Brake Check... How to know when pads are wore?

[Guest]

I've taken the front and back wheels off of the passenger side of my Avensis today to give her a check. The brakes are squeaking (sometimes - not often) after long drive, nothing too annoying but still had me thinking it'd be worth checking them out. 

The fronts look fine to me (plenty of meat on the bone).

The back... I'm not so sure about, it's hard to see where the backing plate ends and the 'meat' starts. 

The discs are quite crusty, but I lack the judgement to really say whether they need replacing yet or not... the car is a late 2018 so they might just be coming up to needing to be replaced.  

What's your take? Do you think I should replace them now and get it over with?

Toyota Direct Parts for all genuine Toyota parts front and rear discs and pads - £270 but won't ship to NI

Toyota's Official eBay store: £370 all in.

Big difference, but I'm sold on the genuine parts - even over reputable aftermarket's like Bosch or Brembo. Priced up Brembo Xtra/Max parts and £144 for the whole lot... surely there's something more than a pointless dealer/OEM mark up to this?   Would it be stupid to pay so much more for Toyota parts?? 

[Cessna]

Looks like plenty of material left on the pads. The discs are certainly worn to some degree, but the way to check if fully worn is with a micrometer and compare to minimum width specified in the service manual (somebody on here may well know what the values are).

If you are doing the work yourself (or using an independent garage) I would go with a reputable aftermarket manufacturer such as the ones you mention. The Toyota branded ones will almost certainly be sourced from one of them anyway, so why pay more?!

However, given the young age of your car, are you not taking advantage of the Toyota Relax warranty scheme (where you get one year's warranty after each dealer service)? If so, I would pay the extra and get a Toyota dealer to do the work (if you start doing the work yourself, or have an independent do it, you may have difficulty with a future warranty claim).

[2009joe]

8 hours ago, SB1500 said:

I've taken the front and back wheels off of the passenger side of my Avensis today to give her a check. The brakes are squeaking (sometimes - not often) after long drive, nothing too annoying but still had me thinking it'd be worth checking them out. 

The fronts look fine to me (plenty of meat on the bone).

The back... I'm not so sure about, it's hard to see where the backing plate ends and the 'meat' starts. 

The discs are quite crusty, but I lack the judgement to really say whether they need replacing yet or not... the car is a late 2018 so they might just be coming up to needing to be replaced.  

What's your take? Do you think I should replace them now and get it over with?

Toyota Direct Parts for all genuine Toyota parts front and rear discs and pads - £270 but won't ship to NI

Toyota's Official eBay store: £370 all in.

Big difference, but I'm sold on the genuine parts - even over reputable aftermarket's like Bosch or Brembo. Priced up Brembo Xtra/Max parts and £144 for the whole lot... surely there's something more than a pointless dealer/OEM mark up to this?   Would it be stupid to pay so much more for Toyota parts?? 

well tbh my brakes the front ones were done when the guy got my car and the back ones i thought were a bit wore as they squeaked a bit i said with this epb and way to to the discs and pads i had bought genuine Toyota discs and pads so i changed the whole things by the way to put epb into service mode. well i hear sometimes my breaks are squeaking and im guessing its the front thought incase the mot guy dont pass the car il buy genuine pads and discs for the front also . well as i knew the front pads were done when i bought the car with motor factor pads i thought il let the car go threw mot and see if it fails as it didn't so i didn't bother changing he new discs and pads.

[Red_Corolla]

Look good to me, I wouldn't be thinking about replacing anything yet. A strip down, clean and reassemble should take care of the squeal if it becomes annoying. Just make sure that the pads go back in the same place if you do that - don't swap the inboard & outboard around.

[TonyHSD]

Yeap,  same as Stuart says take discs and pads off thoroughly clean with wire brush and brake cleaner spray all rust and brake dust, clean to bare metal all mounting surfaces including the hubs and shells from inside and do not apply any grease on them, just clean and dry fit everything back, take out slider pins clean and lubricate with silicone grease, you can have another 20-30k miles from the set then after replace all discs and pads and brake fluid. 👍 

[Konrad C]

In addition to all the above:-
Every once in a while, I use small inspection mirrors to check the pad thickness, without having to remove the wheels. That way both inner and outer pads can be viewed and compared. This is especially important for the rear brakes, where incorrect windback of the inner piston during pad replacement, could cause uneven and faster wear to the inner brake pad.  

[Roy124]

Or in tune with the thread title /

Driving down a Swiss mountain and the pad backing is grinding the discs. 😊