3 Great Options When Replacing Brake Pads On Your Toyota Prius

I’ve only used Akebono pads in all my vehicles for the last 15 years at least. Not many brake jobs in that time, but they are great pads.

 

Over many years of owning and maintaining my own cars I have learned that Genuine manufacturer's brake and suspension components are the best choice. Period. On a car like a Prius where the brakes are changed once in 100K miles, it's not even a question of price if spread over that long a distance. I would go with Genuine Toyota pads ans rotors every time. I doubt there is anything better out there.

 

May I ask you this question? Does your statement applies to manufacturer's other than Toyota? For example, I own Nissan now and have owned Honda before. Would you recommend genuine Nissan brake for Nissan, and genuine Honda brake for Honda? I have not owned domestic car for a long time, but how about Ford, GM and Chrysler? And how about other imports? Just curious.

 

I have never owned a domestic car, so can't speak to that, though my gut feeling would be to go with genuine manufacturer's brand on those as well. I have owned Volvos since 1998 and before that a plethora of other foreign brands. I have learned early on that the best fit and performance is from genuine parts from manufacturer, especially for brakes and suspension, which are mission critical components. Do you think Akebono has more resources than Toyota to develop components specifically for Toyota? I doubt it. If corners need to be cut, then it's fine to use the next best thing, but otherwise just go with manufacturer's brands. They will fit better and work better.

 

Well, they might. I don’t happen to know for the case of Toyota and Akebono. But the term “original equipment manufacturer” means a specialist company focused on making a component or subsystem, and sometimes they really do know better than the car-builder… and frequently the car-builder simply farms out the subassembly to an OEM and pays them to print the car brand and carmaker’s part number on the packaging for spares sold through the dealers.

For a few decades, VWs showed up with Até or Girling brakes. VW made zero themselves. The VW-branded parts on the shelves at the VW dealership were Atés and Girlings. The only thing to differentiate them from Ates and Girlings sold through parts wholesales was the price- and VWs were always much higher.

 

Of course, OEM is fine and in fact we know full well that when we get certain "Toyota" components they really are Denso. Girling and Ate were primary brake system manufacturers for European cars for a long time (my Volvo calipers were Girling and Ate on various models) as was Bosch for electrical components. I would not hesitate to buy a Denso AC compressor, say that didn't have a Toyota logo on it and afforded some discount. Having said that, keep in mind that to have that Toyota logo on the component, OEM needs to pass Toyota's quality control and that is worth something.

 

Akebono is the OEM supplier for many manufacturers. No manufacturer makes their own brake pads.

Absolutely they do. Toyota isn't developing brake pads for their cars, they are working with their OEM brake pad supplier to do the development. I wouldn't be surprised if this is Akebono.

The MazdaSpeed cold air intake on my other car ($400 from Mazda) is actually made by AEM, from whom I bought it for $300. Identical part, zero differences.

Toyota produces none of these items - motor oil, transmission oil, oil filters, coolant, brake pads, brake rotors, air filters, spark plugs, fuses, light bulbs, etc. All done by suppliers as OEM for Toyota.

 

I have done many brake jobs using aftermarket parts and have rarely had a problem.

I purchased aftermarket brake pads and rotors for our 97 Odyssey from Advance Auto Parts and within a year, I had a shudder typical of warped rotors. I then purchased the pads and rotors from NAPA and again within about a year I had the same shudder. The last set of pads and rotors that I purchased were from the local Honda dealer. The cost was more of course but I didn't have any more brake problems for the last three years that I owned the car.

I can't explain what caused the problems with the aftermarket parts. Is there something about the 97 Odyssey that makes it more sensitive to aftermarket brake parts than other cars that I have owned? Was it brake calipers hanging up? If so, why did the calipers work with OEM pads?

Was it from poor quality rotors? I have designed and installed equipment for iron foundries. You have to let the batch boil for a certain amount of time to let the iron, alloys and impurities blend and become a homogenous mixture. If you pour early, you won't get quality parts. Cooling times and even cooling of the component are also critical to producing a good casting.

Letting a batch boil longer requires more energy and more time. Longer cooling times extend the cycle time for a batch. There are always production pressure to keep batch times at a minimum. If it was my rotors that were at fault, it is possible that Honda enforces better quality control on the casting process for their rotors than some aftermarket foundries?

Was it due to the pads? It is possible that the composition of the aftermarket pads may have been slightly different than the originals. Was the coefficient of friction of the aftermarket pads higher. Did that increased friction cause the rotors to run a little hotter shortening their life and causing the rotors to eventually overheat and warp?

