To replace the front brakes rotor at 2015 Prius c do I need a special tool??

If it's like the liftback and the previous generations, no, the rotor will just come right off. (If it's stuck, you can borrow an M8-1.25 bolt from anywhere and use it in the threaded holes, to pop it loose.)

You also won't need any very special tool to push the caliper pistons back. The fancy tool is needed for the Gen 3 liftback rear calipers, because those are combined with the parking brake.

 

Where do I begin

 

Large 16-in channel locks squeeze this type of caliper down with one hand some people call them slip joint pliers You don't need the special tool that fits on your ratchet to turn the caliper down as it's not that type The rotor you can just dink it off with a hammer just lightly touching the very edge bink.it falls off after the two 17 that hold caliper bracket on the car. So after the 17s and the caliper bracket and the caliper slide off or tap off with your hammer slide right off the rotor then you tap your rotor or pull on it and it falls on the floor You don't waste time resurfacing these rotors it'll cost you more to resurface than it will to buy one generally speaking remember labor is costly in the States parts are generally cheap so if you have to pay somebody to run a brake lathe It's costing more than the brake part you're usually turning unless it's a one-off or something like that which you won't see a lot on the Prius chat.

 

Just smack on the road or a few times with a hammer with the brass drift or something like that and usually the rotor will just fall off If it's really stubborn and you're in the New England states are in a rust belt some kroil or something similar in between the holes where you would normally screw in the bolts to force the thing off just shoot some penetrating lubricant in those holes again smack that high hat part of the rotor with a ball peen or dead blow hammer and in a few minutes without destroying anything it will just fall off the car.

 

If u like your life you won't buy Chinese brakes from the three auto parts stores or the two online retailers of Chinese made crapola

This Chinese junk needs to be outlawed for public safety

 

Stress is axial. Strain is shear direction. Do u know what grade your application calls for?

If you don't know all this I think you'd better get the bolts from the dealer. Pads too

 

Torque to yield....

 

Chinese part failures in my life that are most memorable:
1 brake fluid reservoir broke 2h into service dumping its contents on motorcycle and driver resulting in no brakes nearly killing rider and passenger
2 Chinese Li battery fire at warehouse burned it down in early August
3 Chinese head gasket failed after 10k miles. 16h job in the shitter
4 new Chinese rotors have soft spots. Do over
5 Chinese alternator lasted 1 year
6 Chinese shocks lasted 10k miles and sucked for the last 5k
7 Chinese drywall
8 Chinese imitation water pump says Denso but lasted 5k miles and bought on Amazon. Job eaten
9 Chinese imposter ngk plugs failed after 30k miles. Not iridium clearly
.....

PRC is an oppressive govt. The people aren't the problem their govt is

 

When bolts break:

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/gm-recalls-chevrolet-tahoe-suburban-gmc-yukon-cadillac-escalade-suvs-over-iffy-bolts-221861.html

 

He’s shopping M8x1.25 bolts just to break loose the rotors.

Due to this:

Then this:

 

On a car in Western Massachusetts I stripped those two bolt holes trying to screw up the two bolts in to force the road or off usually now in a heavy rust state what I do is I use those two bolt holes to put a light little bit of pressure on the road or face so I can take my spray hose of my Aerokroil orange can get a shot in each hole so the coil can get in between the back of the hat of the rotor and the face of the hub bearing and I just rock that back and forth or tap gently around the hat where the lugs are coming through and that croil gets in between the two pieces a little more tap tap tapping at a tiny bit more pressure to the bolts just a little quarter turn or something tap tap tap dink and let's go.

 

How do you think you know that the left front "lacks braking force" ??

You should NOT blindly replace rotors until an inspection confirms that
they have a problem and need to be replaced.

 

Let me tell you I very often have mismatched brakes on my own Gen 2 Prii. It's actually very common for me to have a bad wheel bearing and for me to grab another hub off of another vehicle temporarily so I don't have to stop driving and listening to that awful racket so on and so forth and I've never had a problem sometimes I've actually forgot that my brakes don't match and I wind up running them until they actually need to be replaced and don't even know it till I'm taking it apart and I realize whatever I realized that geez 40,000 mi ago or whatever it is but I would never not with the same breaking force and whatever I would think that would be in my breaking system something not squeezing that caliper down for whatever reason it's receiving some signal from the tone ring or whatever the heck. I wouldn't think it would be because of a brake pad to rotor problem unless that's very evident with your eye or there's air in the line I generally not seen that before unless I've changed and actuator or something along those lines doing a brake job doesn't do it unless you just don't know what you're doing I guess.

 

And I'm truly sorry all you folks are having problems with car parts I guess I've been really lucky I don't seek out Chinese fake parts per se maybe for - plastics and things like that but generally for other things I try to use maybe anywhere but China China other Asian countries Vietnam whatever I guess I've just been really lucky the wheel bearings and things that I have bought I'll just chalk it up to look and leave it at that I guess I certainly haven't been paying $249 per wheel bearing more like 50 and I have had no problems and we keep our cars our cars aren't flipped tripped messed with none of that nonsense they stay right here I see them everyday. Nothing I buy is for resale ever I use it up then it sits here for a while while I strip it and do whatever and then it goes to salvage there is no second chance none of that nonsense so I know what goes on with my stuff here and that's all I'm accountable for.

 

Any M8-1.25 bolt more than, say, 5 mm long will do the trick, if the rotor doesn't just flop right off when you remove the caliper and pads.

The car is put together with, like, a gazillion M8-1.25 bolts. You can always look for one nearby, say holding the air filter box on or something, and borrow it, and put it back.

 

I think you need close to an inch, to get through the rotor thickness.

^ I concur. Hopefully OP will do some research before plunging in. It’d help if the Toyota Repair manual had an explicit “brake inspection” section; instead the inspection practices are lumped into a complete tear down.

There’s a decent chance his rotors are just fine. He’s yet to disclose anything specific, say brake pad thickness, which can be determined just with the wheel removed.

Anyway, some repair manual info attached. < Ugh, just realized OP has Prius c, attached is gen 3 Prius. Still might be of interest, but don't count on it. For Prius c Repair Manual info, maybe take out a short Tech Info subscription?

 

I don't think they're that thick up in the hat part where those threaded holes are.