2015 Prius V, bought in 2015 July, mileage is 47323km , the dealer called me to do regular maintenance and I dropped my car there on Dec 20. The technician called me that they found the rear brakes metal on metal so need to be replaced and front brake stick up. I was surprised that I driven the car very gently and I know the hybrid vehicle had regenerative braking so I thought the braking system must be more durable than conventional one. I questioned the manager, he said they checked the brake system during last year's maintenance and did not find anything abnormal. He thought the brake problem might be caused by salt( Ottawa, Canada). I searched related Prius brake information online and find nobody changed brakes below 100k miles. Then I studied prius brake system, watched Youtube videos, decided to check the brakes by myself. When I took off the caliper sliders for all four brakes, they were clean and in good lubricated conditions.They are not seized at all!! Instead, they all move smoothly. Even so, I still cleaned the four pins and lubricate them with new lubricant. After the calipers were taken off, both the brake pads and the discs were clearly shown to me. Rear pads worn but the pad thickness are at least 6mm, NO metal on metal!!!. The rear discs just have slightly wear. I dont trust the dealer anymore. They deliberately exaggerated the problem and cheated me. They quote the brake repair at Canadian $809 including labor for a good brake car. .
I would write Toyota corporate and let them know what is going on here. Probably the service adviser and or the tech is working on a commission incentive system. But ripping customers is no buenos south of the border or pas bon north. For comparison, I have 210,000 miles (337,000 km) on original factory brakes. .
welcome! you must be a young person. this is how most dealers operate. congratulations to you for doing your due diligence. now that you understand, you are in control of your cars care and maintenance. all the best!
Yeah I was gonna say, those pads look pretty good, then realized: that's you having a look-see. Just be careful with the pin lube: there are some that can swell rubber (like the O-rings on some of the pins), some don't. There's one Permatex lube, silicon based, but some incgredient that can swell rubber. There's another Permatex lube that is ok. And I know Sil-Glyde Brake Lubricant is ok; that's what I've been using. Just a heads-up, if you haven't noticed it: the Toyota Canada Owner's Manual Supplement says every 24 months or 32K kms you should do a full brake inspection. That would entail pulling the calipers off, relubing the pins, cleaning and relubing the pad/shim/caliper points of contact (Permatex silver anti-seize is my usual for the latter, applied sparingly). Also, check of the rotor thickness and runout is recommended. I tend to gloss-over the latter, especially if I'm not noticing any problems. One reason is it takes me about 15 minutes to get the magnetic base on the dial indicator folded back in such away that'll it'll fit in it's box.
I had the world's greatest dealer where I used to live but where I live now all I have tried within 50 miles are like that. I thought it was something in this area. Every time I go in there is something. I get a survey from Toyota each time and I do report but it doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions?
210k miles is absolutely awesome. I wrote to Toyota Canada, finally, the dealer manager called me, he said they reported wrong vehicle. They are dishonest.
