Prius front brakes pads easiest I have ever changed!

congrats and well done! seems early for pads, how many miles on her?

 

Brake flush is even easier for the rear comparing to the front lol

 

Very easy. Thanks for the cheat sheet NutzAboutBolt.

 

Yeah, that's me too: belts AND braces is better.

Be cautious though: the piston is "resin". Be sure to have uniform/complete contact with the rim, point loads may crack it. The current pad would work perfect, or a piece of plywood, metal plate or what have you.

 

wow, 150k is a good run!

 

Time to look at the EGR, if you haven't yet. Transaxle fluid been changed?

 

With the EGR it is definitely worth just checking the "pipe" first, runs between EGR valve and intake manifold. @NutzAboutBolts has a specific video for that, as well as a complete EGR cleaning. Pinned in 3rd gen maintenance sub forum.

Also, if you look at the rear brakes, take similar 12 volt disconnect precaution of course, but also, be careful on reassembly, to orient the caliper piston cross-pattern like an "X", so that the pin on back face of inside pad falls between the spokes in the X. Firm up pressure with multiple brake pedal pushes, then hook up 12 volt, take it for a short test drive, and only then apply parking brake. You want to avoid that pin riding up on a spoke, which will cause the brakes to drag and apply uneven pressure.

Even if you've got the orientation right at reassembly, you want to go further, get it firmly seated, before parking brake application, which can rotate the piston. I think.

Calling the following a "hint" is definitely understatement, it's more a necessity:



This is a screen grab from the attachment.

 

Bump:
I'm about to change my front pads next week. is it really neccasary to disconnect the battery? As long as I don't open any doors, i should be good? I have too many things in the back area and i'm lazy and it will be cold...

 

I think you're ok, as long as the driver's door is not opened.

One thing in particular, it's a good idea to take any excess travel out of the brake pedal (to avoid the car possibly detecting excess travel and throwing a code), the excess travel you will get, pushing the pistons back in. The only way I know to do that is through repeated pushes of the brakes after everything's reassembled. Doing that by entering via the passenger side is probably doable, but a little awkward. And you don't want to have a lapse, forget and go in through the driver's door.

Personally, I'd clear out the hatch, lol.

 

yeah i think i'll clear out the back lol

 

One other thing: the front piston is plastic, when pushing it back you want full/uniform bearing, say a plywood scrap or the old brake pad.

Oh, and you'll lose your trip meters when you disconnect, if that matters.

 

ok thanks for the tip, when you say trip meters, you mean the trip odometer? if so i don't care I reset it everytime i fuel up

 

Yeah, if you're relying on trip meter to calculate tanks you will lose it when you disconnect. Note the value just before disconnect (because they all go back to zero). For calculatin tanksI got tired of surprises, rely on the odometer: a bit more math but never gets accidentally reset. I do reset tripmeter at fillup as well, but just for feedback.

There's another oddity: first start up or two afterwards, I found the car tends to do an odd rev up, during warm up phase. I think something recalibrating.

 

This is good to hear! I've done brakes on older cars before but wondered if there was something about the Prius that made them more difficult. I watched the Nutz & Bolts video and it sure looked simple!

My fonts are at 3mm according to the dealer so I'll plan to change them out myself in the next couple of months. fwiw, I did fronts and rears around 90k, I'm at 142k now.

 

At around 9 minute mark @NutzAboutBolts notes the piston orientation requirement.