Premature brake wear

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Gary123

New member
Joined
Nov 15, 2020
Messages
1
I recently took my 2018 Leaf SV into the dealership for its 2 year service. They presented me will a bill for CDN$1,100.00 for a complete brake replacement. They said that the rotors were rusty and they had caused unusual and excessive wear on portions of the brake pads. On a two year old car still under warranty with 39,000 kms I was very disappointed in this situation.

I rarely ever use the brakes as I always use the e-pedal function. I believe that Instead of the brakes being used regularly as in an ICE car, the brakes on my car almost never get used, and they became rusty as a result.

I believe what is happening is that the e-pedal technology has created a situation where a conventional braking system using standard quality hardware that worked perfectly well on conventional cars is no longer suitable without improvements to the design to prevent premature rusting.

What Nissan needs to do is to inform owners of the Leaf with e-pedal technology of this situation. As the e-pedal technology is relatively new, it is probably only now becoming apparent that the brakes will fail prematurely if they are not used enough to prevent rust forming on the rotors. Using the e-pedal is supposed to save energy and therefore to save money. if this technology causes repairs of $1,100.00 every two years, it is not anywhere near a cost-effective solution as currently designed.
 
LeftieBiker said:
E-pedal does use the hydraulic brakes to stop the car. I think you have a crooked dealership.
+1
Brakes last a long time on Leafs. I inspect the brakes when tires are rotated or replaced and brakes were fine at last inspection before crash of 2011 at over 50,000 miles and last inspection before trade of 2015 at over 80,000 miles. 22,000 miles so far on 2019 with no brake issues. Leafs manufactured in USA (also 2011 and 2012 Leafs manufactured in Japan) have ceramic brake pads that last a long time. Rust on rotors is not detrimental to the pads and gets wiped off whenever brakes are used.
 
Premature brake wear is a big issue here in Norway at least. Not only for Leaf or other EVs, but also many ICEs are affected of this as well. Norwegian dealerships usually offer to dismantle the brakes and grease them up in addition to the regular servicing. Some owners will do this themselves when changing between summer- and winter tires (not a hard job to do). I have done this myself on several cars and things are often pretty seized up.

The roads are being salted during the winter months and this has the nasty effect of causing cars to rust badly. Brakes are easily corroded and seize up under such circumstances. The rear brakes are particular affected since they apply less force than front brakes when braking. This is why VW has gone back to rear drum brakes on the ID3, things are a little bit better protected against the elements with drum brakes. I see that the OP is located in Canada, so I am guessing they are salting the roads there as well.

EVs are a little bit more prone to this than ICEs because regeneration so the brakes are used less - but it is not an unique issue for Leaf, all EVs have this problem.
 
The roads are also salted here where I am, but I turned in my 2013 in 2018 with zero brake problems. Brake rust issues are not not common with Leafs in the US, and AFAIK, not in Canada, either.
 
kaiat said:
...The roads are being salted during the winter months and this has the nasty effect of causing cars to rust badly. Brakes are easily corroded and seize up under such circumstances. The rear brakes are particular affected since they apply less force than front brakes when braking. ...

Surface rust (thin powdery layer) is not a problem. It gets buffed off within the first few brake applications of the day. But as you note more aggressive rust can be, if it causes pitting in the braking surface or if the particles become large enough to cause accelerated wear. The degree of problem is dependent on how long the car sits unused in rusting conditions and of course salt is a tremendous accelerant. It's been many years since I lived in the Rust Belt, but the horrors of salt corrosion are still etched in my memory.
 
Same problem with premature wear here in Ontario. I really like my Leaf but one of the supposed benefits of an EV was low maintenance costs. Very disappointed at having to spend so much on repairs on a less than 3 year old car with under 32000km on it. Now I'll most likely get rid of the car before the next brake replacement.
 
I can't speak to everyone's experience here in regards to salt and rust wearing out the brakes, but I can say that I have friends and family who get told the same thing, that the brakes need replacement by every dealership. I have them take it somewhere else for a second opinion and so far 100% of the time, the brakes are actually fine. I never touched my brakes before trading in my 2013 with 75K miles on it and the brakes were still in excellent condition, despite all the constant stop and go driving I did for 8 years. :eek:

Of course, that doesn't mean someone else won't have brake issues if the environment is literally eating the brakes, but I would recommend at-least getting a "non-dealership" second opinion. ;)
 
knightmb said:
I can't speak to everyone's experience here in regards to salt and rust wearing out the brakes, but I can say that I have friends and family who get told the same thing, that the brakes need replacement by every dealership. I have them take it somewhere else for a second opinion and so far 100% of the time, the brakes are actually fine. I never touched my brakes before trading in my 2013 with 75K miles on it and the brakes were still in excellent condition, despite all the constant stop and go driving I did for 8 years. :eek:

Of course, that doesn't mean someone else won't have brake issues if the environment is literally eating the brakes, but I would recommend at-least getting a "non-dealership" second opinion. ;)
+1

Original brakes were still in excellent condition on 2011 when it was totaled at 50k miles and on 2015 when I traded it at 82k miles. I shifted to neutral when approaching stops for the first 1000 miles or so when each car was new to get the pads seated because the friction brakes get so little use with regeneration active.
 
I live where the roads are salted and I turned my 2013 in after 5 years, with the original brakes. I did have one fluid flush in year four, and the parking brake adjusted once, but that's it.
 
Still on my original brakes on my '13 purchased new, still on my original brakes on my '12 purchased in '16 and I assume the brakes were original back then. I am thinking the '12 may need brakes at some point as it has basically zero regen due to an 8 bar and falling battery :( I also get a lot of brake dust on the front rims, a sure sign the pads are wearing quickly.
 
I just had exactly same experience - 35K, two year old car - needed new rotors and discs on front - dealer told me it was because I use the e-pedal all the time.
 
Northumberland said:
I just had exactly same experience - 35K, two year old car - needed new rotors and discs on front - dealer told me it was because I use the e-pedal all the time.

That makes no sense to me. e-Pedal or no. Get a second opinion.
 
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