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SUVs Toyota Highlander Toyota Highlander Maintenance and Repair
4692 messages, Last post on Nov 28, 2009 at 3:26 PM
You are in the Toyota Highlander Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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My 2004 Highlander has about 55,000 miles. I've just been told that I need all new brake pads and rotors at a dealer cost of about $1,000. The rotors, I was informed, are too rusted to be turned, and so must be replaced. I've had the car in for service and inspection every 5,000 miles, and it went from no problems to this. I've always been careful about getting my brake pads replaced on time, and have never needed replacement rotors (whether it was a Honda, Isuzu, or even my lemon Chrysler). At Midas the mechanic said that this is fairly common now, Rotors are being made to wear out like exhaust systems and typically only last from 40,000 to 60,000 miles. In the past I've driven vehicles over 120,000 miles and never had to replace a rotor. He also said the typical cost is about $425 an axle, although the Highlander rotors are more expensive. I'm wondering what other Highlander (or Toyota) owners experiences have been. If you could reply in the following format: Make: 2004 Highlander Miles (Before Replacing Brakes): 55,000 Costs: $900 I'll try and collect the information and see if my experience is typical. If so, I think it's a shame that automakers have decided to use planned obsolescence in order to boost profits. If Toyota doesn't watch out, they're going to end up in the same shape as US automakers. 
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Replying to: nathanbrand (Jul 09, 2009 12:22 pm) |
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Replying to: nathanbrand (Jul 09, 2009 12:22 pm) Other factors are if you live in hilly or mountainous area, you'll use your brake harder than say in Florida where I live. Also, how hard or fast you drive is another factor. Maybe on your first brake pads were replaced a more aggressive pad material. Most pads today are semi metallic, that means there is metal in the pad material to get the friction up. When you see cars with very bad brake dust, most of it is metal dust sticking to the metal wheels. As a general on the first set of pads, the rotors should be good for at least one cut and the end of life when the second set of pads wear out. A lot of repair shops will also want to replace the brake caliper because the dust boots on them can be deteriorating because of the high heat that builds up especially during hard braking. Also, the brake fluid can also be contaminated because of moisture can be absorbed into the brake fluid and the excessive heat from the pads will transfer to the brake fluid and it can boil if it gets hot enough. With anti lock brake systems, you do not want to push this old fluid back into the brake system when the brake piston is pushed back into the caliper. Therefore, a full brake job, at least for the front wheels, could be a set of pads, two rotors, two calipers, fluid flushed, and labor. You did not mention if the brake quote was for two or four wheels. For two, $900 is very high. A repair shop should be a round $450-$500. Today, dealers will charge over $100-125 an hour for labor, and my mechanic on the corner repair shop charges $85 per hour. check out this site for some good info http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/brakes/brake-types/disc-brake.htm
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Replying to: nathanbrand (Jul 09, 2009 12:22 pm) |
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Replying to: worthflorida (Jul 05, 2009 4:17 pm) Good catch.
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Replying to: nathanbrand (Jul 09, 2009 12:22 pm) My son has an 04 Tacoma and the pads were replaced at 40K miles and the rotors were turned, total cost $200. |
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There are a lot of low quality rotors out there, Dura International is one, the thickness isn't what OEM parts are. The OEM are much more expensive than off market stuff, Call different parts store and get prices on them. ASK what the expected liftetime is. How many times can they be trued etc . See the Detroit News auto section http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=AUTO01 |
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Replying to: nathanbrand (Jul 09, 2009 12:22 pm) Since brakes are a safety issue, I am not qualified to give advice. But the following is a quote from the "Tech Correspondence" column in the July issue of Road & Track: "While full-thickness, dead smooth brake rotors provide the most fade resistance and best pedal feel, the cost of replacing good rotors with perfect rotors has never added up to us. Unless the discs are heavily scored, warped or undersize we simply replace the brake pads." I found a set of original equipment pads for a little over $100. Brake grease is only a couple of dollars. I am going to just change the pads when needed. I did this on my Honda Accord and the brakes worked fine. But safety is involved . . . best to decide how important it is to save a few bucks. |
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Replying to: tsotsi (Jul 10, 2009 12:00 pm) Curious thing is that I heard no sound at all when I braked, and the service rep said that the 2004 had no brake indicators. So I wouldn't expect to hear anything even though he described the wear as being basically metal on metal at that point. One other point is that brakes on a vehicle with manual transmission tend to last longer than on a vehicle with an automatic. I had a 1994 Corolla station wagon that I traded in when I got the Highlander. It had a manual transmission, and I never had to have the brake pads or rotors replaced in 111,000 miles.
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