Brake Pads Wear According to the Dealer

I like Hobbit's approach: he checks the brake fluid with a stick and if it passes he leaves it alone. I leave the master brake cylinder alone, given a choice.

 

some of these issues are regional as well, and you have to know what to look for.

 

...and every time the master cylinder/resevoir is opened, more water is absorbed. I like my way, or should I say industry standards way, better.

 

Yep! The Prius being talked about lives in SoCal so I did not bore him with rust avoidance routines

 

has anything ever broken on a prius due to rust? just curious, but we do have 15 years under our belt.

 

Good standard for conventional brakes. As for the Prius, a check at 100k miles and then every 50k miles thereafter seems fine to me. How much water do you think will be introduced by 250k miles ? It works out to 5 checks.

I remember a story from a guy in the rust belt who had to replace rotors and pads due to extreme rust on the rotors. Presumably from too little use. Ever since, I have adopted the habit of friction brake use at least once a month during the winter, even though our roads are not salted.

 

that does sound familiar. with proper inspection, he probably could have gotten more life out of them running in neutral once in a while. using that logic, i suppose not inspecting the slide pins can lead to the same problem.

 

I hate to tell you folks this, but aside from the regen circuit, Prius brakes are conventional and use conventional fluid.

 

Quite true. The reservoir of DOT3 fluid is a bald hint.

Now, a question for you Mr Mechanic: what are the mechanisms that introduce water into the fluid (besides opening the reservoir?)

 

I suggest you do a little expert googling Doctor. This is not Mechanic 101 Class.

 

No problem, at least you seem ready to learn. From Brake Fluid Q/A :

This to a large degree can be summarized as: water contamination is proportional to brake wear.

Now, about that question of how regen is implicated ...

 

Look everyone, Sage is a brake expert now because he can cut and paste and make summary expert experienced opinions based on a 30 second search. I guess we should bypass your expert experienced medical knowledge using the same logic. Go find someone else to pick a fight with buddy.

 

I retract my earlier statement.

You prefer to remain ignorant.

 

So then you are saying we can bypass you and other Medical professionals using a 30 second Google search...good advise.

 

Headlight-level sensor linkages seem to get mentioned from time to time. My driver's upper door hinge. Some is developing at my driver's door sill. Rust appeared to be the failure mode of my LF wheel bearing (maybe a seal failed?) and RF brake caliper (following a tear in the piston boot). Don't know about other examples....

-Chap

 

That's something that's real easy to get to: mounted on the rear cross beam. Even without raising the car, though it's easier if raised.

 

right, mine went on my '04 in less than a year or so. could it have been caught during an inspection?

 

I was thinking GM/Ford/Mazda, but Toyota has had its blunders as well. One of the reasons I don't own a Tundra is it's reputation for rusting to the extent that the spare tire falls outs the bottom of the truck. That's somewhat strange because I bought the Prius in part because of its reputation for NOT rusting. And comparing it to the Mazda 3 that we traded in, it is built a lot better in terms of withstanding road salt. The body seams around the wheel openings are sealed for example, something that I haven't seen on any other car.

The Prius is my first Toyota, so I'm hoping it will live up to it's reputation for being trouble free.

 

Keep in mind that it is not maintenance free. Low maintenance, but there is still stuff to due if you want the car to last.

You have more than me because of road salt.

 

It's been said by at least one member (more in the know than me) that bolts are getting more rust prone due to certain coatings being outlawed. All the more reason to periodically raise the car and see what you can see. Disassemble, inspect, clean, and brush/spray on some wax/oil protectant.