printing out an
estimate for $533.03 for repair of the rear brakes, reduced
to $350.00 if accepted by tomorrow. I then asked about the
charge for an estimate of any required work on the brakes,
and pointed out the car in the parking lot, - "or can you
tell what's wrong by looking at it from here?" Then came 
the manager and answered my question about the charge for
inspection by saying: "Whatever you want to pay for it."
Still feeling the void in my wallet from the $40 dollars I
had paid Mike, I said, "Nothing, if it's for me to decide."
I was required to sign a waver for damages caused by their
driving the car and was asked to hand them the keys. After
more than an hour, the manager came and asked, what was wrong
with the brakes anyway.  I said, maybe nothing but that they
felt spongy. He asked when had the front brakes been replaced;
I said I didn't know.  He said they were new. He noted the new
tie-rod ends, and said that only the outer tie-rods had been
replaced. The right inner tie-rod he said was also quite loose,
but couldn't demonstrate the laxity because the wheel had been
taken off.  As for the rear brake drums, they were not
accessible for inspection without further disassembly, which I
did not request.  The manager inferred that the brake lines
had not been purged completely following the front brake repair,
and thought that it was reasonable to "bleed" them again. He
gave me an estimate for $81.46, which I accepted. I sat down
in the waiting area once more, and when after two hours the
repair was finally complete, the car was taken out for a test
drive. The manager said the brakes were now o.k., and charged my
credit card. He could not tell me how long until the rear drums
would require repair, but said that a breakdown of the rear
brakes would more likely be gradual than sudden. He assured
me that the front brakes would continue to function even if
the rear brakes failed.

As I drove home, the sponginess seemed the same. I could discern
no improvement.  I wish you would drive the car and tell me what
you think.