Brake pad life

[GaryB]

My Volvo is due it’s second service at the end of January, I got a service deal when I bought it which cover’s service items only so I thought I’d check the front pads and discs before it goes in as Volvo charge a fortune to do them and it’s one of the few jobs on it I can do myself. It’s done just over 30,000 miles now so I expected them to be on their last legs. They’ve still got 8mm left on them! I put them back in and eagerly await Volvo to recommend they need changing at its service! I’ll show them the photos and suggest they think again….

 

[Hutch]

On my Santa Fe I went through 2 sets of front pads by 70 k miles and then replaced the discs and pads. The rear pads were replaced at 50 k miles and then I got a cheap deal from GFS for rear discs and pads so replaced them at 85 k miles , I am sure they would have been ok for 100k miles, as the discs were still above the limits as were the pads. But I took advantage of the good weather at the time to do them.

 

[Sam Vimes]

A lot is going to depend on the type of driving you're doing. Going up and down a motorway every day is more likely to mean the brakes will last longer compared to bendy, windy, hilly highland roads where there's more of a need to brake.

And its not just the pads. It seems to me at least you can't just get the pads replaced but you need to have the rotors/disks done at the same time.

I'm happy if the fronts last 30K miles.

 

[Hutch]

You can replace just pads, as long as your discs are in a good condition. I tend to replace my pads when they are about 70 to 80 % worn. I don't wait until I get the brake warning, activating. Either visual or audible.

 

[Beardy]

A lot is going to depend on the type of driving you're doing. Going up and down a motorway every day is more likely to mean the brakes will last longer compared to bendy, windy, hilly highland roads where there's more of a need to brake.

Exactly this. My last car (Fraud Mondeo) had 37k on the clock when I bought it, the garage had just fitted new front pads for the MOT pre sale to me. I replaced the front (pads and disks) and rear pads at around 100k. They were still on the car when I retired it at 160k. For most of my ownership my daily commute was 20 miles each way with around 18 miles on 50/60 mph A roads. There were 3 roundabouts in that stretch and no junctions or sharp bends I needed to brake for. I'd add that the way you drive has an impact. How many times have you followed someone who dabs their brakes at the slightest curve in the road, or drives so close to the car infront that the are constantly braking then accelerating then braking again.

 

[Woodentop]

Is that pad from a single or double piston fitment, front or back, and what does the other pad look like?
If it is single cylinder and the assembly does not float then one pad will wear at the expense of the other. Plus, in those circumstances the disc will wear more on one side than the other resulting in a bevel which can cause brake judder.

 

[GaryB]

Is that pad from a single or double piston fitment, front or back, and what does the other pad look like?
If it is single cylinder and the assembly does not float then one pad will wear at the expense of the other. Plus, in those circumstances the disc will wear more on one side than the other resulting in a bevel which can cause brake judder.

All pads were the same and discs have zero wear, they're fine for a good few thousand more miles yet.

 

[Sam Vimes]

You can replace just pads, as long as your discs are in a good condition. I tend to replace my pads when they are about 70 to 80 % worn. I don't wait until I get the brake warning, activating. Either visual or audible.

Yes, that's possible but again maybe a Highland thing with all the damp etc. So here the discs, on our cars at least, always need replacing.

Just a couple of nights of precipitation and the discs go rusty unless used. There's hardly an MOT or Tyre Change where they don't comment on the corroded and pitted discs.

 

[otherclive]

I have the same as one of the cars doesn’t get used a great deal and rarely for short journeys. So as I start off and apply the brakes at the end of the road there’s a discernible crunching noise as the pads first contact the discs. Similarly on a BX16 estate the rear was very lightly loaded so I carried a bag of pebbles in the boot and gave the brakes a good push as the rear discs were subject to corrosion and were replaced before the front on one occasion.

 

[GaryB]

Back in the mid 90's I had a 1991 Mercedes 190E, it was a lovely car and the service interval was every 6,000 miles, it needed new front pads every second service! I think they must have been made from (expensive) cheese........

 

[Hutch]

Brake pads now have NO asbestos in them and various types and grade of brake pads have different amounts of sintered metal in them, this causes brake discs to be worn out a lot quicker, than in days of yore.
It is only people who do their own maintenance, or drivers of higher spec cars and specify which type of brake pads and discs, they require.
Go to a Kwik Fit or Independent garage. and you don't know what your getting fitted. Possibility of the cheapest on offer from their supplier. Saying that, they will be fine for the normal driver.

 

[otherclive]

Brake pads now have NO asbestos in them and various types and grade of brake pads have different amounts of sintered metal in them, this causes brake discs to be worn out a lot quicker, than in days of yore.
It is only people who do their own maintenance, or drivers of higher spec cars and specify which type of brake pads and discs, they require.
Go to a Kwik Fit or Independent garage. and you don't know what your getting fitted. Possibility of the cheapest on offer from their supplier. Saying that, they will be fine for the normal driver.

