Toyota Corolla Maintenance

kfinpgh · 07-02-2008, 06:51 PM

Hi all,

My wife and I have a 2005 Toyota Corolla CE. It's a decent little car, but seems to cost us plenty when we take it in for work. We live in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA. The area is very hilly and gets about 36" of snow a year (that's a little under a meter for those outside the USA). Roads are salted in the winter to help clear snowfall.

I have owned domestic front wheel drive cars and all seem to need complete brake jobs every 2 years or so.

Does this Toyota model have a history of problems with premature brake wear, premature tire wear and other issues? I had to replace the front brake pads after 15 months and 20K miles.

DARKtEAGLE · 07-03-2008, 04:33 AM

yeah there known for their tranny lock up and excessive axle wear also

giant016 · 07-03-2008, 06:30 AM

According to the old people I know, pads and rotors lasted a lot longer way back. The switch from asbestos to whatever is used now is likely part of it, but they seem to be suspicious of the auto companies.

Pads should be lasting longer than that IMHO. I'd talk to the shop where you bring it a talk to them about it. Does your car sit for decent amounts of time on non-paved areas? It's not uncommon for moisture from the ground to get into the undercarriage of cars, causing rust in many places including brakes. Rotors get rusty, pads rub off rust and in the process get damaged themselves. It shouldn't happen if the car is driven semi-daily though.

newyorker · 07-03-2008, 12:35 PM

My dad has a 2005 Corolla LE and I changed his pads only at around 30k miles, rotors were still fine.

Cliffy · 07-03-2008, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by giant016

According to the old people I know, pads and rotors lasted a lot longer way back. The switch from asbestos to whatever is used now is likely part of it, but they seem to be suspicious of the auto companies.

I can vouch for that! My first car was a 1984 Corolla with 130,000-miles(ish) on the clock. From what I recall I only ever replaced the pads once, and the discs had never been changed! (I bought it off a mate from work and he had it sinse it was a courtesy car from a Toyota dealership he worked for many moons ago). Discs on Japanese cars certainly wear better than European equivalents even today. Must be the way they're produced/treated at the factory...