Questioning the need of machining rear discs to remove rust

welcome! i think they are trying to scam you. any way to take a pic for us?

 

your picture won't help us, although, i'm sure you are a very handsome man.

 

If there was an interference issue, the rust would have been or would be ground down. The suggestion seems designed to lighten your wallet.

 

great!

 

This is utter BS. Yet another case of a dealership trying to scam its customers.
I'd suggest you send Toyota corporate a letter.

This is why I DIY as much as I can.

 

I agree with your questioning the service but note that I did have severe rust on my rear discs after 4 years/ 40k miles and had to replace pads and rotors. I've read several threads that confirm our brakes tend to suffer more from disuse and corrosion since the regen handles most braking when driving conservatively. In my case the calipers corroded and caused pads to stick. I actually have a reputable dealer service department that I've had exceptionally good experience with and they recommend cleaning and lubrication of the brake calipers/slide pins (particularly the rears?) every year or two in areas where roads are salted.

I also now follow recommendations I've read here to put the car in neutral periodically and apply the brakes to keep the parts moving and keep rust from accumulating on rotors. I just made it a habit to do just before pulling into the garage at the end of the day.

 

Def a scam designed to lighten your wallet and weigh theirs down. Avoid this dealer at all costs.

 

Might be a lady.....if they use clicks instead of proper statute miles.

Back to the topic at hand.

Here's what I initially wrote, and it would apply to most "corroded rotor" questions (see below!)

The OP lives in the Frozen North.
It's kinda hard on brakes up there but there's no way that even the itty-bitty rotors that they use on Priuses should be rusted badly enough to require resurfacing.

1. Pay a competent independent mechanic to inspect the brakes.....not necessarily a brake shop. Avoid a place that offers a "free" inspection, since they're just looking for an excuse to tinker with your brakes.
2. If my suspicions are correct, fire your dealer. There's no way that I would continue to buy cars from somebody who cannot keep rotors on a car for more than 25,000km. That's less than 16,000 miles!!

As is my wont, I went back and reread your OP to make sure that I wasn't missing something.
I'm glad I did.
Don't bother with the brake inspection.
You drove a healthy car into the dealer for a "2 year inspection."
They tried to fleece you into having service performed that was not only unnecessary, but probably would have damaged the rotors more than leaving them alone.

Fire your dealer.
Write a letter to Toyota telling them that they're next.

Good Luck!

 

If you think about it, brake discs are rusting all the time. It's exposing fresh metal every time you friction brake. Any rust that does develop get scraped off when you brake so it's alway shiny. However, you seldom friction brake like a Prius. If the rust gets thick enough contact between the pads an brakes become uneven. You experience this through vibration when you brake and if they are the fronts brake, the steering wheel would shudder. Your braking distance would increase. To make matters worse, you might only notice through hard braking. In other words, when you traveling at high speeds.

So you can do the neutral brake as suggested in post above. You can have the dealer fix it. Or you can ignore it as I do and most people I think. Before you think I am being nonchalant and uncaring about a possible lethal issue. This is akin to filling up your gas tank at half full. You'll have ample warning of possible brake problems. This is the first one (the gas gauge is at half.) The other warning signs will be vibration during high speeds, noise when you brake or backing up, etc. I don't consider the dealer as sleazy, they're trying to make a buck. They're offering to "fill up your gas tank now so you don't have a problem running out of gas later."

 

looks like brand new.

 

That's a good luckin disc.

 

Disk machining can be done on the axle with the proper machine. But why allow them to take meat off the wearing surface? They will make a pass over the entire wear surface, not just the cosmetic rust at the periphery. No reason to do it.

 

Alex,

Unless there are other disc issues (IE: warpage, deep gouges) - leave them alone. If you do not feel any constant pulsing, abnormal noises from applying the brakes - you are fine. The rust is normal on rotors on any car. The scams dealers try to pull on consumers never stops to amaze me.

Also, welcome to Prius Chat.

DBCassidy

 

Since having the problem with my rear brakes, I've read enough in these forums about the Prius brake system to make me favor Toyota service (and I'm biased by having found a good one not too far away) but of course a competent mechanic can do it. There are threads on brake maintenance and service you can read but I think a couple specific things are to be careful aligning the piston, and bleeding requires the right software tool (Techstream?).
It looks like you made the right call on the discs, was the inside surface of the rotor just as clean? That was where mine rusted up.

 

can you see the inside with a mirror, or does the dust cover block it?