Brake noises - normal or not?

I am having the clicking noise situation on my 2009 Prius. I just purchased it 2 months ago and am going crazy. Have brought it in 5 times now to 3 different locations in Los Angeles and they say it's normal. IT'S NOT NORMAL.

PLEASE...if you have made any head way on this matter...PLEASE let me know!!!

 

Gaseous/grunting/hissing/farting noises and excessive "grabbiness" while braking are very common for me in my 2010 Prius. At first I thought it was my digestive system but I was wrong.

I took the car to my dealer and the technician said that the caliper slide pins needed lubrication. That made the noises go away... for a couple of weeks.

Then I noticed something else. My brakes ONLY make noises after I have used up about 50% of the fuel in the gas tank. The brakes are smooth and completely quiet on a full tank of gas. No gassy, hissy or grabby brakes.

Why

 

Hello everyone,

I have attached the break noise recordings from my 2010 Prius III (file #02 is the best catch).
Is your case the same ?
Any solustions/advice yet ?
What's the best strategy of dealing with dealers ?

Thank you.

 

I have a 2012 Prius III with 1,000 miles on it, and today while my wife was driving it, a car swerved in front of her while on the highway and she had a hit the brakes hard. This is the first time the car experience hitting the brakes hard. Every since then, I noticed that when you hit the brakes normally (i.e. gently) at speeds greater than around 25 mph you hear and feel a click or thud a few seconds after you start depressing the pedal. I did not hear that before today. Any idea what it may be? I"m planning to take it to the dealer but just checking if anyone else has experienced the same?

 

Prius.

 

I also have this grunting noise on my 2007 when brake depressed. Wierd.

 

Its rust on the front rotors. Very very common. Since the prius hydraulic brakes are hardly used due to regen rust builds up on the rotors very badly. They become quite nosiey. And apparently they may have went to a softer brake pad which makes the issue even worse. Get flashlight and look through the front wheel holes and see how rusted and pitted the rotor is.

The Prius brakes need to be maintained by getting up to speed around 40-50 and putting the car in neutral and press firmly on the brake. By putting the car in neutral it eliminates the regen and you are then on strictly hydraulic braking.
Press firmly about 3 times. You'll hear the brakes grind a little. Not grind but you'll hear the abrasion. Put it back in D and drive away. This can be done at any speed.

Do not do this with traffic behind you and the first time you do this make sure no traffic in front either because you will be surprised how poor the regular brakes are without regen.

I do this all the time on my Gen 2 and although my rotors are rusted they are quiet.

This issue is made much much worse if the car lives outside and also right after the car has sat in rain.

 

I'm attaching a vid of my 2012 Prius brake noise.
It's the click - whoosh, pshhh noise.
Normal right?

 

Our 2008 with 118K miles just started clicking today when the brake petal is lightly applied. To us this is not normal. Also when stopped if the brake petal is pushed down firmly there are new noises.

Strangely as one other poster said the noise stopped after we filled the tank which had been at two bars.

If this turns out to require a part replacement it will be the very first issue after 5 1/2 years of heavy use.

The noise is quite similar to the YouTube vid posted above.

In our case I don't think it is the brakes rusting because the petal only has to be very lightly depressed, likely during regen but not breaking. Also there is little moisture to provide for rust as we live in Redding CA. No rain for two months, garaged, humidity under 40% all summer, humidity typically below 20% mid day.

 

Pedal not petal.

 

Every Prius I test drove made the same noises, so I'm not losing sleep over it.

 

I have a new 13 Prius IIII...in the warmer months brakes were groaning on hard stops and at times just holding pressure on the brake pedal My dealer has no clue. I found this answer inside.
The problem is fixed. The service manager said that less than 1% of the Priuses have the problem I had. There is no TSB on it. They had to phone Toyota about it (not sure where). Luckily, someone had heard of the problem with brake noises.

They had to bleed the brakes and also reflash the computer software controlling the solenoids. Covered by warranty. It would have cost over $300.00

Now there are no toots or grunts every time I brake. What a relief. Thanks for all the responses. Maybe this will help anyone with a similar problem.