[heatherlh]

Hello all,

I have a 2001 Insight that has just under 26000 miles. I began hearing the break wear indicator about a week ago and now the car is in for service. The dealer is telling me that I need a new brake rotor on the front right side and new pads on both front wheels. He said that the indicator is on the left side only so the right side wore into the rotor before the indicator on the left side was exposed. Does this make sense considering that I drive in stop and go city traffic for approximately 2 hours a day and have been doing that for about 3 years? Does anything in this scenario seem odd or wrong?

Thanks for the help.
HLH

 

[Guillermo]

never replace any brake component on one side only :!:

 

[Billy]

I am with Guillermo; always replace components on BOTH sides, at the same time. Even if you have to spend a little more $. That being said, 26,000 miles is VERY soon to be needing pads or rotors. In your city-type driving, if you could slow down a little, anticipate your needed stops well in advance, and drive real gently, your brake pads might last for 70 or 80,000 miles. I have owned 3 Insights; I do mostly highway driving, but even in town I seldom ever touch the brake pedal. I sold my first Insight with 64,000 miles on it. The brake pads appeared to be in nearly new condition. Billy.....

 

[yetanotherjohn]

I replaced the pads and rotors and the brake fluid on my 2000 just after I bought it. It had 36,000 miles on it and really didn't need to have everything replaced, but I'm a brake nut.

I would certainly replace BOTH rotors and the pads. It's not that hard to do. But I found that like other aspects of this car the work can be done better by someone with a little finesse. For instance on of my new rotors had a tiny bit of runout but after being rotated 180 degrees that was minimized and no knuckle dragging mechanic is going to take the time to do that unless the runout is over tolerance.

The fact that you have more wear on one side than the other is not good. You might have a sticky caliper on that side.

Oh, and also I find the brake components a bit on the wimpy side on Insights. I think the engineers designed them expecting drivers to use the regenerative braking on slow grades. Could be you're not taking full advantage of the car's ability to slow itself. 26K for brake wear is not too good.

John

 

[Wayne M]

Always show and tell

When they are telling you such stuff, make 'em prove it.
All the brake pads I've ever done that had wear indicators (Volvo, BMW, Saturn, Toyota,ETC.) they were on BOTH sides of the sets. There is NO such thing that I've ever run across, as pads with wear indicators on one side or the other only. :roll:
Such dramatically short pad life usually come from folks driving automatic trans cars and using their left foot for braking. The foot gets tired of 'hovering' over the pedal, so "I'll just rest it 'lightly' on the pedal". But ANY contact of the pedal transmits down to the pads, even so slightly, that will wear out soft pads like on Volvo's, in a snap. Course, on an Insight, that would have the regen going a lot!

Next thing would be really hard, 'last second' style braking ( like my sweet wife :roll: ). Been harping on that for 30 years

 

[Resist]

Re: Always show and tell

All the brake pads I've ever done that had wear indicators (Volvo, BMW, Saturn, Toyota,ETC.) they were on BOTH sides of the sets. There is NO such thing that I've ever run across, as pads with wear indicators on one side or the other only.

I agree! Brake wear indicators are on both wheels. The reason for this is because brakes are not side specific. Never allow a dealership to do service on your car unless it is warranty work. I'd rather go to a brake shop before letting a dealership touch my Insight.

But you could replace them yourself, disc brakes are easy to replace.