I have a 2005 prius. Got it 7 months ago. I hear brakes squeal when braking. I think I may need new pads. Are they easy to replace? Because the dealership wanted $250.. hmm any advice?
Generally, they don't need to be replaced. Many people have 150K miles or 250K miles on the Prius with original pads. I have 115K miles on mine and they look almost brand new. The Prius uses regenerative braking almost all of the time except (1) panic braking - it will engage both forcibly (2) hard braking / aggressive driving braking (3) battery is fully charged (80% at 8bars, all green) it will only use friction brakes and (4) speeds are under 7mph. Because they are used so infrequently, the Prius has a weird condition where the rotors will actually develop some rust because nothing touches them for so long! This can make things squeak. Also, when wet, they squeak a bit too. If you are young and can hear the high pitched inverter whine, make sure that is not what you are referring to because that is normal. For instance if you can hear the high pitched whine of an old CRT monitor or TV when it is on then you can probably hear the inverter. If this car is new-ish, I would give the friction brakes a good cleaning, and it is super easy to do. Find an empty stretch of road/driveway/parking lot where you can get to 40mph and then brake semi-aggressively. Speed up to 40mph, do NOT go above 42mph (68kph), then put the car in neutral. That can be done by either (a) pushing park while moving at a speed greater than 3-4 mph for immediate effect (b) selecting reverse on the gear shifter at speeds greater than 3-4 mph for immediate effect (c) selecting neutral on the gear shift level which takes many seconds to change to neutral. Then brake somewhat aggressively. Get out and look at your brakes. They should be shiny and uniform. If not, repeat. It should only take a few times. You don't want to mash the pedal, but brake as if you are a soccer mom in a giant hurry racing to the next red light. If that doesn't change things, we can go from there. But attempting the low hanging fruit is usually a good place to start.
Before you try the procedure above you need to make sure you don't have worn brake pads. The original pads on my 2005 needed to be replaced at 90K miles. The way the car is driven makes a big difference on how fast they wear out. Chances are good the noise is the brake pads telling you they are at their wear limit. For who? I can do them blindfolded. If you are thinking about doing them yourself, I recommend searching these forums for instructions and deciding if it's something you can handle. Avi
If the previous owner had the maintenance done at the dealer, you might be able to find it on this site. Toyota Owners Official Web Site: Service Coupons, Owner's Manuals, Service Scheduling And More You put in your VIN and you can find the service records.
