AlGrsn wrote:
The Leaf has conventional hydraulic brakes: master cylinder, four calipers and the booster/antilock/traction/stability control unit. This adds push depending on the regeneration, the pressure on the pedal. Rather than a vacuum assist reservoir the Leaf has a capacitor bank to provide emergency power assist.
Because of the lack of “engine braking” comparable to ICEengines with downshiftable transmissions, the Leaf depends more heavily on the integrity of the hydraulic brake system. For this reason the fluid change interval is 2 years (1 year in harsh conditions) rather than 3-5 years for conventional ICE cars. Further, the master cylinder and booster pump are very expensive to replace, so we don't want its life shortened by water contaminated fluid.
Isn't regen braking the OPPOSITE of the highlighted phrase??? I thought one of the strongest benefits of regen braking was to reduce the load/stress on the hydraulic system. 2 year fluid change? Maybe, if I lived in high humidity year round. I've settled on 3-4 years for all of my cars (hybrids/elec) precisely because the stress on the fluid is so low, and the humidity in the DFW is higher than I would like, most of the time.
As for pads/rotors, another "HAHA!" My 2014 Avalon pads are at 8mm all around, after 111k miles.
cwerdna: I'm curious about how you test brake fluid with test strips. Do you open the bleed valve and capture fluid at the end of the hydraulic line, or simply dip the test strip in the fluid reservoir? It's my understanding that brake fluid doesn't really circulate (return to the reservoir), so is dipping into the reservoir accurate?