I was at the local junkyard today and ran into someone who had a 7th generation Corolla.Unfortunately he had crashed the front end.

 

He commented that the Corolla seemed to take a very long time (and distance) to stop (from70 MPH).

That is the third car that I have heard of with front end collision.

Do Corollas have bad rear brakes ??(he said front wheels locked up, but back did not stop car well).

Do you mean, poor OEM-installed rear brakes? I'm not sure. I would think that owners would have complained by now about their rear brakes not lasting very long and poor braking ability.

 

I still have 30% left on my car's rear shoes, and they were replaced 50K miles ago. The front pads have about 1/2 of life left in them, and they were replaced at the same mileage. It seems rear shoes may wear more than front pads perhaps because the rear shoes are are used by the parking brake, and where I live it is somewhat hilly, so there is much strain on the shoes when parked. Or perhaps they are out of adjustment and the rear shoes contact the drums before the front pads engage fully. Perhaps driving habits affect wear. I was taught that when approaching a stop sign or stop signal, and by taking put the transmission into neutral, and then gently apply the brakes, a driver can "stop in neutral." I wonder if this saves wear on pads, rotors, and shoes or causes more wear? I wonder if it probably causes more clutch wear, and the transmission oil pump only works if the transmission is engaged, I think.

my prizm stops on a dime, it stops so fast it hurts! when i was in a minor accident my passenger was injured more by how hard the car stopped and being pushed against the belt suddenly than when the car behind went under my bumper.

alot of it has to do with how the car was maintained. if they had air in the system, worn rear shoes, or improperly adjusted rear shoes, crappy pads, thin rotors that heatsoak easily, drums worn too large in diameter, leaky wheel cylinders, oil contaminated brake fluid, and of course if they had good tires or just the cheapest tires they could get.

i have good tires, and excellent front pads. i choose a performance carbon metallic pad for its awesome stopping power, not caring how it wears the rotors, how much dust it makes, or that its not the quietest brake pad. stopping 5 feet shorter but having to replace rotors with the pads and washing off some extra brake dust is much better than being 5 feet into someone else's bumper.

They don't have bad brakes, but if you want a car that can do 70-0 stops often, a Corolla isn't the car for you. The stock brakes are good for at least one emergency stop. 70-0 shouldn't ever really be a issue. How often do you stop on the interstate?

I was thinking more on the line of - the car is light and in emergency type braking, requires a long distance to stop.

Perhaps the stock tires have little traction for quick stops.

Of course if the brakes are worn or out of adjustment, stopping distance is affected.

How often do I stop on the interstate?? Pretty much everyday.

Have you seen California traffic??

People drive like idiots - stop for no reason - panic stop because they see someone put on their brake lights, etc.

The point I was trying to make is that older Corollas seem to have more front-end collisions than mechanical problems that take them off the road.

I did see an older Corolla that had been rear-ended (indicates it stopped too good and got hit from behind???), but most have front-end damage.

I've noticed that for a small and relatively light car, my '03 Corolla LE (auto) doesn't have what I'd call particularly strong brakes. They are what I'd call adequate, no more or less. I replaced my front rotors and pads at around 40K, the rears are original. I find that with the auto, when it is necessary to stop more quickly, such as to avoid busting a sudden red light, it helps to shift to Neutral at around 35 - 30 mph; removing the drivetrain's force makes it stop shorter, like opening the clutch on a manual trans. car before stopping. I also regularly turn off the overdrive when decelerating quickly, that helps a lot as well.

I think if Corolla went to all wheel disc brakes, the stopping would be better, but the car would cost more.

I think if Corolla went to all wheel disc brakes, the stopping would be better, but the car would cost more.

All the other cars in this class come standard with 4 disc brakes such as the Civic, Mazda3, etc. Toyota need to get with the program

I was thinking more on the line of - the car is light and in emergency type braking, requires a long distance to stop.Perhaps the stock tires have little traction for quick stops.

 

Of course if the brakes are worn or out of adjustment, stopping distance is affected.

How often do I stop on the interstate?? Pretty much everyday.

Have you seen California traffic??

