Front Brakes

[Yevgeniy]

Hi everybody. I am a new member and looking for your help. I have 2000 Corolla with around 75,000km on it. I took it for services and people telling me that I have to replace front brake pads. The problem is that it is the 3rd time I have to do that. I did it at 25,000km, 50,000 and now I have to do it at 75,000. Is it my driving or is it the quality of Toyota brake pads? I do not consider myself an aggressive driver by any stretch of imagination. I would have no problem replacing them if it would not cost me around CDN$300 out of which parts are only $50 and the rest is labor, resurfacing rotors and so on. Any comments? Thank you.

[RedAE102]

Since no one else has offered any advice, I'll throw in my 2 cents. My car's front pads were replaced about 24,600 miles ago (~39,500 km ago) with Genuine Toyota pads, and they still haven't worn much. Depending upon what kind of mood I'm in, my driving style can fall anywhere between docile and quite aggressive. I do a good bit of highway driving (usually a 600 mi round trip every 2-4 weeks), but still tend to be pretty hard on brakes. My advice to you would be to jack the car up yourself, take one of the front wheels off, and inspect the pads yourself through the hole on the top of the caliper when the dealer, service centre, or wherever you take your car to get serviced, says you need new pads. They're considered worn out when the friction material is 2mm thick or less, and are usually 10mm to begin with. If you need a reference, purchase the cheapest pads you can at your local auto parts store to compare. Disc brakes are a snap to work on, and you can replace the pads yourself with just a simple ratchet and socket set. Your local auto parts store or even a mechanic will usually machine the rotors for about US$10.

On the subject of Toyota pads.... Mine have provided me with excellent braking performance, but I expected MUCH better in terms of noise... From about 2000 miles on, these pads have screeched and squealed (and the nature of the noise is everchanging) under routine braking, even though I had the rotors resurfaced when they were installed, and I drove like my grandmother for the first 1000 miles to ensure proper bedding in. Not acceptable in my book. To their credit, their long life somewhat makes up for the noise, but it just means that I have to put up with them that much longer before I can justify their replacement.

[GT4 BOOSTER]

learn to do them yourself , its not hard to do , then you can save yourself a few bucks , toyota garages here in uk are a rip off too as with labour charges.£ 60 an hour.

[System~G]

And if you look in the "Workshop Submissions" section on the fronts page of the forums, you'll find a photographic "How-To" I compiled for members