What did you do to ur Gen III Prius today????

I have never once had any caliper pin from this car out of its rubber boot and bore.

When I do my regular brake inspections, I push and pull them until they move freely again, and confirm that the motion feels smooth and greased.

If I ever notice otherwise, that's when I'll take one out and clean it and regrease it. Hasn't happened yet.

On PriusChat, for whatever reason, those pins have some odd status as the first or even only things mentioned for any caliper problem, as if they're the only caliper parts everybody has heard of.

I have more often found cause to replace the "fitting kits" (a/k/a support plates) when they lose their factory Teflon-ish coating, then start to rust and interfere with pad motion. Even that not very often.

 

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I have concerns that paint may cook off causing a wheel to come loose l. I also believe that paint prevents heat transfer to the wheel which is the radiator for the rotor. What are your thoughts?

 

Yeaaa, oil them there brake pads really good! Oil everything on them there brakes....

 

Well, Toyota does paint the outer surface of the 'hat' where the rotor contacts the wheel. They must think it's ok.

Difference is, some aftermarket rotors also paint inside the hat, where the rotor contacts the hub bearing assembly. Not sure why Toyota doesn't, but I doubt it's from a desire to dump heat into the bearing.

I'm not sure to what extent the wheel is an important radiator for the rotor either, at least for front rotors that have cooling vanes right through 'em.