Rotors replaced twice in 2 years

welcome!
maybe your shoppe is taking you for a ride?

 

All I can think is to get an independent third party have a look prior to going in, and/or check them out yourself. Especially the rotors, that's VERY likely uncalled for. Over the decades I would replace pads regularly (with regular cars), and never even ocurred to me to replace rotors. I would occasionally check them with dial indicator and micrometer, for thickness, parellism and runout, they were always fine.

 

anything is possible i suppose, but we haven't seen that. what we have seen occasionally is rear brake rusting around 40,000 miles because they don't get used as much, and they can freeze the caliper to the rotor due to lack of slide pin lubrication, requiring new pads and rotors.

let me ask you this, are you having any symptoms before they tell you they're bad?

 

And does the dealership elaborate, or just tell you it's time again. Seems weird.

BTW, you should report yourself (report button in lower left corner), this thread is Prius c Maintenance. Prime is for 2017 and onward Prius Prime.

 

i did it for her.

 

do you clean the rust off of them regularly?

 

sounds good. again, possible that there is a defect, but next time around, i would get a third opinion and ask them to show me what is wrong.
do you have anyone you can ask, who knows a little something about cars?

 

The caliper pins could be corroded, or their grease simply dried out, and that could lead to the pads dragging on the rotors. They should have pulled them to check and regrease, but they can be left in place for changing the pads and rotors.

 

Or they're using the wrong grease? Either way, a competent mechanic having to replace rotors twice, doesn't sound good, and in such short order.

 

Maybe there's nothing more serious going on here. I wouldn't think of that as a "once a month" (or once-a-whatever, scheduled) thing. They just need it whenever they need it (usually any time after parked for a while in damp conditions).

Whenever I pull out of my driveway, I can tell if they need it by the rough sound or grabby feel the first time I touch the brakes turning onto the street. I then have three stop signs in close succession, so I just shift to neutral for those, and the braking is always quiet and fine again by the time I'm out of the neighborhood.

I had to do it the other day because there had been rain. If it rains tonight I'll have to do it tomorrow. If I then don't end up parking in damp for two months, they won't need it for two months. Serves no purpose to do it any time they haven't flash rusted, and conversely, when they have, serves to purpose to leave them that way till next month because that's your schedule. Just notice when you hear/feel the problem and fix it right away. Two or three stops in neutral always do it for me. (I've never experimented to see if it gets harder to fix if not attended to for a month.)

There is evidence in some past PriusChat threads that some shops (and even dealers, who certainly know better) cannot see past the dollar signs if you drive in with flash-rusted brakes and they think they can sell you an expensive brake job instead of educating you on stopping a few times in neutral as needed.

-Chap

 

The dealer in Keene NH got my 11 for rear shoes and rotors at 41,000, I knew my daughter had logged 500 miles with the ebrake on, wasn't happy, then at 50,000 I was distracted (just bought a 16 4,) they pegged me for front shoes and rotors, an hour later I had buyers remorse, and I really dislike the service writer, and am glad to speak of it publicly, that's bs, wish I could see a trade magazine, read about service writers boasting about the percentage of fake contracts they get a profit from.

 

i was in the plumbing business for 30 years, and never saw any of their devious practices put in writing.

 

I find after washing the car and it then sits a day or two, I'll get noisy brakes, due to surface rust. A couple of blocks driving, it clears up, without any special tactics.

 

agreed. but when someone says their brakes are 'grabbing' at low speed, something is going on.

 

One of three things... EXTREMELY rusty conditions, EXTREMELY aggressive driving, or the service writers are being very dishonest. Some prii never need brake pad let alone roters replace in their whole life time.