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Prius Washing

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by prius2006rocks, Oct 22, 2007.

  1. prius2006rocks

    prius2006rocks New Member

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    I have an 06 Prius. When I wash the car and repark it, the next day when I pull it out of the garage the brakes grab some and squeak for a little bit and then stop - until I assume they dry? Is this normal? Has this happened to anyone else? Also, on the front left and right brakes it looks like a slight rust orange color. Is this normal? Does it slightly rust? Was it that color all along? Thanks a lot! :)

    [email protected] if you can E-Mail, otherwise please post any comments.
     
    #1 prius2006rocks, Oct 22, 2007
  2. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    After you wash the car go for a short drive, brake hard a couple of times then dry the car and put it away. This will stop the brake discs getting a light rust coating on them.
     
    #2 patsparks, Oct 22, 2007
  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    It's normal on all cars, not just the Prius. You will notice it more on the Prius because the brakes receive little use, so they don't get cleaned off as quickly.

    Hondas have the fastest rusting brakes of any car I've ever driven. We live by the water, and the brakes on my Hondas would rust so much in a weekend that they would scrape and growl for the first half-dozen stops.

    Tom
     
    #3 qbee42, Oct 22, 2007
  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius2006rocks @ Oct 21 2007, 09:40 PM) [snapback]528678[/snapback]</div>
    Yeah if you wash and then park the car in the garage afterwards with the parking brake on, the parking brake may stick (depending on how cold it is.. happens more often in the fall/spring) when you release it. (i.e. the cable and release may be in the "off" position but the brake itself is still physically jammed against the drum. When you move, you'll hear a loud thump and that's the parking brake releasing. Scared the heck out of me the first time that happened cause I thought I hit something in the garage).

    So... my advice is probably to let it dry before applying the parking brake.


    sceondly, yeah the front rotors can accumulate rust because we rarely use the brakes so when it rains and water splashes on it, rust spots appear. You can clean them just by applying the brakes in Neutral or braking hard and by passing regenerative braking.
     
    #4 Tideland Prius, Oct 22, 2007
  5. prius2006rocks

    prius2006rocks New Member

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    Thank you! I wasn't using the parking brake, just the regular brakes. I will do these things next time. :)
     
    #5 prius2006rocks, Oct 22, 2007
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