This morning, the left front brake pad wear indicator started screaching out loud. I drove about a mile to a tire shop and they identified the sound for me. Sure enough, the sound is described in the manual. The car has been quiet for the rest of the day. Has anyone else heard a similar warning, and if so, at what mileage? Based on posts in this forum I was expecting a very long brake pad life, so I was surprised to hear a warning at 34,500 miles.
wow, that's unusual. sure it wasn't a rock or something jammed in there? i've seen quite a few posts about that kind of thing happening. how was your 30k service? any notes on brake pads? did they check the brake pads?
If it went away, it wasn't the wear indicator. Probably a small stone wedged in, or rust accumulation. I haven't seen the Prius pad but with most, the "indicator" is a metal finger that rubs the disc when the pad is worn. It will make noise ALL the time once it reaches wearout; it will not go away until the pads are replaced or the finger bent out of the way.
it is entirely possible if you have a siezed caliper to grind down one pad and not both and get as squeeler rubbing. Time to have it checked I hate to say. If nothing is found it was probably just a stone or bottle cap or some other debris that got thrown in there and started making noise. If you fell comfortable, pull the front wheels and have a look and see if one side of the pads are worn down. If one pad is to 1/8" change them and if one side is worn more than the other it's time to clean the mounting pads and sliders for the caliper and then lube with hi-temp grease. 34k is about 50K KMs and Andrew's cab went more than 85k before his first pad replacement. I'm leaning towards debris.
