Do the brakes need adjusting?

No adjustment needed. Keep your money. Buy some ice cream .

Wayne

 

Front disk brakes are entirely self-adjusting. The shoe-drum clearance on the rear brakes is adjusted automatically by applying brakes while driving backwards. This system, while in wide use and certainly clever, may get the shoes too close. They can be reset manually but it is not necessarily the case that you needed it.

Anybody who is about to participate in a fuel economy contest out to first make sure that the shoes are well clear of the drums, and them not put the brakes on in reverse because this will 'readjust' them. After winning, you can hit the brakes while reversing and get the shoes in close again.

 

There's a small possibility that the parking brake cable may need adjusting after many uses. Seems that over time the cable may stretch a little, but adjustment of the disc front and drum rear brakes should NOT need dealer adjustment.

As previously posted "Keep your money."

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Drifter @ Jan 2 2007, 02:15 PM) [snapback]369659[/snapback]</div>

I can't remember when brakes weren't self-adjusting. Sounds like your Toyota dealer is either greedy or ignorant. I'd find another shop.

 

I'm a little confused:

If the brakes did need adjusting on a 2005 with 25,000 miles, wouldn't it be covered by the 3y/36,000 warranty on the car, thus negating any greed on the dealer's side? Or does it cross into some other category, like wear and tear? Perhaps my understanding of the warranty is flawed, but I thought if anything goes wrong with the car (outside negligence, accidents, etc) the dealer has to keep the car in shape until the warranty runs out. Unless they can show that something you did, way out of spec for average drivers, to cause the malfunction.

Help me out, thanks.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Drifter @ Jan 2 2007, 08:46 AM) [snapback]369549[/snapback]</div>

Brakes do NOT need adjusting and cleaning. My stores do NOT sell that maintenance item.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Drifter @ Jan 3 2007, 04:46 PM) [snapback]370340[/snapback]</div>

The consensus here is 3.5 quarts of oil. My tp is 42/40. Wonder what my dealer will say.

 

Not sure if this applies to the prius or not but in my past experiance all cars with self adjusting brakes could need manual adjusting depending on the driving habits of the owner.

What I have always done was to adjust the brake adjusters (special tool used) until the tire was locked and back the adjuster off 5 or 6 clicks.

If you notice that you have little emergency brake left or that the front disk brake pads are wearing fast it may be time to adjust the rear brakes on your car. I usually adjust all my cars rear brakes every 12000 miles or so.

 

<_< I do recall that a brake adjustment was made on my 2004 Prius [now up-traded to a 2007 Touring]. I had commented on a 'clunk' sound in the rear when brakeing at low speeds as I pulled to a full stop.

My Dealer's Service Dept. made NO CHARGE for that adjustment. The 'clunking' stopped.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Drifter @ Jan 2 2007, 09:46 AM) [snapback]369549[/snapback]</div>

We don't need no stinkin' friction brakes on a Prius!

Seriously though, many people have posted how their mechanics were surprised by how LITTLE wear the brakes get in the Prius.

If your dealer must check and adjust the brakes then make sure he also checks the Van Dusen pump and replace the muffler bearings too ;-).

Rick
#4 2006

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ Jan 5 2007, 09:40 AM) [snapback]371307[/snapback]</div>

But insist that he show you the parts he installed and the parts he removed.

Not that I don't trust that dealer, mind you.

Dave M.

 

My shop wants to rotate the veeblefetzer. What do you think. I thought it was self rotating.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Drifter @ Jan 2 2007, 09:46 AM) [snapback]369549[/snapback]</div>

If you never use the parking brake, perhaps true. I use my parking brake all the time, and the shoes are right in spec. You know the old saying: use it or lose it

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ Jan 3 2007, 11:32 AM) [snapback]370110[/snapback]</div>

Not unless you were dumb enough - like I was - to special order a very expensive 2000 GMC Sierra SLT extended cab 4wd to tow a 6,800 lb camper: towing package, 4.10 gears, G80, etc.

