Time for a brake job in our 2010 Prius

1) some prius brakes last virtually forever

2) sometimes, salt can wreak havoc

3) caliper slide pins should be lubed every 30k

4) you need a pad thickness measurement, an rotor inspection and runout measurement

5) don't let the dealer scam you

 

Just for the record: Toyota USA recommends a brake inspection every 30K miles (or 3 years). It's in the Warranty and Maintenance Booklet. There is more to brake maintenance than just replacing pads (and maybe rotors) when they're in dire straits.

 

Bypass the pad thickness in mm that's left to know when to replace, just hand over the money for replacement.

 

Maybe that's it: if you DIY your brake inspections, you're not out of pocket: pull off the calipers, clean the pads/shims, pull/clean/lube the caliper pins, apply fresh lube on contact points, and reassemble. Zero expense, and your brakes last. When the pads need replacement, that's all that needs replacement.

OTOH, you're shelling out $400+, you're going to stall, stall, stall, then replace it all, pads, rotors, maybe seized calipers.

Pay now or pay later.

 

I believe 1mm of thickness is minimum for pads before needed to be replaced..

And inspection every 30K and lube sliding pins, is extremely important... I usually use brake clean to clean off parts before put them back..

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Yes, technically. Still, if you open it up, and see 2~3 mm, I'd be uneasy to button up thus, knowing you'll be back soon.

It's kind of like tires: you can run them right down to the wear bars, but...

 

Well with all the coolest netflix programs out there, maybe it's not worth doing it yourself maintaining and paying the stealership to get it done, then drive back on the sofa to continue the binge watching.

I'd do it sooner than that, my brake level fluid would scream fill me up.

 

I think pad wear might accelerate towards the end: less mass gets hotter?

 

Absolutely, I'd be looking to replace them if I saw 3~4 mm left on my pads.
1mm is the absolute minimal thickness I read to replace... Definitely not recommend keeping driving with that thickness..

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General comments:

Whenever you see a spec like that for something like this, the word "standard" means the nominal thickness when new. Not the clearest word choice, if you ask me, but that's what everyone does, so at least it is consistent.

Also, when you do get the pads down to 1mm (LOL), there is a fair chance that uneven wear might mean that you're at 1 mm on the side/corner that you can see and measure, but there may be a hidden part of the pad which is less than whatever you measure, due to the surfaces not being perfectly flat and parallel.

When inspecting, in addition to measuring/estimating the thickness of the pad material remaining, a good thing to inspect is the interface between the pad material and the steel pad backing plate. Sometimes a delamination at that point will result in a crack - which BTW should be a warranty worthy failure if one exists on your pads.

 

2010 Prius, bought at 115K miles. Replaced pads and rotors (original!) at 153,491 miles. Didn’t want to waste time inspecting, was driving Uber every day, so got all the parts together and did it on a Saturday afternoon. Auto parts store wanted $20 per rotor to clean them up, so got new ones on Amazon for $28 each. Cleaned calipers and relubed pins, put all back together, no issues. Very simple, not different from any car of the last 30 years.

Front pads had slightly less than 1mm on them, rear a little more.