Front Pads/ Rear Shoes - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

What is the min thickness Toyota recommends before pads and shoes need to be replaced.

I heard the back brake shoes Toyota does not recommend replacement until they reach 1mm (14 percent). I do not know what Toyota recommends for front brake pads.

Thanks.

Front: 1mm minimum thickness

Rear: 1mm minimum thickness

- measured from backing plate if using a bonded pad (OEM and most aftermarket)

- measured from the top of the rivet if using a riveted pad (specialty aftermarket)

If you are wondering, OEM pad and shoe starting thickness when new:

Front: 12mm

Rear: 11mm

- aftermarket can be thicker or thinner than this, depends on application and brand of pad. Doesn't mean more or less lifespan, as that is highly dependent on driving conditions.

Fish

The OEM starting thickness you have for rear is

11 mm is that for disc brakes. The reason I am asking is I thought rear brake shoes brand new measured 5mm

Thanks.

Yeah, sorry - that is for discs. Shoes are about 1/2 that - sounds weird, but the way drum brakes work - they don't need a lot of friction material. In majority of cases - rear pads can last 100K miles or more, most of the work is done by the front set of brakes.

Fish

How are back brakes measured. Are they bonded or riveted or can be both.

Measuring shoes are the same as pads - use a micrometer or caliper or similar high resolution device. You could "eyeball it" and try to get the max life out of a pad/shoe - but I usually don't wait to get it down to the minimum, as I'll never know when I'll have a chance to change the pads. Plus when they are worn down that much, your braking performance suffers considerably.

OEM is almost always bonded, especially on a light weight car like the Corolla. Some aftermarket can be riveted, but those can be pretty rare to run into. If it was a larger/heavier vehicle, then rivet are more likely to be run into.