2018 Prius Brake problem 35K miles

We have plenty of salt on the roads in Nebraska and I have had no similar problems.

 

you can certainly inspect the brakes and caliper slide pins more often, and lube as necessary.

maybe very 5k with your tire rotation?

 

We have never replaced a rotor on any of our Prius .. we have a fleet of them. We put miles on ours -- so no sitting around.

We inspect rotors/pads/ calipers at every oil change -- clean and lube. We don't take them apart .. again, ours are being looked at 2 or 3 times a year. Sticking calipers can eat the pads and overheat the rotors.

A typical car may need pads between 30 and 50k ... not a Prius. We have been changing them around 160k -- pads only. I only use OE brake parts for the fleet.

Dealers are always pushing service. Be careful ... telling a customer he only has half of pad material remaining at 60k ,,, well you have 60k to go. Also, the Prius pads can go down to 1mm .. some of service books say 2mm. We replace ours around 160k ... because we know they will not make 250k (our limit) .. and that's typically new tire time.

 

WD40? Er, where did you apply that exactly?

Toyota's "rubber grease", which is a red, sort of clear-ish, lithium soap based glycol grease, is the stuff they recommend for the slide pins and boots, and the piston boot and seal.

Their disk brake shim grease, which is grayish and maybe a silicone, is what they recommend for where the pad shims contact each other and the pads.

As far as I know, no lube is recommended for the ears of the pad or the springy "fitting kit" clips that hold them; it would just make road grit stick there. The fitting kit pieces are coated with some dry Teflon-like stuff, and they are cheap to replace if it has worn off.

A full tube of the red rubber grease has part number 08887-01206 and the shim grease is 08887-80609. You may never need a full tube of either, because any time you buy a caliper refurbishment rubber kit, a little pouch of the red stuff is in it, and any time you buy a shim kit, a pouch of the gray stuff is in it.

I'm going by my knowledge of Gen 3 and earlier, so maybe something changed for Gen 4, or maybe not.

I don't think they ever recommended WD40 around the brakes anywhere, and I might consider wiping it away from any of the rubber bits it might have contacted. Or maybe just buy a rubber kit to have on hand (kit is cheap, has all the rubber and fiddly bits to do two calipers) just in case. That will probably ensure that nothing goes wrong with the calipers.

 

i think we finally have a clear picture of the problem...

 

I glanced over this thread and read you are only at 35k miles, car is under warranty so let dealer address it.

 

Not a warranty item -- wear item.. not covered.

 

Well -- stuff happens ? I would have replaced both rotors as well ... our 16's are proving to be as long lived.

 

if sears overtorqued the wheels, could that have damaged the rotors?

 

That can occur -- although it seems to have been a greater problem years ago. We had the problem with our Fords prior to switching the fleet over to Lexus ES in the 00's. Too tight and they would warp.

The OP talks about the inside ... I'm not sure how only one side can warp. Typically if you see a mismatch in the pad wear -- that's an indication of sticking in the caliper piston or slide. That can trash a rotor

 

The rotors are not a true wear item at 35K miles, brake pads are a wear item. At 35k miles, nearly everything is covered

 

certainly worth asking

 

They would have to give you a "good will" exception -- or see that the caliper or other component was defective. If dirt makes a part stick -- wheel is too tight. Or the rotor just warps ..... some people ride the brakes. Those items are not covered

 

Worse they can tell you is no, I'm sure it's covered if it's a warped rotor

 

Rotors are not that expensive?

I'd be more interested why the rotor warped, addressing that, avoiding a repeat.

 

Rotors are not expensive but why even spend the time and money? It's also a good opportunity for the dealer to go over the car before your warranty runs out at 36k. Let them address any issues. It's not unheard of when people complain about sticking calipers. It's something the dealer would replace......no questions asked. They'll put the claim in for defective parts.

 

Mine is slightly warped, 16 with 56K miles. Hard stopping in the rain does it, but sometimes you just can't avoid it. When stopping with regen, it doesn't do it.

 

There may be an internal good will allowance -- say we replace you pads and rotors and sorting is wrong 3k later. But -- rotors are a wear item .. they just are.