People drive like idiots - stop for no reason - panic stop because they see someone put on their brake lights, etc.

The point I was trying to make is that older Corollas seem to have more front-end collisions than mechanical problems that take them off the road.

I did see an older Corolla that had been rear-ended (indicates it stopped too good and got hit from behind???), but most have front-end damage.

 

Do you stop from 70MPH on a daily basis? If you do, I don't think you can really blame the brakes on a Corolla. Any non performance computer is going to get brake fade from that kind of driving.

You can always just upgrade the front brakes and 4 tires and be done with it.

Rear drums aren't that bad. Most of the braking is taken care of by the front brakes. Also, rear disk can sometimes cost a lot to replace. Most if not all modern cars have a drum style e-brake in the middle of the disk. It's like a two in one.

Also, reading the first post, the guy locked up the tires. Doesn't sound like bad brakes. Sounds like bad tires and or a bad driver.

I don't think you can accurate data on ow the brakes are just by how many you see front end damage. Rear ends are almost always due to bad drivers. Sometimes bad weather, but almost always from people tail-gating, driving too fast, or just not paying attention when traffic stops in front of them. I've seen it over and over before. It's even happened right behind me before. People get all pissed cause I leave a gap, and then when traffic stops, I can stop and the car behind me can stop, but then BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!! Perfectly dry roads with sunshine too.

my feeling from gen 3-9, corolla has "normal" brakes. for its class of vehicle, its get the job done.

havent been in a new corolla yet, so no opinion there.

but on an older car, i am sure there are a lot of other factors coming into play. maintennance, condition of tires, shoes, drum, as well as condition of front brakes, speed, weather, etc.

bike,

hmmm...

maybe the reason you noticed more corollas been taken off the road due to accidents b/c they last longer, and the only way to get them off the road is when they get totalled.. whereas the competition fall apart, and have to be taken off the road?

just a thought...

tdk.

my feeling from gen 3-9, corolla has "normal" brakes. for its class of vehicle, its get the job done. havent been in a new corolla yet, so no opinion there.

 

but on an older car, i am sure there are a lot of other factors coming into play. maintennance, condition of tires, shoes, drum, as well as condition of front brakes, speed, weather, etc.

bike,

hmmm...

maybe the reason you noticed more corollas been taken off the road due to accidents b/c they last longer, and the only way to get them off the road is when they get totalled.. whereas the competition fall apart, and have to be taken off the road?

just a thought...

tdk.

I notice the cars at the junkyard either have totalled front ends, or have been stripped by someone fixing a car with a totalled front tend.

 

Once in a while I see a car with a hole in the engine block.

All the Corollas have high mileage, which means they can last a long time.

A moderate front end collision with a front wheel drive car is usually enough to total it out and send it to the junkyard. A moderate side collision can usually be fixed by a little pull on the post and a set of second hand doors and its back on the road. Also, the older the car is, the better the chance its owned by a younger, inexperienced driver .

Have you seen California traffic??People drive like idiots - stop for no reason - panic stop because they see someone put on their brake lights, etc.

Same thing here....I call those "Brake Checks"

 

As for the brakes, I havent noticed lack of braking power on my wife's '05 Corolla. I believe they are only single piston calipers, but with the minimal weight of the car, that shouldnt be an issue.

Now, my jeep, on the other hand. I switched to a dual piston setup on the fronts and can stop my large tires on a dime. It wasnt cheap, but was well worth the money in this traffic.

Toyota brakes and suspensions need upgrading. This has been nothing new with toyota since the 80's at least but they just never learn. Make sure to change your brake fluid at least every 3yrs because brake fluid performance deteriorates substantially every year and toyota brakes dont need any help with adding more stopping distance.

...I did see an older Corolla that had been rear-ended (indicates it stopped too good and got hit from behind???), but most have front-end damage.

Or got hit by another Corolla.

...I did see an older Corolla that had been rear-ended (indicates it stopped too good and got hit from behind???), but most have front-end damage.

Or got hit by another Corolla.

That would be an unusual occurance, but not outside the realm of possibilities!