frozen caliper

What is this inspection you speak of? State inspection? Or did you pay the dealer to do an inspection?
Your B2B warranty is over and brakes are not covered by the power train warranty. Just ask them to clean the calipers, relube them. Some say to slam the brakes in neutral ever now and then so they get a work out. Maybe this would help if you live in the rust belt.

 

did u buy the car new?

 

How much did it cost you? I just had the same problem. I live in NYC and drive in heavy traffic. Also went through a rough season for winter with salty roads and also go to the beach alot with salty air.
They are quoting me $900 for 2 new rotars, brake pads and $400 for a Brake Caliper. This sounds rediculous, but I'm not sure if I should just let them fix it or go somewhere else with it.

 

According to the Toyota manual, rear rotors retail for $104 each. Rear pads are $56 for the set. The rear caliper lists for $307. Labor to replace rear pads is 1.0 hours. Add 0.2 hours to remove and replace the caliper, 0.3 hours to replace each rotor.

So that's $571 for parts plus 2.3 hours. If your shop rate is $120/hr (wild guess) that would come to $276 for a total of $847. There will be some brake fluid involved as well.

Looks like you're in the (expensive) ballpark.

 

Thanks for the details - I'm really disappointed by this situation and just don't know if I actually needed all that work.

 

If you can find out, I'd be interested to learn where it's frozen.
The caliper "floats" on guide pins and they are a common point of corrosion and seizing. The other possibility is that the piston is frozen in place.
If it's the pins I might start planning to disassemble and regrease things every couple of years. If it's the piston I'm not sure there's much that can be done (though I notice that some of the reman parts used phenolic plastic pistons).

 

I had issues with pins on my hondas and keep them lubed after a couple froze. I'm not sure about the Toyota design, but on Honda you just had to replace the bracket and not the whole caliper if it's the pins.

 

Periodic brake inspections are in the maintenance schedule. There's 2 levels, a quick look-over, and a more in-depth check. With the latter I think the pads should be pulled, the caliper checked for ability to shift side-to-side, and everything cleaned up and re-lubed.

That said, it's not spelled out very well. And with most of the braking effort being done by regen, the brakes don't get much of a work out; I think owners, and dealerships, tend to ignore the brakes a bit too much. And brake service is complicated by the touchy electronics on the car.

 

where do these o/p's disappear to?

 

I didn't notice that this was disinterred from October

 

I have same problem in my 2013, rear drivers side was frozen and rear passenger side was sticking so now the pads and rotors are worn and will need to be replaced costing around $ 1000. I have 69K, i can see pads going but calipers failing in a car less than 5 years is not good.

 

With the rear brakes, if the calipers's been previously removed/installed, it could be the caliper piston orientation was screwed up. It's imperative to have the piston oriented so that the 4-spoke pattern on it's face oriented like an X:



Further, that when reassembled the piston is well seated against the back of the pad thus, before applying the parking brake. You want to install it thus, avoid pushing the parking brake, push the brake pedal multiple times, reconnect the negative battery cable (it should be disconnected at the outset), car back on the ground, take a test drive, gently using the brakes.

Only then, when you get back, gently apply/release the parking brake several times, raise the rear of the car and check that the wheels are near-free spinning with a good push.

There is a stubby pin on the back of the brake pads. It is intended to nestle between the spokes on the caliper face, to prevent it from rotating when the parking brake is applied. Trouble is: it's a finicky/unusual design, easily screwed-up. If the piston does manage to rotate, you can end up with the spoke bearing on the pin, causing skewed brake application, constant drag, bevelled brake wear, scored rotors.

It's a poor design, but if you're dilligent when assembling, you can avoid these issues.

Attached is an excerpt from the Repair Manual, the brake inspection instruction.