How much should front brake pads cost?

[Dead Eye]

It's certainly a cheap option to try out first and it won't do any harm

As I said before, the pads look like they have a lot of life left and they don't appear to be unevenly worn so its likely that you just need to give the them a bit of a greasing on the back of the pad and to maybe clean up the callipers a bit. Also, put some grease on to the pad retaining pin