Before my 2016 Gen4, I had a 2007 Gen2, and with the Gen2, I hardly ever got brakes done. Maybe once very five years? But since I've bought the Gen4 in 2021, I've had the front brakes done on 7/13/2023 and again on 10/15/2025. And I've had the rear done on 8/1/2024 and again on 6/1/2026. Roughly every 2 years I'm doing the brakes, due to excessive vibration. I live in NJ, so plenty of salt during the winter months (quite a lot last year, as it was really cold and lots of snow). I'm a light braker and use adaptive cruise control a lot, so the real brakes aren't engaging. What can I do to keep these brakes going? It's costing me half a grand every time! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Time aside, how fast are you piling on the miles? if you read carefully through Toyota USA’s Warranty and Maintenance Booklet, every 30k miles (or tri-yearly, whichever comes first) they omit the mention of brake “visual” inspection, instead talk about checking rotor specs. Very vague, but I’d take that to mean do a full brake inspection at that interval, ie: lifting off the caliper, inspecting/cleaning and reliving. Still, the more popular approach with a lot of owners is to just ignore the brakes, till you’re hearing noises, feeling a pulsation in the pedal, spongy feel, and so on.
I bought the car at 56K miles in 2021, and it's at 109K now, so that's about 10K miles a year, which I think is fairly normal. I'd happily go for brake service at 30K! Right now I'm doing them every 20K...
Our Brake rotors tend to accumulate surface rust due to limited use. I periodically get my Prius up to 30 MPH, turn off the regenerative braking (shift to neutral) and lightly apply the brakes to clean the rotors (repeat until brake noise goes away). The other brake maintenance items are to lubricate the caliper slide pins and check the water absorption level of the brake fluid every two years. I have never had to do a brake job in 22 years of driving Prii. JeffD
I've had to do two break services for my GMCs over the last 30 years - each of those at about the 150,000 mile mark but that's only one data point. If you're having to do brake service as often as you describe you 'may' not be a horrible driver.... You 'may' not live in a horribly congested urban hellscape where you're locked in traffic jams for hours every day..... You 'may' not drive a horrible car or have it serviced by 'horrible' technicians.... You 'may' not live in an unimaginably horrible climate where local victims have to salt and sand the roads every few years..... HOWEVER (comma!) I will submit that your brake wear is abnormally high, and you 'may' doing SOMETHING to contribute to it - especially as a 10k per year driver. You drive a G4 which makes things easy - the next time you need brake work use OEM parts or spend a little bit more money and 'white sheet' all four corners at a place like Midas that will "back their brake parts (shoes, pads) with a Golden Guarantee limited lifetime warranty, meaning the parts are covered for as long as you own your car...." - or so they claim. At the very least you will earn the right for them to explain to you WHY your brakes start vibrating afterwards if this winds up being the case. Many if not most tire shops also do brakes and some of the better of these will offer a better guarantee than a place like Midas whose guarantees can be sketch. -Good Luck!
That's your rotors warping; most likely due to inferior materials and/or mismatched pads and rotor materials. I would do what @ETC(SS) stated; Find a local tire and brake shop that will give you a lifetime warranty on the brake job. You'll pay a little more, but your already out $1K per axle over the last 4 years. I've actually had customers that literally drove with one foot on the brake pedal - and their brakes lasted longer than that. Good Luck....
