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Brake Question

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by jk823, Apr 23, 2012.

  1. jk823

    jk823 Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Los Angeles CA
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
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    I have a 2009 (Gen II) Prius and I just brought it to the dealership for Toyota's "Minor Service" at 35,000 miles. I noticed that they wrote on the receipt that my front brakes were at 6mm and my rear brakes were at 3mm. They didn't mention any kind of service -- so I'm not worried about getting new brake pads now -- but it seems strange that the brakes would wear at such different rates. Also, I thought that with the regenerative braking my brake pads wouldn't wear as quickly. Is there a way I can double-check those measurements? When are brakes typically replaced?
     
  2. cnschult

    cnschult Active Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
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    No offense but you don't seem mechanical enough to recheck it yourself but don't despair:

    Your front brakes are disc brakes with pads. new is 11mm, they should be replaced when there is 1mm left, they will start to squeak or bark at you when they are needed to be replaced. You have 6 left which means you have used 5mm of the usable 10mm of pads meaning you have 50% remaining, that's bad for 35,000 miles as most owners report being able to get 150,000 out of a set of pads, you need to research pulse and glide and learn how to simply coast to red lights and stop signs so you aren't always using your friction brakes.

    your rear brakes are drums, ancient technology which was originally created for trains, new shoes have 4mm which means you have 75% remaining. I'm not sure if they squeal when they get worn down but don't worry your rear brakes handle only about 20% of the actual braking.

    Cars of yesteryear had very thick rotors that lasted 150,000 miles and you changed the pads every 30,000 miles and "turned" the rotors on a lathe. Thick rotors add weight and kill fuel economy so now the industry uses very thin rotors, but a good Prius driver hardly ever uses his or her brakes so the rotors could last over 150,000 miles but only if you live in an arid desert climate. The reason is they are made out of iron and rust from the inside out. Once the rust "climbs over" the rotor to make contact with the pads the rotors are done and need to be replaced.

    I'm in Michigan and they use salt on the roads so my 2004 Prius with only 51K miles was barking at me because the rust had climbed over, I threw on new rotors and block sanded my pads smooth and its been smooth stopping ever since. New rotors are 22mm thick and need to be replaced when they are down to 20mm, I didn't measure mine but I'd guess they were at 21mm. Other things I recommend every 50K miles or so is to lube the caliper slides and clean the brake dust out of the rear drums.
     
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  3. jk823

    jk823 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2009
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    Location:
    Los Angeles CA
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
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    Thanks so much!!

    John