The local dealer wants about $600 to replace front rotors and brake pads. That seems very high. Should I be concerned if a non-Toyota repair shop do the work and what should my concerns be? My Prius (Gen II) has 90,000 miles on it.
This work can be done at any workshop as in general the actual rotors and pads arrangement is much the same as any other vehicle, but!!! make sure they disconnect the 12volt battery before starting work. If this is not done things can start to go bad very quickly.
If the 12v battery is not disconnected the hydraulic brake pump can start and push out the caliper pistons. This can happen even with the fob away from the car, opening the drivers door will cause the pump to start. If this happens the brakes will need to be bled, you cannot do this without Toyota Techstream software and special computer equipment, also do not open the bleed valves to push the pistons back for the same reason. John.
Brake pads are about $40 for a set, rotors are $80 each. So that's $200 in parts. It's probably about an hour worth of work if you know what you're doing, an two hours if you don't. (Unless you have trouble getting the rotors off or there is something special about Prius rotors.) Do you really need rotors? Prii are usually easy on brakes. I doubt they'd be out of spec thickness-wise. Are you feeling any vibration when braking that would indicate warped rotors? If not, you probably just need pads. That's about 15 minutes per side, unless again there is something funky with a Prius, like the pistons need to be screwed back instead of just pushed back with a C-clamp. Sounds like disconnecting the 12v battery would be a very good idea. I bet if you dropped the rotors the price of the brake job would become a little easier to swallow. Also, if you have multiple dealers in your area, call around. $600 sounds outrageous. Scott
well, I came online to do some research, after my wife called from the dealer and said the front rotors were too rusty to re-finish (could hear the rust grinding when braking, and looked horrible on the outer edges). I didn't get back to her in time and the dealership charged us $700. Sigh. If only I'd had more time to read Hobbit's instructions and look on ebay, could have done it for 1/10th the price... it looks like there are any number of aftermarket. Gah!
Ouch! Hey, I feel for ya. Yeah, after reading this forum for the past several months, I'm not having anything done until I check on here first. Lots of great money saving info.
Yes I replaced mine front and rear, rotors and pads for £80 the dealers price was £600 John (Britprius)
Thanks for the condolences. I wish I'd been a little quicker - was going to do some of this tonight, we'd planned on taking it in for the steering extension recall work tomorrow, but my wife had a meeting changed and decided to go ahead and take it in. No word on runout / rotor thickness, I'm not even sure the pads were all that worn... at 135,000 miles, I don't expect to be doing this again for another decade, if ever (we drive it 15k a year), but when I do, it'll be me doing it. I'll have to start neutral braking, described in the other brake threads, down the long hill in front of the house every morning to keep the rust off.
Can you elaborate on this? I've learned one should ALWAYS open the bleed valves when pushing the pistons back, as otherwise one could end up pushing dirty fluid / debris back up the lines. If one is careful, he can do this without requiring a bleed afterwards...
The Prius system works with positive pressure letting this pressure out will give brake fault codes. On no account should you open the bleed valves unless you are going to bleed the brakes and have the equipment to do this and I am not talking about a jar and piece of tubing. Below is the hydraulic circuit with it's 10 2way electrically operated valves. John (Britprius)
Also I should have pointed out the 4 pressure sensors before the wheel cylinders and 3 others higher in the circuit. John (Britprius)
But one can rebuild the pressure with a couple pumps of the brake pedal. I get the picture, but I still don't understand...
The valves are electrically controlled for metering.The system will detect drop in line pressure if a bleed valve is opened and air is allowed to enter. At that point it goes into dtc mode and will throw an ABS alarm. Pushing the pedal does nothing. It then requires Toyota Techstream software to manipulate the valves manually for bleeding. There has been reports of tricking the relays out to control that but that's beyond the scope of this discussion. Needless to say brake repair on a Prius by a novice could get very expensive when you add in the cost of a tow etc to the dealer.
Sounds like I could be getting into unknown waters if I'd tried this myself - never done a brake job entirely before, I remember a horrible experience helping bleeding brakes on my parents' 98 Suburban... but I still think I probably could have taken it to an independent shop for something like half the price.
Yes its pretty easy if you have the software to control the valves. Alot of Indie's do. Few versions that work like Snap On etc. But if they don't they'll mess it up. We have seen many a poster have to tow his car to the dealer to finish what started out as easy. If you have never done an entire brake job before this is not the car to do. Have you ever rebuilt calipers? Complete dismantle and clean and re-install the slider bolts with hi heat grease and new boots and re-installed pads with the shims? Then bleed it properly?
I was looking for some minor brake overhaul instructions (since I's like to replace the pads and rotors) and came across this thread. From the looks of it, cleaning and overhauling the slider/guide pins isn't too difficult (judging from this video where they are cleaned on a Gen 3). I would have personally cleaned out and re-lubed the boots on the end, but as a part of a pad and rotor replacement (judging from this video, which is kind of an overview because the tech isn't torque wrenching anything) it looks like only a few minutes of extra work.
