Poor Fuel Economy After Brake Change

Does parking brake feel stiffer?

Put it in the air and see what drags

 

I recommend doing this service way more often than at pad change time.
I've had several cars give me brake problems because the slider pins got sticky and siezed.

They sell small packets of the grease that's needed at auto parts stores.
Also get a can of 'Brake Clean' and get everything related to the slider pins spotless, than re-grease the pins, bores and the inside of the boots.
With the pads removed you should be able to slide the caliper on those pins without much forces.
Clean with a wire brush were the pads slide on the mount. That area can get rusted and gunked up too.

And my best recommendation: Get a cheap IR Temp Reader.
You won't burn you hands on hot brake discs ever again and it's handy in the kitchen !

 

Agree. Toyota maintenance schedule says this:

every 5K miles or 6 months: visually inspect brakes (basically a look-over during the tire rotation)
every 30K miles or 3 years: do a more in-depth brake inspection


Their description of what the latter entails is very sketchy, but that would seem a convenient/conservative interval for the disassemble/clean/relube/reinstall process, including the pins.

If months is governing, by a fair amount, stretching it to 4~5 years wouldn't be out of line. But yeah, you don't want to drag it out till the pads are near the service limit (1 mm thickness), that's way too long.