I just had my brakes checked and was told the pads & rotors need to replaced front & back…mechanic showed me the wear so I’m not doubting that…it’s just that I have only 29km on my Rav…I’m not a leadfoot driver…is that the normal life for brakes? Thanks!!
Apparently that is normal life for your brakes on this car where you live.
There are so many variables to brake life that there is no normal.
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Thanks for the input
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My 2017 rav 4 at 22k miles, have to get the paperwork to be sure but at 8 mm I believe. So figuring 35 or 40k miles.
Mine is only driven 29km…which is way less than that…like MustangMan already suggested it must be the climate where I live.
… or it could be where and how it is driven.
City/local driving wears-out brakes MUCH faster than highway driving.
Also, the driving habits of the primary driver have a lot to do with brake pad life. Those who habitually tailgate other cars wear out their brakes much faster. Those who brake before even a gentle curve also wear out their brakes much faster.
I used to work with a woman who continually alternated between the gas pedal and the brake pedal–even when there was no traffic in front of her–and she didn’t even know that she was doing it until I pointed it out to her.
We can’t observe how and where your vehicle is driven, so all we can do is to speculate.
But are you a leadfooted breaker? There is a difference. Do you ride the brakes? I know enough left footed brakers who ride the brake enough to drastically shorten the life of the pads.
My old boss had the habit of looking at his passengers when he spoke to them.
Every time that he took his eyes off the road, he would apply the brake.
Then, to compensate, he hit the gas when he next looked back at the road.
Then, more conversation, more braking, followed by more gas pedal action and more brake pedal action. Lather, rinse, repeat…
He always wondered why he got such lousy gas mileage and why he had to replace his brake pads so often. And, we all hated riding in his car because of the whiplash effect from his pedal two-step dance and because he wasn’t looking at the road on a consistent basis.
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Only ONE of the reasons I mentioned.
You and your location are the other 2. As @VDCdriver pointed out, how the the driver behaves and where they drive makes a huge difference. Brake companies used to test in LA freeway traffic because it was common to kill a set of brake pads in less than 15,000 km… Hard stop-and-go-traffic. Way less kms than your RAV. If you drive that way in less traffic, well, brakes will wear faster.
The other issue is… only 29K km in 4 years tells me the pads may not be worn out but the brake rotors may be rusted all to heck from sea air or road salt. All 4 of my truck’s brake rotors look terrible but the brake pads still have lots of thickness. But if the pads don’t touch much rotor anymore… well, it is a full replacement much like your job.
My son had to replace his rear brakei n a year and one half at 17000 miles and he did almost no city driving, mostly country roads with 55mph limit in rural Western NY. lots of road salt repeated again at 31ooo miles with a front brake job in between. He moved to Florida in 2011 and has not had to do a brake job since, not on the 2007 he sold to his daughter or on the 2014 he bought new in Florida. Rust eats rotors and seizes caliper slides and pins and sometimes the pistons. Sticking calipers can eat pads and a completely frozen caliper will wear out the pads on the other side.
No I’m not that either…is it normal for the rotors to be gone this soon too? No warning like a squealing that just the pads were worn…
If you are suggesting that Toyota put substandard brakes on the RAV4, that is probably incorrect. The reason is likely posted above by another forum regular. We don’t know where you live or what kind of traffic you drive in, or how much highway driving you do. If you want to determine why with our help, you need to tell us a lot more about your driving habits.
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Toyota put Centrics brake pads and rotors instead of high quality Akebonos like they did in the past. My 2012 Corolla came with Centrics that lasted 22k miles.
How do you know they were Centrics?
Its was written on the back of the pads when I replaced them.
Correction: they were Advics.
I’m not suggesting anything about Toyota…I’ve put less than 10k a year on the Rav since I’ve had it…I basically drive to work and thats about it…and light use around town…I had it parked in the garage for a month the past winter…other than that it is in regular, if light, use.
Also, I rarely use my hand brake…and that seems to work fine when I do…
As far as my driving style…I don’t speed and try to decelerate coming to a light rather than any hard sudden braking…
Typically brake pad replacement is recommended when they are down to 3 MM, the wear sensors will make contact/noise at 1 MM.
The wear sensors are only on the inboard pads so a visual inspection is necessary to see if the pads are at minimum specs.
Some technicians will recommend brake replacement @ 4 or 5 MM when the work load is low so check the measurements on your vehicle inspection report, brake replacement may not be urgent.
The hand brake and brakes are complete different systems. Hand Brake controls brake SHOES inside the rear Rotor/Drum.
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