Brake Squeek at 4500 miles

There's a thread dedicated to this subject matter:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...eaking-sound-wheels-during-rolling-start.html

Or do a search for squeaking brakes.

 

Good luck to you. Good story about the old Ford. He's probably thinking that he's driving the old beat up vehicle but here you are with the brake noise problem....
I only hope that Toyota will address the issue soon. I barely have 1500 miles on the car, so it'll be a while before I take it in for an oil change and have this issue looked at also. The only thing I can say is that the problem seems to be intermittent now and goes away fairly quickly.

 

Nothing new here -- and welcome to the 2010 Prius Owner's Squeaking Wheels club!

You are not the 1st to experience this. Toyota U. S. A. and the Toyota dealers won't do anything about it either ... do a lookup, read 'em and weep ---> Squeaking sound from wheels during rolling start

There are about 10 pages of complaints/alleged fixes/and related general nonsense on this subject. No one REALLY knows anything, and Toyota isn't doing squat.

For what it's worth, here are some contacts that several of us have complained to:


1. This forum's "Prius Team" on this squeaking problem --> PriusChat Forums - View Profile: Prius Team .

2. Toyota U. S. A. Customer Experience Center:

Customer Experience Center
If you'd like to discuss your experience or share your comments, Toyota's Customer Experience Center representatives are happy to assist you.
Phone: 800-331-4331
Fax: 310-468-7814
Mon - Fri, 5:00 am - 6:00 pm PST
Sat, 7:00 am - 4:00 pm PST

Or send correspondence to: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
19001 South Western Ave.
Dept. WC11
Torrance, CA 90501

 

Re: Brake Squeak at 4500 miles

Hi there:
The squeaking started for me around 1200 miles. I took it to the dealer and of course they heard nothing, nor had they been aware of the problem from other owners.

I am scheduled for a 5k oil change in early November (hey, that's next week!) -- and I plan to mention it AGAIN to the service rep and this time I think I'll ask to also speak to the mechanic. I can't help but think that other Gen 3 owners have also complained about the squeaking noise. Chances are the car won't make the noise for them again, though.

The idea here is to get as many people as possible to notify Toyota of the problem so that either a TSB or even a recall is issued. This can not happen unless enough people complain and notify the dealers and Toyota U.S.A.

I left you the info in my last post, please consider sending an email, or better yet, calling Toyota Customer Care.
:rockon:

 

You may have already tried this and it may not help anyway. But if it happens to me the first thing I will try is taking it out on the highway and brake firmly enough to activate the friction brakes (but not ABS) from 60 or 70 MPH a couple of times. I think this may clean the rotors and pads and could help. If they still squeak after that at least you will know it's not due to rust or dirt on the brakes.

 

This seems to still be an issue in the gen III as it was in the gen II. Here are a few of my thoughts about this issue.

I have all-round disk brakes (Euro-Prius) but perhaps the drums in the rear of the gen II US are less noisy - I don't know. Now the Gen III has all-round disk brakes in the US too.

Braking in neutral has helped others. Interestingly the Toyota's gen III manual says neutral is never recommended while driving. From section 2-1 of the manual:

Do not under any circumstances shift the shift lever to “Râ€, “N†or push the “P†position switch while the vehicle is moving. Doing so can cause significant damage to the transmission and may result in a loss of vehicle control.

Do not shift the shift lever to “N†while the vehicle is moving. Doing so may cause the engine brake not to operate properly and lead to an accident.

When parking I make sure there is at least 6 clicks of the parking brake, as I imagine this keeps the brake pad close to the disc to help prevent surface rust, straightens out the surfaces contacting each other and possibly self-adjusts the brakes.

When coming to a stop, I use the brake pedal extremely lightly, so much so that my ankle is bent right back. Alternatively I lift my entire foot completely off the floor. Others say the opposite - that they benefit from heavier braking.

Because of the little feedback from the brake pedal, I feel slight changes in braking through momentum on my body, chassis dive and imminent squeaking.

Squeaking is louder when stopping on a downhill slope. Uphill makes the braking less squeaky.

I have asked my dealer and he said it was normal. Dealer polished the brake surfaces and that helped a little.

The prius has a high torque electric motor at slow speeds so I wonder if this creates a conflict with the braking as they both fight against each other. If the electronics were redesigned they might work better together.

Having come from manual transmission Toyota Yaris and Toyota Avensis cars where perfectly smooth and quiet stops were routine and easy to do, I am surprised by this screech. My next steps may be to investigate replacing the braking systems with lexus or ceramic hardware after trying a lexus hybrid or else to buy anti-squeal spray for the brake surfaces.