Hello all: I have a 2004 Prius with ~36k miles. The brakes feel great, but I was wondering if I would hear anything audible to indicate I was approaching the end of the useful life of the pads. As an aside, this has been the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned!! I used to have an Audi allroad and at ~10,000 miles it needed brakes and rotors!! I wasn't even that hard on the car!!!! Luckily Audi picks up the tab. After this I said, heck... what's this car going to cost me when the warranty is over.
:huh: 2004 Owner's Manual, page 213 "Brake pad wear limit indicators." There's a wealth of information in the Owner's Manual.
It's unlikely you'll need to worry about the brakes for well over 100k miles. http://privatenrg.com/#100kBrakePads (scroll down a page or two)
Be aware that some folks around here don't like questions from members who don't read the owners manual. It;s a good idea to read it and have it handy.
I'm pretty sure I read in the manual that the Prius has audible wear indicators. If it's like what I've seen on other cars, they're just thin metal clips on the brake pads that contact the rotor just before the pad wears out, and create a metal-on-metal screeching sound.
Audi, like BMW, have their brake pads and rotors designed to wear down together. Soft steel is used to in rotors to achieve that goal. This also reduces brake fading over sustained continuous usage like driving down hill and racing. It costs about $500+ per axisle (two rotors, tow pads) for BMW (parts+labor). <_< It surely is nice to know that I don't have to worry about the pads and rotors in my Prius.
