A multi-point check is NOT a fishing scam by the dealer. Those checks are:
Recommended by the car manufacturer.
Common sense says everything on the car should be looked over on a regular basis.
The alternative to that would be to ignore it all and allow someone’s last thought on this Earth to be “WTH…” as they go rolling when an ignored suspension check causes a ball joint to snap…
I think the attitude about brake and tire replacements is also a bad one to have; especially considering the hilly environment around San Francisco.
You can certainly run the brake pads and tires down to the last few thousandths of use but a life is worth more than that few remaining miles of use.
I was thinking about the lifespan of the brakes on a hybrid this morning, while driving in back of someone with a Camry Hybrid. He was one of those nervous nellies who hits the brake every 20 seconds or so, even when there is no traffic in front of him. The fact that he was–literally–all over the road caused me to drop pretty far back, as he was essentially an accident looking for a place to happen.
When a hybrid is moving at ~45 mph, is all of the braking done by the regenerative braking system, or is some of it done by the conventional braking system? If the conventional brakes come into play, I can’t imagine that this guy gets more than 20k from his brake pads.
Even if the braking is completely taken care of by the regenerative braking system, I imagine that this twit is one of those who complains to the dealership that he isn’t getting the type of gas mileage and/or battery life that he should be getting.
Re hybrid braking, it depends on how hard you press the petal. Light to moderate braking, the generator handles it. Heavy braking, the mechanical brakes kick in. Some models you can feel the difference in the brake pedal “feel”.
Most twits like the one you describe, press the brake lightly, so the regen would do the braking.
^
Okay, thanks for the explanation.
Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall when someone like that complains to the dealer’s service department about the short life span of his brake pads, or his…disappointing…gas mileage?
@ok4450 I agree; however my Toyota dealer wants $175 for just some of those very non-intrusive checks. As a result I get an independent garage with good mechanics to do those checks I can’t do myself.
My thought is that if a rotor warps at full thickness, it is more likely to warp again when machined thinner. I have found it more cost effective to replace warped rotors. Turning warped rotors rarely provides lasting results.
It is important to remember that a warped rotor is normally a symptom of another problem. Simply replacing the rotor will many times result in the rotor warping again, if the root problem is not diagnosed and corrected.
And from another source
Most original equipment brake rotors used to be designed with enough thickness to last at least two or more pad replacements. Most newer cars have thinner rotors to save weight and could be worn to the minimum by the first time the brake pads need to be replaced. .
I’m sure you’ll find many others that prefer to replace the brake rotors but in the real world you can’t up-sell $300 in brake rotors on every brake job. We resurface 10 to 20 brake rotors each day without any problems.
I somewhat disagree with you about cutting rotors not being effective
I do it quite a bit, and it’s not come back to bite me yet
There are several trucks out there, I cut rotors years ago, and everything is still working perfectly. How do I know this . . . because I work on these vehicles from time to time, and I always look up previous repair history on any vehicle that’s assigned to me
I’d rather cut 5-year old factory rotors, versus installing new cheap chinese rotors of unknown quality
Many of the trucks in our fleet use truly massive rotors, and the cost to replace with OEM parts is staggering
There’s another consideration . . . if I can cut rotors, and get the truck done in one fell swoop . . . versus putting the tires back on, parking it out back while I wait for rotors, that seems more efficient.
It goes without saying that I measure the rotor thickness, runout, thickness variation, etc. before and after. Every once in awhile, I determine that the rotor is just too messed up, and I won’t be able to do my thing on the lathe without going under discard thickness. I determine that after my initial measurements. Saves me the work of cutting a rotor that can’t be saved, anyways.
I also thought that the front rotor machining requirement was a nonstarter. The fornt brake rotor they say is 3MM i.e. equal to 25%. Is that right? if its so - why would it require machining and why would that last any longer than a year. Woudl I not be better off with new rotors?
The thickness of a new brake rotor is 28mm, minimum thickness is 25mm.
3mm is the thickness of the friction material on the brake pads, 1mm is the service limit issued by Toyota. Service departments recommend replacement @ 3mm as there may not be enough pad left to last until the next scheduled service. You should have plenty of time to schedule replacement, on a hybrid it could take 10,000 miles before the pads are worn to 1mm. This is assuming these are the original brakes, have they been replaced before?
There is no harm in asking for new brake rotors with the replacement, it is not standard procedure to replace them outside of the rust belt region of the US.
As a side note, I used to get $220/ton for used brake rotors before one of my co-workers was caught removing used parts from the premises. Selling used parts isn’t allowed as it leads to mistrust from the customer, the mechanic gets paid twice for replacing a part. I mark the thickness measurement on the rotors with a felt tip marker and save the old parts for three days for inspection.