Disky business

I bought a Toyota Avensis in August last year, which was first registered in September 2006 and now with only 20,000 miles on the clock. Ever since my purchase the brakes squeal, particularly the front brakes and I notice a fair amount of dust appears on my wheel trims. I wonder if Toyota has used an inferior quality brake rim disc to cause this, as my previous model Toyota Avensis Vermont had no such problem over 60,000 miles. The rim discs also appear to have more wear for this low mileage than normal. I am retired and brake initially using my gears. That’s the way we were taught and thus I do not brake heavily. Hope you can help.

Asked on 20 June 2009 by

Answered by Honest John
Thanks for a clear e-mail. You are driving incorrectly for modern brakes. Since asbestos was banned, brake discs have been made softer and brake pads have had metallic content. They are both designed to wear. Since brake discs are bare metal they rust all the time, so you need to brake hard a few times first out in the mornings to clean the surface corrosion off the discs. This won't help the rears much since they only work in high speed braking, which is why corrosion takes a hold of the rear brake discs first.
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