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PV1

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Well, it finally happened. Koorz needed some TLC outside of the usual. I had to replace the front brake pads.

It sucked that nobody stocked the pads, but I was able to get them fairly quickly through Napa, and changing them was really easy. I'm guessing that the previous owner didn't keep the car in a garage, and had very little regen in the winter with a cold pack (Koorz lived in Michigan for 3 years before I purchased it). For a car that I got with 20,000 miles, it had 20% capacity loss and front brakes that were over halfway gone. Between both packs that Bear had, it didn't lose more than 5 miles of range total. The current pack is 6 years old and has over 28,000 miles on it and still gets its original range.

About a year ago, I noticed that the BRAKE warning light would appear under heavy acceleration, which I had figured out was the brake fluid being slightly low. The other day, though, I had to brake hard when the person ahead of me decided to not pay attention to the green light that I was approaching. It actually took everything I had to keep from hitting them as the pedal went all the way to the floor but didn't have a lot of stopping power. After that, the front driver's side brake had metal-on-metal rubbing, which meant a pad was gone, and the BRAKE light would come on with about half power acceleration.

Sure enough, both inside brake pads on the front were completely worn out. On the plus side, putting new pads in brought the brake fluid back up to the Max line (intentional design choice so a warning light appears just before the pads need replacement?) and the brakes are as strong as Bear's now.

On a side note, has anyone noticed the trend that low-mileage EVs have more issues than high-mileage EVs? It seems these cars want to be driven a lot.
 
The steel (or casting) Mitsu used for the rotors is pretty unique. If my car sits outside without being driven for just a day or two, the humidity (no rain needed) will cause the rotors to rust and when you go to move the car, it will have to break free before it will move and then you can hear the pads wiping the rust off the rotors all the way around - It's even worse if it did rain. I'm sure that rust loads up the pads and hastens their demise. Never had any other car exhibit this behavior before this one. Really wish they had used stainless steel for the rotors like on all my motorcycles, but I guess that would have increased the price of an already expensive compact car by $25 or more . . . .

Don
 
The front rotors on both sides of our car used to adhere to the pads so solidly after exposure to wet driving conditions that breaking the rotors free afterwards would actually fracture the pads and cause small pieces to fall off and drag against the rotor; I discovered this when dismounting the front brake calipers to install ceramic brake pads which do not contain any metals that react with steel rotors - this simple change completely and permanently extinguished the problem. :D
 
sheinr4143 said:
The front rotors on both sides of our car used to adhere to the pads so solidly after exposure to wet driving conditions that breaking the rotors free afterwards would actually fracture the pads and cause small pieces to fall off and drag against the rotor; I discovered this when dismounting the front brake calipers to install ceramic brake pads which do not contain any metals that react with steel rotors - this simple change completely and permanently extinguished the problem. :D
sheinr4143, thank you very much for this suggestion. Looked up NAPA, for example, and they carry ceramic pads for the i-MiEV for $62. The only time I've detected this (slightly) is after washing the car and my rotors are always shiny - it hasn't rained here in many many months ... :(
 
PV1 said:
On a side note, has anyone noticed the trend that low-mileage EVs have more issues than high-mileage EVs? It seems these cars want to be driven a lot.
You might be on to something. My I-Miev hasn't needed anything for a while now. Even though we've had a new Bolt since April I've slowly gravitated back to the I-miev for my 4 mile commute leaving the Bolt for the wife to occasionally drive. We do go everywhere in the Bolt on the weekends though.

I'm usually pretty light on the brakes and I haven't gotten any complaints from the tire guys so I'm guessing I'm good but I'm sure the brakes get applied when below 5 mph so I might crawl under the car for a look this weekend.
 
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