Questions about my "multipoint inspection" results (picture)

Honestly, those measurements are guesstimates as far as I can tell..... Once I had this done within 3 days ... dealership did not rotate the tires and they admitted so brought it back. And the breakpads GREW ... all four of them showed higher number then just 3 days before some just little but some had 5 mm difference

Generally, break pads should be good up to 30k-40k my last prius had original breakpads at 42k when it was totaled. But I am flat-lander...

Of course if you drive hilly areas all this could change.

 

Aren't you guys being a little hard on the dealership?

Trust me, I hate to defend dealership service departments as I have had my own troubles over the years and I have read the numerous stories of pain.

But if I'm reading that 27 point inspection sheet correctly, they are saying the front brakes are fine, and only marking the rear brakes as possibly needing attention in the future.

Okay, so maybe the technician looked at the age of the vehicle and did a quick "guestimate". Not strictly kosher, but not exactly a cardinal sin.

If I had received that inspection sheet, I think I would of just calmly and politely called them on it. I would of just asked why my vehicle with only 15000 miles on it has such prematurely worn brakes.

Brake inspections are offered for free at many places, you could always get a second opinion and then REALLY call them on it.

Infact, I think a second opinion or an owner evaluation is in order. We haven't really established whether the dealerships numbers are correct or not. There is an outside chance that there is something wrong with the OP's rear brakes that has caused premature wear. I would think the first step before torching the service department would be to determine if their evaluation of brake wear was accurate or not.

Of course if it is accurate? A good service department should of been concerned as to why rear brakes on a vehicle only driven 15000 miles were that worn. But first things first.

 

SZGabor you said brake pads should be good for 30-40K. I've read on other threads of pads lasting upwards of 100K due to the regenerative braking. Most of those were for the Gen 2 prius. Is the 3rd Gen not as good?

 

I agree but it really really depend on both driving style and topography. As I said my at about 40k was less than half worn (according to the 40k service inspection). But as I said I drove %90 flat land and with a lot's of gliding

 

get a second opinion from a brake place. ask them to show you a new pad as you're looking at the old one.

 

If true you have to get that resolved. But yeah, do raise one corner and pull a wheel off to see for yourself. The outside pad is relatively easy to eyeball, you and there's a little opening at the centre of the caliper offering an edge-on view of the pads on both sides of the disk.

With that edge-on view I think there's a groove showing in the pads. If some of that groove is still visible they're not that far gone.

 

This is what I found tonight- Look to be way over 1 mm that the multipoint inspection reported.

 

OK I got the end on view with the camera - looks like there is plenty of that groove left. Either they were really trying to dupe me or they just put the the wrong information down.

 

My 2010 has 100,miles and still on original brake pads. About half worn according to my dealer whom I trust.

 

I'm far from a brake expert. What I can tell you is that:

1. 4 cars in my family have rear disc brakes. None have needed rear pads replaced. On my Accord I remember replacing the fronts twice and the rears were still good.

2. An oddity with my Prius that was noticed immediately is that all 4 wheels are clean. Some dirt and stuff but negligible brake dust. Front wheels typically get dirty with brake dust earlier than the rears indicating faster wear in front. 17000 miles and my prius wheels are clean. I cannot tell if front or rear is wearing faster. Lack of brake dust is an indication of very little friction brake use.

I'd get a second opinion before spending $600. I expect rear Prius brake pads to last a lifetime based on my personal usage.

 

^ I too see next to no brake dust on ours. By comparison, every opportunity I've had to wash our previous Civic Hybrid, the front rims are really grubby with black brake dust.

 

Your pads look close to new thickness! Send them a link to these pic's?

 

When the brakes are functioning correctly both the inboard and outboard pads will wear evenly. If you look closely at the wear indicator grooves in the center of your pads in the above picture, the groove in your outboard (left) pad is about half as deep as the groove in the inboard (right) pad. This means that your outboard pad is wearing about twice as fast as the inboard pad, indicating that the caliper is not moving as freely as it should and that the caliper slide pins and hardware need to be cleaned and lubricated. There is also a substantial amount of rust and corrosion in the above picture that should be removed. Your pads do not need to be replaced now, but your brakes do need to be serviced now to prevent further uneven pad wear which causes you to have to replace your pads sooner than if they wear evenly.

 

It is an interesting question whether it is normal for the rear brake pads to wear faster than the front pads on the G3 Prius; or, whether it is abnormal, due to a lack of brake maintenance. Time will tell as these cars accumulate miles. The following are factors to consider:

· regenerative braking occurs on the front and not on the rear brakes causing the front pads to do less work and wear less than front pads on a conventional car without regenerative braking,
· the rear half of the Prius is heavier than a comparable front wheel drive car (i.e. Corolla) due to the addition of the HV battery making braking more like on a rear drive car where the rear brakes have to do more work to stop the car safely in a straight line,
· at 59,000 miles on my Prius, the condition of the slide pin grease was good on the front calipers and broken down to a black film on a rear calipers; unfortunately, I didn't measure the pad thicknesses,
· the G2 Prius had rear drum brakes which have different maintenance needs and may be less maintenance sensitive than G3 rear disk brakes,
· the G3 Prius rear brakes have relatively thin rotors and lightweight calipers and may be more susceptible to maintenance neglect and related premature wear and failure,
· based on PriusChat member comments, many G3 Prius owners believe that no brake maintenance is required on the G3 Prius setting up a potential for high wear and failure rates, for rear brakes in particular,
· Prius G3 brakes do in fact need routine maintenance, i.e. cleaning and lubrication, in order to function and wear normally,
· Toyota does not call for routine brake maintenance, just inspection, in its schedule of maintenance for the Prius G3,
· Toyota dealers make more money replacing worn and failed brake parts than on brake maintenance services that extend the life of these same brake parts,
· there are increasing reports on PriusChat of rear brake pads wearing out prematurely and caliper failure, which is unusual for rear disk brakes on a small car.

 

I believe that the pads look to be uneven on that side in the picture because of an artifact from the angle I took the picture, couldn't get it straight on. But looking at them in person they were more even.

I did do some more investigating on the other wheel because it started to squeak with non-regenerative braking. That side was wearing very unevenly - in fact it the outside pad wore at an angle, down to a point. So it was in fact down to "less than 1 mm" or even 0 at one point, but it was only 1 out of the 4 pads. I didn't replace the rotors at this time. So the dealership did catch a problem, but I'm not sure that justifies telling my wife to replace all the pads and the rotors (and yes I understand the pads always come as a set of 4 so its not like they could sell me 1 pad).
So in the end I changed the pads myself with the help of a mechanic friend and will keep an eye on them for uneven wear again.

 

^ Assume no warning lights went on after you replaced pads? That's good to know. There's been speculation that just having excessive brake pedal travel, for the first few brake applications after a pad change, might trigger warning lights.

 

Nope, no warning lights.