finnman

Had rotors and pads replaced 40,000 miles ago at brakes plus. I went in last week to have them checked and the front pads were almost like new but the rear pads were down to 2mm and now they have to be replaced. Has anyone heard of this before?

BradTank

It wouldn't surprise me if the shop never replaced the rear pads at all.

I know shops that will urge people that unfortunately don't know any better to change both the front and rear pads at the same time, despite the fact that many vehicles can get 100k miles on a set of rear brake pads. Adding to that would be not even changing the rear ones at all. How many people are really going to check?

In most cases, it would take years to figure out.

RCsGX

Unlikely but maybe you have stuck calipers. Certain model Toyota / Lexus are notorious for having sticking calipers. If the shop didn't noticed a sticking piston maybe like BradTank said, they never replaced the rears in the first place.

This is why if I have a shop do the work on my vehicle I always ask for my old parts back.

finnman

Thanks. That was my thought too but going to be hard to prove. I thought they showed me the part but it was 3 years ago.

IanB2

I've only ever seen the frozen calipers issue on the front calipers, FWIW. If that was the case, you'd likely have one pad worn more than the other.

BradTank

Yea, you're just not going to be able to prove something like that, it's just been way too much time with 40,000 miles since they've been done. They also could have put really low grade pads that wore out quickly, but it's unlikely since the front were in good shape.

I just did the brakes on my wife's car myself, and I had something similar where I'm fairly certain the shop I've been a loyal customer for several years never did the rears. Were they trying to rip me off or was it an honest miscommunication? I'm not sure, but too much time has passed to really make that accusation. It seems to bite me in the *** when I'm lazy and farm something out.

But a properly working braking system should be able to get 80k miles plus on a rear set of pads in my opinion. Usually it's something like 2-3 front pad changes for every rear pad change.

To me there's 3 scenarios to what's going on:

1) both your rear calipers became seized/sticking and wore the pads down equally (not likely)

2)your shop lied about replacing them the first time

3) the shop is lying to you now about the rears needing to be replaced

I wouldn't go to Brakes Plus for your work regardless, those types of chain places are usually bottom of the barrel when it comes to qualified technicians and pulling scams. I'd ask around and find a reputable, independent shop that works on Toyotas.

Out of curiosity, what was the mileage you had the rear pads replaced at? What is the mileage now?