Brake disc replacement period

That is unusual - more typical life for the front brakes is at least 100K miles (nearly 200K km). Rust may affect that.

Our two 2002 models have 95K and 120K miles on them and the front brakes are like new. Something is wrong.

Mike

Get a second opinion.

Dealership told us the front brake pads had worn down to bare metal gouging the discs beyond repair. Didnt get a service on the car before buying it is why ...lesson learnt.

That explains a lot! The type of damage, that is. There are two possible explanations that come to mind: loss of lubrication on the front caliper slide pins or buildup of pressure in the hydraulic system.

The first would be a mistake in construction, because the silicone grease Toyota uses is good for many years. If the pins are dry they bind and don't allow the caliper to release. Once I forgot to grease the slide pins on my Volvo when replacing the pads and rotors, and within a month the pads and rotors were unsalvageable. A hallmark of this type of failure is uneven wear, especially comparing inner and outer pads on the same side.

The second cause is typically an adjustment problem (except in cars with a lot of years on them, where failures in the rubber brake hoses can create check valves). In conventional systems with vacuum boosters and no regeneration it is caused by the brake pushrod - between the brake pedal and the booster - being misadjusted so it is as though you are keeping the brake slightly depressed. I don't know if the same applies to the Prius system.

By all means ask to have a look at the damage, but it seems the best approach is to have the replacements done and verify they will check for the brakes not dragging and other potential causes. Sounds like the previous owner was fond of very hard braking, which brings the hydraulics into action... although riding the brakes may have the same effect. Dunno about that.

Mike

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" ...

I second the second opinion. It should not be this way so soon. If this is so you would feel it in the pedal when breaking gets down to less than 5 MPH or so - it would be grinding that you would feel in your foot via the hydraulics.

Either this dealer is trying to scam you or the previous driver was a braking nut. Makes me wonder what else was treated roughly on this car. Tomes

Possibly it was all of the above plus an odometer hack. 38K on a 2004? That comes to 7.6K/year, probably less than half the typical mileage for this vintage.

My sister-in-law has my aunt's 87 Civic. When my aunt gave it up 6 years ago, it had 6000 miles on it. It now has under 20,000 miles on it.

My mother bought, new, an 06 Scion xB. My father now drives it; it has

This is not at all unusual.

The operative word was "typical." My 2005 has 38K. I'm retired and have no commute. Encountered a fellow driving a 2006 a few days ago. He has 65K.

Was Istoben...

With as many miles, my brakes look like new and aren't rusted despite the winter salt. I'd really have to work at ruining my brakes in 38K miles.

Thanks for the input Mike. Picked up the Prius from the dealer who told me that the steering wheel isnt sitting dead center, which I already knew of..and that they wouldnt set it straight until the car got a wheel alignment first..and they couldnt align it for me because their aligning eqiupment was being replaced. I said well its obvious alignment isnt necessary as your report states tyres are good, but sales guy still insisted that they wouldnt touch the steering until an alignment is made. Car drives well I can live with the wheel offcenter..just wonder why it got that way??

Yow... He's right; there is no point in tweaking the steering if it isn't part of a real alignment (my dealer charged about $80 or $90, which was ten dollars more than a local tire shop wanted). Prius alignment is critical but probably not as much as it was for the 2001-2003 models. They get squirrelly if the toe is off by a fraction of a degree. It sounds like the previous owner was really hard on the car; the Prius holds alignment very well but it appears one wheel hit a curb or pothole pretty hard. The good news is that the engine and transmission are hard to hurt through operational abuse as long as the oil was changed when it needed to be.

You can get an idea of how the tires are wearing right now by taking it to a straight stretch of road, placing a strip of masking tape (duct tape if the masking tape won't stick) across each tire from sidewall to sidewall, and driving a mile or so. The wear pattern on the tape will tell the wear pattern on the tires.

Mike

Here in the UK we had a recall on 2004 - on Prius related to a replacement steering universal joint in the column assembly (I think) which had been known to very occasionally collapse. Mine was called in and the work done - we all got a free bottle of champagne for our trouble! In many cases the replacement part was misaligned by one tooth on the spline, resulting in an off-centre steering wheel. Mine was, and they fixed it at the next service, FOC. Might be worth checking to see if this work has been done on yours - if so you might be able to get it corrected for free [although I doubt you'd get the champagne ;-( ]

Chas

Interesting you state that, because the car has had the universal joint replaced on recall previously by the last owner accordign to the Toyota dealer here. I just wonder if they bothered to align the wheels after replacement and therefore this is the reason for the offcentred steering wheel!! I bet they wont admit to that tho.