I can happily fit brake pads, but should I be wary of cheap internet stuff? Just a plain old family car, not high performance in anyway.. is it worth going for a well known brand or what?

You won't get better than OE pads, but any decent make from a motor facrors will be fine.

completely new brakes or just pads and discs?

avoid bottom of the range pads from motor factors, they aren't made to high enough tolerances and can rattle around in the holder and make nasty knocking noises

i've just got a set of discs and pads from Eurocarparts. Easy to use website, uses car reg to make sure you get the right bits. Quality OE parts at good prices and free delivery too 🙂

What car? Some cars are overbraked, some are underbraked, some have tendencies to warp disks. If it's underbraked, you need good stuff. If it's overbraked, then you can get away with the cheapies. Always do pads and discs together. Not worth just swapping half of it.

Brembo are the daddies of the brake disk world. If you have a car like a 406 that tends to warp disks (causes judder under braking), or a car with small brakes for its size (some Ford Kas), get Brembo disks. They also always come with new retaining screws, which is extremely helpful. All the others are pretty similar, and tend not to come with new retaining screws.

Pads are much of a muchness, so long as you're buying a decent brand like Mintex / Pagid / Brembo etc. If you buy the cheapest ones you can find, don't be surprised if they aren't very good.

There are a lot of people selling axle sets for specific cars on ebay, with mintex disks and pads at good prices.

My only other advice is to bleed the brakes properly, and to ensure that everything goes back as it should. Some cars have plastic ducts to direct air to the brakes that can go missing, and you should replace the caliper bolts as a matter of course. Costs a couple of quid, but you know they're threadlocked properly and won't round off next time.

It's for my Prius. No idea if it's under or over braked, brakes always seem sharp as hell tho but hard to tell what with all the electronics and whatnot.

Will check out full kits, sounds like a good idea to me. Will also bleed.

Car needs brakes – anything to avoid?

walls? Pedestrians? Trying to stop?

😉

(sorry, someone had to say it)

The internet says 255mm vented and around 1.3 tonnes. They're not massive, they're not tiny. They're probably helped a lot by the regenerative system.

I'd just buy decent branded bits. It's fairly new, so you may not need to run to Brembo disks. On the older stuff, the screws tend to be siezed in / mangled and it's worth changing them.

Merci beaucoup pour votre temps cette apres midi.