New Years Resolution

You paid how much for disc pads?
I bought a spare set of fronts for $54AUD which is abour 30 Euro. They were on ebay but it turned out they were for sale at a dealer 40km from me but close to my work. Look here Price is now $66 (33.74 Euro)

Good on you for doing that, it really isn't that hard to service a Toyota.

 

Yes rotors are not cheap. I can get after market drilled and slotted for similar to OEM price but I don't see that I will ever need rotors, I have never needed rotors before on any car I owned, and Prius is very kind to its rotors.

 

Congratulations on your resolution! I suggest you add a new serpentine belt, engine water pump, engine water pump gasket, engine thermostat, thermostat housing gasket, radiator hoses, and inverter coolant pump to the list.

Since you earn your living with your Prius, you don't need unscheduled downtime. You might want to replace the above parts as a preventive maintenance move considering that you have ~200K km on the odometer now. Many US Prius owners have reported failure of the inverter coolant pump (especially in the summer), prior to reaching the odometer reading that you are already at.

 

On my Camry I replaced the accessory drive belts when I changed the cam belt, at 90,000km intervals. Yes 10,000 short of Toyota recommendation. I replaced all idlers, the water pump and thermostat with the housing at 270K even though they were still serviceable just to be sure, then I sold it. I found the Toyota genuine belts were much quieter than aftermarket, but only on the last change. Those after market belts always made a ticking noise. Keep an eye on CV joint boots too.

Stupid me just realised you got all this for 211 euro, I thought just the disc pads, dah!

 

Sadly, dealers are often liars when it comes to telling you what work needs to be done, if they think you won't check up on them. The Prius friction brakes are used incredibly infrequently, particularly on the HSD model (NHW20), and they last for years.

Art's Automotive (an independent in Berkeley, California who specialize in Japanese vehicles, especially hybrids) detail a 30,000 mile service in which they found that the front brake pads had worn only 0.5mm from their original 11mm thickness. On that basis the pads would last 600,000 miles!

They state, "we have customers with over 150K miles on first generation Priuses, that still have 7 MM left on their pads." The author goes on to say: "If a mechanic tells you your Prius needs brakes, I'd recommend getting a second opinion."

In some systems the rotors (discs) wear at a similar rate, but in most regular, family car systems the pad material is designed to wear faster than the rotor (this is because the pad is an easier, cheaper part to replace).

As far as I know, pad material doesn't deteriorate with age. In fact the most common brake problem is that the discs rust with under-use, which leads to grabbing. The easiest way to deal with this is to accelerate to a decent speed, then when you need to brake, put the car in Neutral (which suppresses regen) and brake normally. That forces the friction brake to be used and cleans the discs.

 

DH has done legit brake jobs on priuses prior to 100k, some have nearly new-looking brakes at that mileage. it depends on the driving conditions and the driver. 200k km on a taxi could well wear out the brakes.

patrick offers sound suggestions- but DH would add that the hoses should be replaced when they start to show wear. (softening or getting brittle.) on an 06 they probably will not need replacement yet. also, you might want to change the PCV valve (which is cheap)- we recently posted a how-to with photos. trans fluid is an easy diy change.

 

Hi Hal,

No worries. If you decide to send me a roundtrip air ticket to Ireland I'll be happy to assist! I did the look up for a 2006 UK RHD model; probably there's no difference between RHD and LHD for these parts:

Radiator hoses:
ToyoDIY.com

Engine water pump & gasket:
ToyoDIY.com

Serpentine (or drive) belt:
ToyoDIY.com

Thermostat & thermostat housing gasket:
ToyoDIY.com

Inverter coolant pump:
ToyoDIY.com

 

I recently took my 2005 Prius to the dealer for its 35,000 mile service. The dealer claims that the front brakes were either "3 mm or less" or "4 - 5 mm" and recommended that I replace the front brake pads and rotors at a cost of $485.90. Naturally, I declined. First off, could they have been blatantly lying about the 4-5 mm on the front brake pads? If I only have 35,000 miles on the car and I don't think I'm an insanely hard braker, is it even possible that the pads wore down so much? Also, even if so, why would I need to replace the rotors?

The dealer printed up a nice computerized report, but I am very suspicious of their brake repair suggestions. What do you think?

 

Can't attest to whether you really do have 5mm, 10mm, or 1.5mm. I can tell you that in the long run, it is cheaper to just get new rotors than to turn (or resurface) them. When you resurface rotors, you are grinding down a good bit of metal. As you drive along, you will heat up the brakes and, in turn, the rotors when you come to a complete stop. The problem is that you heat up only a small portion of the rotor. Then you drive away and cool them off. That repeated process warps the thinner rotor and leads to a pulsation of the brake pedal. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had my rotors turned. I always opt for new ones.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. But why would I even need new brake rotors after only 35,000 miles? Every post I read on this forum seems to indicate that a Prius normally can go 100,000 miles without even needing to change the brake pads, let alone the rotors. So I am fairly skeptical of the dealer's claim that my brake pads AND rotors need to be changed after a mere 35,000 miles.

 

Pull off the front wheels and have your own looksee??
.
_H*