I just did a brake job on the rear of my 2010 Gen3. Inboard pad on drivers side was frozen in the caliper mounting forcing outboard pad to wear down to its steel backing plate. I had checked all pads in January and recorded that all rear pads had 4mm left, so this happened very quickly. There's also a possibility that the outboard pad repeatedly stuck in place after the release of the parking brake. All went well. Caliper pistons retracted easily. Of course I had to be very careful about shim positions. And simply disconnecting the 12V battery avoided all codes. I did pre-advance the new pads by pumping the brake pedal before re-connecting the battery. Vehicle has about 80,000 miles on it. I'm in NJ so there is some winter salt. I used original/genuine Toyota parts at a cost of about $200 including rotors and hardware. But I'm wondering if any one has used the less-expensive Toyota TCMC parts to do a brake job and how it worked out. http://www.dealerquickparts.net/HPFile/AZ_PADS_JOBB_AID.pdf
For most people, doing prius brakes will not be a common occurrence, so it's worth while to get oem parts. The savings are not that significant when you only have to do it once
How did you check the pads in January, did it involve pulling them out to measure? Did you ensure the cross pattern on the caliper piston face was in "X" orientation at reassembly, like this: And after reassembly, do multiple presses of brake pedal, ensure everything's firmly seated. Failing to do this might have caused the accelerated wear: the inner pad has a stubby pin on the back center, that must stay locked between those spokes. If it rides up it'll skew braking force, drag brakes and so on.
Dealers usually use the factory original pads and reuse the shim kits. Sometimes, if the dealer is forced to be priced competitive and the original shim kits are gone or unusable (shim kits can be quite pricey depending on the application), they will use the TCMC pads. The TCMC pads are aftermarket Akebono or Advics pads depending on the application. They stop well, but lots of noise comebacks depending on the application. Most of my friends at the dealer won't use them if at all possible. If you are wanting to save money and are ok with the performance of aftermarket pads, you are better off with buying Centric 105 PosiQuiet ceramic pads from rockauto for 1/2 the price and can expect similar results.
Pads were measured in place as illustrated below. This is the rear outboard Prius pad, but it is not the January 2017 measurement. I took the photo to show my nephew how to measure his Mazda pads. Inboard measurement has to be eyeballed. I was very careful to align the piston during the pad/rotor replacement.
I replaced mine with eBay drilled and slotted rotors. Work like a dream and sporty looking. I didn't like the amount of brake dust I was getting on the set of pads that Came with the rotors so I went to auto zone to buy the premium black ceramics and now I'm living it up. My rims don't look dirty after driving 100 miles hence I do not have my wash my car almost everyday Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
