Shop wanted $600, but parts were only $300, so I did it myself! I’ve been thinking about for a while and have read multiple in multiple places that it’s not much more complicated than changing a tire.

The whole thing was pretty easy, especially since I found a couple videos for our exact model of Prius. The only hang-up was when I broke the parking brake trying to get the first rotor off. When I removed the nuts, the whole thing felt loose, but kept getting pulled back into place by something. The Internet advised using a bolt in the threaded holes designed for removing seized rotors. I did that and after a couple cranks, something snapped and a broken pin fell out onto the floor.

Turns out I was an idiot. I thought it would be a good idea to put the parking brakes on while I was jacking the whole thing up. Now I know that’s what was holding the rotor on. Oops.

I drove a half hour to the Napa in Dover and picked up a parking brake parts kit and started putting it all back together. This was trickier than expected. The pin is there to hold a bent clip in place and getting everything compressed and in place was too difficult to do by hand. Then I had the bright idea to compress the clip with vice grips over at the workbench and hold it shut with a zip tie. I put it in place on the car, inserted the pin, and clipped the zip! It worked like a charm:

I think I’ll spend the saved $300 on a new winter wetsuit…