I am at about 23,500K on my xA,when I went in for my 20k maintenance I was told I had about 25% brake(front) left. I asked them when I should change them and was told to just wait til my 25k service and have it done then. Today as I was driving I noticed my brakes are "chirping" a bit...not much and not at every stop,about 75% of them though. Any thoughts on how to tell if the brakes are to the point I should stop driving completely as to not damage anything further?And any reccomendations on some good replacements for someone who does alot of in town/stop and go driving?Thanks.

There are small indicator tabs on the brake pad, their whole purpose is to make noise when the pad is getting low, so you have enough warning to get them replaced. If you remove the wheel, you'll be able to see how much pad is remaining. If your rotors are grooved, the rivets are hitting the rotor and you should change your brake pads immediately and get your rotors turned/replaced.

Luckily a pad change is simple and would take 30 minutes or less for the front end. As for replacement pads, I'm not sure. I've used Performance Friction Z pads on my cars in the past and had good results. Lifetime warranty from autozone too!

What sort of noise do they make?

OK,I decided I want to try and change the pads myself(dealer wants about $300. Anyone able to help me out with a walkthrough(with pics?),I've never done brakes before.

Holy ____! 300 bucks to change brake pads? That's insane.

It's very easy to do. Esentiantially you will undo the caliper from the car. The pads usually have tabs holding em in, so you take out the tabs and the old pads slide out of the caliper.

Then you take a C-Clamp and you clamp the piston back into the brake caliper. Insert the new pads and tabs and viola, all done.

It really is one of those "common sense" type of jobs. Once you get down and look at everything there it's easy.

if you dont have a c-clamp, autozone/advance auto sells a caliper spreader. its about 7$ and is a great tool to have. they sell em with a hand grip or a hex end. worth looking into to buy.

and get a good set of pads. most parts store have a 'lifetime warranty' set. just save the box and the reciept. just keep bringing em back and get new sets every 15k miles or so.

don't get a lifetime set of pads those are usually metal compounds and eat rotors. they can cause excessive heat also.

the ones i use are organic and they are lifetime warranty?

advance auto has the 'Satisfied Brake Pads: Pro Ceramic' for 35$ lifetime warranty.

These here are the ones I ordered...http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?mfrcode=SAT&mfrpartnumber=PR990C&parttype=219&ptset=A

don't get a lifetime set of pads those are usually metal compounds and eat rotors. they can cause excessive heat also.

Be careful with organic pads...Metallic pads actually help dissipate heat away from the rotors. Ever since they stopped making organic pads out of asbestos, they don't do as good a job of taking away heat.

I will agree that lifetime pads are sometimes harder/cheaper metallic compounds that will wear the rotor faster, but a high quality metallic pad is always a good choice, IMO.

Just get some Toyota pads. I did some looking when I changed my rotors to a drilled/slotted pair, and could not find a pair that really seemed to be that much better than any others. Aftermarket pads, especially those from AutoZone or similar are very prone to brake dust with no better performance. My Toyota set was about $50, and we know they do not dust/wear badly.

The part number for the pads for my xB is 04465-52210. Not sure if the xA uses the same.

As for changing them out, it's hard to screw up. Remove the wheel, remove the two 17mm bolts from behind the caliper. Take off pads from the caliper and bracket. Keep the pads straight. An easy way to do this is to set the pads on the ground with the inboard pad closer to the center of the car, and the outboard pad, well, outboard of the inboard pad. C-clamp the caliper back down and use the pads you set on the ground as a guide to put the new ones back on. The new ones slip right into place. Some brake pad grease is not a bad idea. Put it on the back of the pad... the part that does not contact the rotor. You can buy single packets of it at an auto parts store for about a dollar.

Do I need to do anything with the brake fluid(change/remove)?And the toyota service dept. said something about "turning the rotor"...what's that?

Do I need to do anything with the brake fluid(change/remove)?And the toyota service dept. said something about "turning the rotor"...what's that?

You will not lose any brake fluid in this process.

Turning rotors is a process where they put your rotor on a metal lathe which spins it around, and a cutter takes off a small portion of the metal from the braking surface. This smoothes out your rotors. Not necessary unless the surface is uneven. If it is necessary, an auto shop will usually do each one for under $10. But that does mean you will need a ride to the shop. Keep that in mind if the dealer is outrageously priced.

im putting on hawk pads today w/ crossdrilled slotted rotors i hope this pads are good i only knew one person with them and he said they were