Question on brake pad replacement

Ask the dealer what he means by 5? Also ask him what Toyota recommends for the Prius based on the repair manual, what reading it needs to be at before changing.

 

Probably 5 millimetres out of 10 for new pads. You've got at least 30k left on them. Dealer is looking at an easy profit.

 

Yeah as I said in the other thread, wait till next inspection. 5mm is getting down some, but I wouldn't get nervous till you're around 2~3 mm. You can just about see the pad thickness, at least the outside one, looking through the openings in the rim. Better if you take the wheel off.

 

More important would be to determine if the pads are wearing evenly. If the caliper pins were not carefully lubricated at the factory, uneven wear would be a real issue for early replacement. I wounder if the 5 mm would be the thinnest pad.

 

In-depth brake service every 30k or 3 years (Toyota USA recommended) should include relube of caliper pins. Still, both dealerships and owners seem to develop amnesia on this.

 

Every 30K sounds excessive for service. Maybe inspection!

 

"Inspection" is the way it is worded in Toyota's Warranty and Maintenance Guide.

But notice that the entry recurring every 5,000 miles uses the words "visually inspect", but the one every 30,000 says "inspect", so, something more than just "visually".

I do a more than just visual inspection with every tire rotation. There are definitely small things you can catch that way that, if not addressed, can lead to a brake job many tens of thousands of miles too early.

One place I depart from some others is I do not fuss with cleaning and regreasing slide pins unless they need it. It is very easy to wake up the grease that is in there, just by push/pulling the pins a few times. That, and confirming the rubber boots are undamaged, is enough to satisfy me, unless I feel some reason to disturb them further.

 

Chap, you are in Indiana, a place where a lot of salt is used on the roads. The manufacturer does not apply much grease on the pins. Yours is an environment where they should be regularly disassembled, cleaned and re-greased. Rust that may form on the grooves of the calipers that the pads ride on might expand and restrict their movement, especially their retraction and increase wear. Those grooves should be cleaned and re-greased. Even with stainless steel inserts that the pads ears slide on, rust on the caliper grooves under them might expand and restrict free movement of the pads.

 

My every-tire-rotation inspections do ok with catching what happens to the grooves and the stainless steel inserts. I do replace those inserts when they need it, which are only about $16 a set from the dealer, and are typically the only parts needed, and only every so many inspections.

I keep caliper rebuild kits on hand, including the correct grease and other parts that could be needed, but typically I do not need to touch them.

The slide pins stay just fine in my experience as long as the rubber boots are undamaged. If the boots get nicked, they need out and cleaned up, new grease and boots. The grease will get a bit peanut-buttery between inspections, only because the caliper's normal range of motion is so small, but wakes right back up with a few in-and-out strokes.

The caliper bracket grooves can rust and put the squeeze on the stainless clips; I have sometimes filed the grooves a bit to correct that, again only if needed.

The stainless clips are not meant to be greased (which would collect grit); they come with some dry, Teflon-like coating. It wears off after a while, and eventually some rust develops, and then it's time for another cheap clip kit.

 

Generally what that means if you drive the prius like prius drivers in the US you'll make about $140 on your front pads and it'll be time to change them so they're gone more sun is gone less but generally speaking around a buck 40 and they will be coming off and almost getting ready to show the backing plates not the best for your rotors but at that time I replaced the rotors and the pads at the same time they're also inexpensive now seems foolish not to and I use middle of the road brakes and materials no need for the highest end possible won't be used in this application