Just purchased a used 2008 prius with 80,000 miles on it. Braking system makes slight grinding noises when getting below around 10mph. I know the brakes are different, so I'm not sure if this is normal or if it means my brake pads need replacing? Car didn't come with an owners manual . THANKS!
That is the friction vs. regen braking. Your rotors might be a bit rusty. Try putting in neutral and braking down a hill or from a decent speed. This will disable the regen braking and clean off those rotors. Have you checked your brake pads?
Yeah that's fairly normal, it's the transition from regenerative braking to friction braking at very low speed that you're noticing. Because the brake pads on the Prius don't get much usage, the rotors can be a bit prone to rust build up. If this is the case then you can clear it off by finding a good long hill and descending with the car in "N". This forces it to use friction braking and will give the rotors a bit of a workout. Obviously check that your pads aren't worn out first, but generally the Prius pads last well over 100,000 miles due to the predominance of regenerative braking.
A word of caution when doing this brake cleaning do not exceed 50 mph as doing so risks over speeding MG1 (motor generator) in the transmission. Otherwise all good advice. John (Britprius)
All good advice. Try to take a picture of the rotor surface between the wheel spokes so we can see how bad the rotor is. It may be so corroded it might need to be replaced.
You should be able to find the manuals at the Toyota website. You can also sign up there with your VIN to see service history on your car and other info.