My 2 cents is that I am lucky enough to be able to do most of the work on cars myself which saves me the money from having to pay someone else do the work. I will maintain them with OEM parts even if it costs a little more.

 

As you have discovered, the price and quality of aftermarket parts from parts houses vary widely. Anything from the el cheapo economy set to what they advertise as premium. I bought the heaviest Wagner rotors for a Dodge Caravan and they were junk. Replaced under the parts warranty and the next set had no problems. Same part number.

That said, I have never had a problem with Akebono pads or Brembo rotors.

 

As I stated above, the OEM stuff is fine to buy, but there is value in the Toyota brand on a part because that same part from OEM that doesn't have Toyota logo does not have to pass Toyota QC. Also, a more expensive "Toyota" brake pad may have slightly different specs than seemingly similar OEM part. It's not cut and dry. With Toyota brand you get more than just a brake pad, you get a guarantee that that pad was tested to work with your car. I have bought things like oil filters from OEM and those were fine, same with brake pads, but only if I had a recommendation from someone with experience. Otherwise, if I am in doubt I usually go with manufacturer's offering for brakes and suspension parts. That's my way of dealing with issues down the road. Been at it for over 40 years now and have come to the way I do things by making mistakes and learning from them. You choose your own way.

 

That doesn't make them good pads necessarily. There are many characteristics of pads to consider - durability, heat resistance, initial bite, dusting, etc...

In more than 45 years of working on my own cars (and friends’ cars) I have had good success with name-brand non-OEM parts. Sometimes you have to go with OEM, but more often than not there is a choice for routine maintenance parts. I don't recall ever buying OEM brake pads or rotors, but did buy OEM Honda oil filters which were better quality than aftermarket.

I won’t buy Toyota parts just for the Toyota name on the box. I’ll shop for better stuff and if available, I’ll buy it.

Edit - this doesn't imply that Toyota sells crappy parts. I just shop around for options.

 

Ok..add brakes to the list of "discussing this is like discussing politics or religion....or oil".

With that said, I replaced the brakes in both of our Prius vehicles with aftermarket 'zinc plated' rotors, etc...and it actually did help the rust issue I was having ( we are in the salt belt ). I originally did it because the brakes were in fairly poor shape when we purchased our Prius v (wagon) but liked the plated rotors to much I put them on our 2010 liftback. Frankly, of any 'aftermarket parts' people install...brakes seem to be the most common...at least around here.

 

I agree...just because it is a 'Toyota part' absolutely doesn't mean it is the best part. Auto manufacturers have to take the whole package into account when building a vehicle...and they often don't necessarily use the 'best', most durable, parts.

 

Actually Toyota can reduce quality sometimes. I got an Aisin clutch kit for my wife’s 4 runner and looked an the clutch plate and it look cheap in comparison to the one I took out. Went to the Toyota dealer to buy a “factory” clutch plate and guess what. It was the exact same Asin clutch plate as in my kit.

 

It will mean it's been strongly "vetted" by Toyota, for fit and function.

 

That is my point precisely. An aftermarket part may look exactly the same and say the same things on it, but it did not go through the Toyota vetting process. It does not mean Toyota is better (or worse), it just means it will fit and work as in a new car. If you want better than that, then it's on you to do the research and vetting. Me, I'll stick with Toyota for brakes and suspension. Other parts I reserve judgement until I have to deal with them. For example, I would most likely install Toaster's cells into my Prius rather than genuine Toyota. Why? Because the community experience seems good so far and the financial advantage is there. If the financial advantage is not there or is not enough for me to care, I will go with genuine Toyota cells.

 

So do you think they vet every single part? The Asin water pumps Toyota buys for my 4 runners is exactly the same as the Toyota boxed one except they grind off Toyota name off the pump. Do you think they do anything different other than grinding off the name?

 

I don't know what they do. It would be a lie if I said I did. But that Toyota logo does not come for free. They may be the same parts and often they are, but in case of brake pads, how can you tell what the composition of the friction material is? They could cut costs by changing the composition when not selling to Toyota. In any case, I said OEM parts are most often okay, but would be a second choice and only if there were a significant financial advantage. I have learned this on my Volvos. If I got some third party brake or suspension component I would pay less, yes, but I would be in there replacing it again much sooner than if I got the genuine Volvo. I did get a third party water pump once on an older 940. And it was okay. I got lucky. But the cost was significantly less and I needed that pocket change at the time, so I made that decision fully consciously.

 

You have no way of knowing the water pumps are the exact same parts. Have you taken them apart and analyzed them? A good way to reduce cost on a water pump would be to use cheaper bearings for example. Don't tell me you made sure the bearings are the same. Again, they may very well be, but you can't be sure.