My brake shoes look great at 150k!

"The rears will be a little tougher because I'll have to buy that square tool to screw the pistons in."

@Michael Wood: I used a largish needle nose pliers to turn my rear pistons when I did my rear brakes. Requires a bit of steady force, but worked fine. I'd skip that only used hardly ever tool...

 

You are welcome. Just watch several different video's on how to do the brakes.
And go slow, take photos or video so if you forgot, you can go back and watch.
Each one will show you something the others don't, and you'll learn what to expect.
But for, everything on the Prius has been simple to work on.

 

Yeah but it's under $10, great stocking stuffer.

 

I saw it on Ebay from China for about $10 with shipping. On the videos it looks like the Chinese tool doesn't grip the piston very well. It seems to slips a lot even with a lot of pressure. And with my luck, my piston will be a tough one to turn.

I'll go look at the tool at Autozone to see how it looks. I saw a guy use "Pliers"on a Nissan 300 with screw in pistons. He broke the pliers but it definitely worked, and was worth it. He used large electric wire stripper pliers.

 

Yeah they should be readily available local to you; I see a couple of stores near me (Princess Auto and Canadian Tire) that have it for $10~12 CDN. Google "disc brake piston tool".

 

That's a great idea. I have an old, large, heavy duty pair of diagonal cutters that might be perfect for this job.

@Michael Wood: I used a largish needle nose pliers to turn my rear pistons when I did my rear brakes. Requires a bit of steady force, but worked fine. I'd skip that only used hardly ever tool...[/QUOTE]

 

"That's a great idea. I have an old, large, heavy duty pair of diagonal cutters that might be perfect for this job."

Perhaps, but you do need to reach IN a ways....thus the largish needle nose.

 

Oh man, needle nose for turning the brake piston, and a Lincoln penny for judging tread depth.

 

WHY risk damaging the puck with plyers when you can rent the PROPER tool for free?
You pay for it, then get your money back when you return it.
I bought a set that was $20-25 with 8 different size plates and both left and right hand thread drivers.

 

Just the cube on a ratchet wrench works a charm, just keep steady pressure on it, and it won't jump.

 

"WHY risk damaging the puck with plyers when you can rent the PROPER tool for free?"

You MIGHT damage the puck only if you hit the pliers with a hammer... Besides, it saves two trips to the store.

Be advised: I DO like (and have) many proper tools....

 

This PriusChat is the best tool ever! Much appreciated advice