Gen II Brake Life - 83K+?

With regenerative braking doing most of your stopping work, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect to go 5-10x longer between brake pads. I've read about it here in the forums, and I'm looking forward to seeing the effect over the years myself.

 

Mine had 118K on them when I sold the 2004 in May.
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I have 101k miles and the front pads are not even half way yet. I would guess it still has over 70% left.

 

with my rims and my driving habits.. i finally need to change my brakes. i'm at about 124336 miles or.. something like that. the fronts are making noise... i have yet to really look into it.. i figured they've had their use.

 

I just did my 30k service at 29,616 miles. I measured the front pads and the thinnest of the two was 9.7mm. The standard thickness is 11mm, so I have used 1.3mm in 29,616 miles. The minimum thickness is 1.0mm. So, if you extrapolate, I could get as much as 227k miles from the original front brake pads.

 

Yes, but the definition of "brake lightly" varies rather drastically with speed in terms of how it feels. I am disappointed that Toyota does not include any kind of display to clarify when you have exceeded regeneration limit and are actually using the friction brakes. However if you watch the battery current display on a scan gauge while gently varying the brake force, you can find the limit.

At 25 mph it is really, really easy to stay in pure regeneration. By contrast, at 75 mph the regeneration limit represents a very modest deceleration rate.

I would love to hear the truth from actual Toyota technicians who see a lot of brake pads, but I suspect that the rate of wear varies quite drastically from owner to owner, being driven both by driving conditions and owner habits. (even more so than with conventional systems)

 

They do. It's on the new ECO-METER.

Remember what things were like way back in 2003 when the Iconic model was rolled out. Even the simple handheld GPS was just a dream still. A lot has changed since then.
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Very few posters on PC have reported replacing front brakes before 100K miles. While it isn't a scientific survey, it does give a good indication of long brake life.

I suspect most Prius drivers are not heavy brake users. It goes against the whole reason to own a Prius.

Tom

 

How exactly do you tell when the car is "in pure regeneration" with the scan gauge?

 

You cant.

BUT chances are, if your below 80amps going into the battery, chances are your using regenerative braking. If you see over 80-100 amps, you'll feel the friction brakes kick in.

60amps is the sweet spot for regeneration.

 

Wayne Brown:
http://privatenrg.com/#100kBrakePads

If I'm bored I'll check the pad thickness at 150k miles.

 

Like they said
Even in 'regular' vehicles, the number of miles on the odometer isn't necessarily indicative of brake life. Mostly Interstate will last a LOT longer than mostly city.

Unless the prior owner continued to drive like they did in their old car, you have a LOT of pad left. You can certainly measure them just so you know where YOU are starting.

I think my pads will last more miles than my wife's.
1) She waits longer before she brakes for stop signs, I suspect she hits the pads well above 8 MPH while I rarely do
2) 85% of her driving is city and I have probably 40% Interstate miles. Still have 70%+ at 93K miles

Even so, she shouldn't have a problem getting to 100K on them

 

176,000, brakes are still original.

 

Fortunatly I can apply the pads under 8 MPH.
In opposite case I'm afraid they could get unchanged the whole life of the car, (and rust in the middle of the life)

(Really rare city use)

 

160,000 Miles ... still original brake pads.

Happy Driving,
Chris

 

I thought so.

So if I see a stop sign ahead, instead of coasting regen at about 10 ~ 20A, I should glide and then at the last moment brake regen at 60A?