2009 Prius with 140k miles and the front pads still look good. Just curious how long someone has gone before replacing the front brake pads.
You have been doing periodic brake maintenance though? The interval for second gen front and rear brake inspection (not the "visual inspection, the in-depth, full inspection) is 30K miles or 36 months.
Well over 200k miles can be a not unreasonable expectation if you do regular inspections to make sure all the parts stay freely moving and do not bind up. (Inspections could lead to replacing small parts like rubber boots if they are torn or cracked, or caliper "fitting kits"—the teflon-ish coated spring steel clips at the sides of the pads—if they're seriously corroded, etc.). If you measure the lining thicknesses at each inspection, you can, using the mileage and thickness at your current inspection and the last one, the minimum thickness given in the manual, and a bit of math, project out when yours will likely need replacement under your own usage. Or, any undetected problem that crops up if you're not regularly inspecting can force you into a significant brake job years earlier than expected. -Chap
Brake fluid replacement at the aforementioned interval is a good ploy too. Toyota Canada is now saying 48K km's or 36 months, for all models. I first noticed this in 2014 year, might have been sooner.
Not surprising at all. I don't think we have ever had to replace brakes in LESS than 100k, even on the Expedition, it's all in how you drive.... I know folks who cannot get 30k from brakes
I think a lot of owners do just that, aided and abetted by dealerships that don't see a profit margin in traditional brake maintenance. It'd be nice if the Toyota Repair Manual had a specific section titled "Brake Inspection", and outlined the step-by-step specifics. What they have instead is a terse, complete tear-down description, which will further put off the dealership mechanics looking for guidance. The info's in there, but all mashed together.
I have over 275,000 miles on my 2005 orignal brakes. One thing you may want to pay close attention to is the caliper slide. If the caliper cannot slide away from the disk when the brake is released it can cause premature wear.
Ours literally lasted the life of the car. We traded our 2005 in at 245,000km (153,000 miles) with original brake pads. (The HV battery was shot). My 2010 won't last as long because I make multiple Rocky Mountain drives so they'll eat into the life of the brake pads. Still, at 89,000 miles, I'm still on original pads.
Caliper slide pins are no-where near the problem elsewhere that they are in the "salt belt", unless you drive thru standing water often.
Also, the slide pins are very well protected inside their rubber boots, as long as your inspection shows the boots are intact. They'll likely feel as if the grease has hardened, but just working them in & out a couple times will fix that. There's no such protection on the "fitting kit"—the little teflon-ish coated spring steel liners that carry the ends of the pads. Those are right out in the open, and can get pretty corroded. So far, those are the only brake parts that have needed replacement on my Gen 3 (just shy of 130k at the moment), and only on the rear for some reason. You can tell the difference with new ones, where you actually need one hand to squeeze the pads together while lowering the caliper over them again, otherwise the little V springs the rears have will spread them right out. -Chap
Very true. I am definitely not an aggressive driver. Always try to obtain good MPG. Also I do inspect front brakes about once a year.