Never mind the knocking, oil burning 5.3 Vortec V8. Never mind the chattering G80 locking rear end. And you can even ignore the parking brake pedal return spring that went SPROING and broke the VERY FIRST TIME I USED IT!!

:angry:

You can even pretend my rear axle pinion seal didn't spring a leak one week after I got the truck, leaving a puddle of gear oil in my garage. Or how both rear seals were shot after 3 years, good 'ole American Axle & Manufacturing axle.

What really got to me were the four wheel disk brakes, how the rear calipers managed to seize after the first year, ruining the pads. That was a "maintenance" issue not a warranty issue, around $260.

There was no mention of any requirement to clean and lube the caliper slide pins/sleeves, despite having road salt here in winter. I guess I should have been able to use my psychic ability to detect the seized caliper.

Oh, and never mind that the joke known as the "drum in hat" parking brake needed adjustment every 6-8 months or it wouldn't hold. I was told it was my fault, as you're not supposed to use the parking brake all the time.

Oh, maybe it should be renamed "emergency brake" or "accessory not actually perfected just yet?"

The "drum in hat" shoes managed to wear out at 68,000km, conveniently off warranty. Another $600. I noticed a couple of years after I got my truck, GM switched to rear drums on most of their half tons.

 

the rear brakes are supposed to be self adjusting.

"supposed"

in actual usage, generally they're not. perfectly anyway.

if you use your parking brake all the time you're not gonna break anything. in fact, you'll prevent breaking the mechanism, for all you northerners.

now the easiest way to tell if you're in adjustment or not, is to jack up the wheel you want to check. spin it. if it spins free, you're good for one criterion. if you hear a very light drag sound, you're still ok for now. reach back along the axle and feel for the e-brake cable. it's somewhat flexible and is not attached to metal brake lines. it's not a hydraulic part. it runs into the back of the drum on the lower half of the drum. spin the wheel, then pull on that housing (not yank on it, just flex it) to tighten the cable. the wheel should stop. if these criteria are met for both rear wheels you're in perfect adjustment for the brake end.

the next step is checking cable adjustment. go to your e-brake pedal and push down on it. count the clicks. it should be no less than 5 and no more than 14 with normal force used on the regular brake pedal. ideally, 5-6.

typically the adjust is a "clean and adjust" where a light sandpaper is used to remove glazing from the drum and shoe surfaces. it's your call. however, out of adjustment rear brakes directly affect front brake pad wear. just fyi. i know that's about 5 times more than you were asking for :lol:

 

I can attest that you definitely need to adjust the back brake drums. At 18,000 miles and hardly ever using the emergency brake - they were way out of adjustment.

The way I could tell was that the emergency brake almost went to the floor when pressed. More importantly, my regular brakes where a little late in responding and felt a little grabby (I presume that's because it took a significant amount of brake fluid to fill the actuators prior to the brake pads making solid contact.)

As some other posts indicated, I took off the wheels and the drums and adjusted the spinner by hand. Using a little bit of trial and error, I got the brake pads to rub slightly on the drum. It was pretty easy to do.

After adjusting the brakes, the emergency brake pedal was much firmer (as galaxee said: 5 or 6 clicks did it) and did not require a cable adjustment. In addition, brake pedal feel returned to normal and was much smoother.

Some people were asking how often you should pump the emergency brake to keep the brakes adjusted. Based on the number of teeth on the spinner (about 30) and given that each pump of the emergency brake rotates the spinner by 1 tooth, I would say that about every 200 miles you should pump the emergency brake once. If you want to do as galaxee suggests.... 3 times at one time.... then do that every 500 miles. That should keep you close to being adjusted.

Me, personally, I like doing it by hand and plan on doing it every 10,000 miles - at the same time I am rotating the tires (I rotate every 5000 miles).

 

Sounds like Yet Another good reason to always use the parking brake. It's not an "emergency" brake if you can't count on it working in an emergency.

I was disappointed when a service writer at my favorite dealer told me today that the rear brakes are not self adjusting, and need to be manually adjusted every 5K miles, for their low low price of $30.

 

Wow, another thread back from the dead.

Tom