parking brake, rear pads

You have two issues here. The first one is the pad being worn down to the metal, this is caused by the caliper sticking on it's slide pins.

With the caliper fitted (without the pads) it should be possible to push the whole piston assembly freely from side to side on the two slide pins. If it is sticking the pins should be removed to find out why (new pins may be required) then re assembled with soap based brake grease.

If the disc has only a light score mark this will be ok if it is badly scored replace both discs.

The pads should be changed as a set with a little copper grease on the back and the shims. Keep the old pads if some have reasonable life left (new pads have 8mm of lining material) just in case you have the same thing happen in the future. You will have a replacement for one worn pad.

The parking brake should be ok with just adjustment (this is separate from the discs) if the shoes are not badly worn, this would be unusual because they normally are only in contact with the drum while it is stationary.

To adjust remove the rubber plug on the outside face of the drum, and turn the star wheel adjuster through this hole with a flat bladed screw driver until the drum locks, then slacken off till the drum just turns freely. The star wheels are positioned at just forward of the six o'clock position of the hole in the drum.

Do not adjust the brake cable unless the drums have been adjusted first and only then if there is too much pedal movement after drum adjustment.

Good quality discs are available on Ebay at very good prices. I paid £16 for a pair of discs but make sure when ordering they are the five stud version as there are a lot of early four stud versions. The five stud ones are the same as the Celica.

If any more information is required I will be glad to help.

John (Britprius)

 

I will go back through my Emails and see if I can trace the supplier so give me a short while.

John (Britprius)

 

The contact is as follows:-
[email protected]

Mr Geoff Williams Tel (UK) 07811 369823 (daytime)
Ebay item number when I bought them in Jan 2012. 280775796922
Part number RS3757/NBD1095 (National Brake Discs)

Check Ebay for Jolly Good Car Spares.

Hope this is of help.

John (Britprius)

 

Although I found them on Ebay I collected them as they were not too fare from me.

John (Britprius)

 

John,
I must admit that you have me questioning my sanity (my wife does that all the time).
You speak of discs and pads and calipers for this Gen II Euro-version Prius, and then you launch right into adjusting the parking brake via the access hole in the drum and the star wheel. Does the Euro-version Prius have both discs and drums?! Here in the Colonies we have drums and shoes on the Gen II, and discs and pads on Gen III, but never both. Which of us is daffy?
Indy John

 

Yes the UK gen2 Prius has rear discs for the foot brake, with internal drums for the parking brake. The parking brake is adjusted in a similar manor to the US version except it is adjusted from the wheel side through a hole in the drum, not through a hole in the brake back plate. Hope this clears things for you.

John(Britprius)

 

If the park brake holds properly on a hill it's doing everything it's supposed to do. Unless it's left on again it shouldn't be wearing or degrading unless the cable's rusted or something else prevents it from releasing.

 

It is very unusual for the brake shoes to ware to any great degree as they are normally only applied with the car stationary, and released before moving the car. If you replace your discs you will be able to see how the adjusters work and there positions before refitting.

John (Britprius)

 

The parking brake on the UK Prius does hold reasonably well, but because of it's small size compared to the US version not quite as well. Considerable pressure has to be applied to the parking brake to hold well on a steep hill.

John (Britprius)

 

The rear drum brakes almost certainly need adjusting, this will bring the pedal higher, but will not alter much the pressure required on the pedal.

John (Britprius)

 

A quick question guys, while we're discussing the park brake on the British regional specific model. As far as I can tell I think the Australian model is the same, so has anyone else noticed that the park brake holds fairly poorly in the reverse direction?

On mine I've found the park brake is not too bad at preventing the car from rolling forward. But sometimes I have to park on a steep driveway with the car pointing upwards and I really have to crank on that park brake stupidly hard to stop it wanting to roll backwards!