Dealer says it's time for new brakes

[tickerguy]

The Z23 pads are cheap; $50-60 per axle.

From a bang-for-the-buck perspective I don't believe there's any way you can beat it. A "big brake" kit is going to cost a lot more than that.

I just had both rears off on my Suburban because I had to pull the axles to fix the differential which decided to chew up the rear pinion bearing race. The pads are maybe 20% worn and over the last couple of years, since I put them on, I moved my house using it and a 7k gross trailer cross-country (FL -> TN) over a half-dozen trips, plus two runs out to Wyoming from here and then one up and back to the northern part of Michigan.

So in addition to being a crazy-good add in terms of stopping power and fade resistance they also are very nice on the wallet in terms of service life. Hard to beat that combination....

 

[MalibuRam65]

My aunt had her "BRAKE" light on on the dash for the second time in a month on her 2016 Toyota Avalon, 67k miles. It displayed a message on the dash each time saying something to the effect to stop the vehicle and contact the dealer. The first time she had it towed there. They said there wasn't anything wrong.

Last week it did it again and the light stayed on for about 80 miles then went off while driving to the dealership. This time they said the brake fluid might be a little low and they recommended a flush. She did the flush since the car is 4-1/2 years old.

Anyways, they said her front brake pads are at 4mm and they recommended she had them replaced and the rotors turned. She declined for the moment and asked how long she can go, they said 1-2 months. They also offered a $30 discount since "they already had the calipers off for the brake flush". Who the heck removes the wheels, let alone the calipers for a brake flush!?

Today I rotated the tires and pulled off a caliper and measured the pads at 8mm.

Does anybody know how many mm they are when new? Sounds like a scammy dealer to me. I'm not gonna worry about the brakes until at least 100k miles.

View attachment 57971

she has to trust the dealership the dealership is there to ensure her vehicle is running to OEM specs and peak condition at all times.

 

[LostInTransit]

So along with some of my above comments, we've contacted Yellowspeed, R1Conscepts and two other companies asking if they could help us create a big brake kits for the van. So far, None are willing to do the math. So it's looks as if we'll stay with the powerstop versions for the time being. We're starting to look into this now because we've just upgraded to a set of 245/40/r19's on 19x8.5 ET40 wheels and noticed a bit more brake dust. I wish we could say a professional big brake kit is in our future, but at 3K or more.. I doubt it.

 

[Quantico]

My f350 superduty starts 14 mm to 15 mm I believe. They are about a half inch new. So folks saying new pads are 10 mm must believe there is only one car model on the road. People with little experience should not give advice.

 

[LostInTransit]

Big Brake Kit Could be in the works. using sites like rockauto and summit racing and as a reference, we researched powerstop (for instance) and foud that they list the same caliper for 4 different for cars. then turn to ceika, we may have found that 330mm big brake kit we've been looking for. While the powerstop is nothing more than a powder coated/painted stock single piston caliper with slotted/drilled rotors and ceramic pads.. the Ceika kit has a custom power coated 4 piston caliper, 330mm slotted and drilled rotors and ceramic pads all for 1,300.00 as compared to yellow speed or R1 concepts at 3K or more. The point here is Yellowspeed, Ksport & R1concepts decline to do some research or development for us. Plus they kept telling us anything Ford Focus related would not fit on the van and although sites like summitracing/rockauto list the same parts for the Focus and Connect, I turned my attention to the Ford Escape which utilizes the same bolt pattern as the focus and connect.. The point here is, we've searched and asked without any success till now. So the little van could be getting that big brake kit we've always dreamed of.

 

[BlueOvalFitter]

Those pads look almost new!

+1

 

[Shel_B]

Does anybody know how many mm they are when new? Sounds like a scammy dealer to me. I'm not gonna worry about the brakes until at least 100k miles.

Front thickness is 12mm, rear is 11mm based on figures I obtained in July of this year. Toyota (and my brake guy) recommend a minimum thickness of 1mm before changing pads. My guy checked my brakes and didn't want to replace the pads with 4mm left, but I am keeping watch on their wear. We decided to wait until the pads are at 2mm or so before changing.

 

[philipp10]

I had a similar incident with a car where my wife brought it in and as part of the service she requested her tires be rotated. Got a call from the wife, "they can't rotate the tires, not enough tread". Car had less than 28k on it. So I drive over and look. The tires easily had 8/32 and another 25k miles in them. I had the service guy out to look at the car and I asked, what's the issue. He was shocked and of course "had to ask his service manager". I chewed that guy a new ahole that day.

If and when this type of thing happens, POST IT ON THE INTERNET. Google review or Yelp. This is how we stop this.

 

[AZjeff]

This thread started in May of 2021 and Nick's brake pad issues have long been resolved.

 

[JC1]

Maybe the dealer tech measured 8mm / 2 pads = 4mm?? Typical stealership.....