When I used a local independent garage to fit front discs and pads on our Rio I was offered a list of different makes in ascending price order right up to Brembo. Some of the mikes I’d never heard of but included were OEM KIA, Bosch and Borg and Beck. So I opted for the latter. On collecting the car the old parts were shown to me plus the packaging for the new stuff.

 

[RogerL]

When I used a local independent garage to fit front discs and pads on our Rio I was offered a list of different makes in ascending price order right up to Brembo. Some of the mikes I’d never heard of but included were OEM KIA, Bosch and Borg and Beck. So I opted for the latter. On collecting the car the old parts were shown to me plus the packaging for the new stuff.

With a bit of digging on the internet it's possible to get Brembo quality without breaking the bank - thanks to it's Porsche origin, the VW Touareg uses Brembo brakes but internet digging shows that Pagid supply the disks & pads to VW and Brembo - in my case they lasted 62,000 miles and needed new disk, pads and wear sensors front and rear.

 

[otherclive]

With a bit of digging on the internet it's possible to get Brembo quality without breaking the bank - thanks to it's Porsche origin, the VW Touareg uses Brembo brakes but internet digging shows that Pagid supply the disks & pads to VW and Brembo - in my case they lasted 62,000 miles and needed new disk, pads and wear sensors front and rear

I’m quite content with Borg and Beck as a 1.25 litre 89 bhp Kia Rio isn’t exactly a Porsche or heavyweight SUV, so pocketed the savings to put towards a set of AS premium tyres.

So do you go Pagid or Brembo?

 

[izzy]

I am I believe a careful driver who just does a bit of towing of a smallish caravan.
My 2 year old Ateca has just had it's second service with 16 thousand miles on the clock. it had to have new pads and discs all round and I know that it needed them because I checked them myself (thank goodness for service plans)
Had a similar thing with wifes Ibiza some years ago. heaven knows what manufacturers are fitting

 

[Hutch]

I am I believe a careful driver who just does a bit of towing of a smallish caravan.
My 2 year old Ateca has just had it's second service with 16 thousand miles on the clock. it had to have new pads and discs all round and I know that it needed them because I checked them myself (thank goodness for service plans)
Had a similar thing with wifes Ibiza some years ago. heaven knows what manufacturers are fitting

Wow , new discs needed at 16k miles, but as has been said it all depends on the type of driving that you do, and where. But that does seem excessive.

 

[RogerL]

I’m quite content with Borg and Beck as a 1.25 litre 89 bhp Kia Rio isn’t exactly a Porsche or heavyweight SUV, so pocketed the savings to put towards a set of AS premium tyres.

So do you go Pagid or Brembo?

I went for Pagid which were similar price to any other brand I'd heard of - I suspect there's few actual manufacturers and plenty of re-branding in the brake aftermarket.

When we had our Vauxhall Nova I used Kwik-Fit once and ended up with brake pads that felt like they were made of cardboard - despite their "lifetime" offer I went back to using genuine Vauxhall parts, in those days they regularly had special offers of axle sets of pads/disks at low prices.

 

[RogerL]

I am I believe a careful driver who just does a bit of towing of a smallish caravan.
My 2 year old Ateca has just had it's second service with 16 thousand miles on the clock. it had to have new pads and discs all round and I know that it needed them because I checked them myself (thank goodness for service plans)
Had a similar thing with wifes Ibiza some years ago. heaven knows what manufacturers are fitting

I think brake life is most dependent on the nature of your driving pattern - where cars spend most of their mileage in congested urban peak traffic, then brake life is inevitably shorter while cars that do most of their mileage in motorway off-peak longer journeys will last much longer - on top of that of course drivers' style makes a difference.

 

[izzy]

I do get all that about driving style but I have had a few different cars (even other Seats) over the years without trouble and I don't think that my style has changed much and I never drove my wife's Ibiza and that had new font discs at 18 months.
Personally I think that both Seats may have been fitted with rogue discs (possibly made by Cadburys) as my OHs Ebiza went on to do many miles on the second discs as I hope to do with mine on the Eteca

 

[GaryB]

My V90 is a lot of motorway and A-road driving so brake use is modest, but I do know that when using the cruise control the car does apply the brakes to maintain speed when travelling downhill. I suppose I could put it in manual and select a lower gear to negate it doing that, but if the pads are only just over half worn at 30K I think I'll allow myself the luxury of letting the cruise control "do its thing"!

 

[Beardy]

My V90 is a lot of motorway and A-road driving so brake use is modest, but I do know that when using the cruise control the car does apply the brakes to maintain speed when travelling downhill.

My current car does that, I don't like it. It scared the crap out of me a couple of times when I first got it - pull out and accelerate to overtake something, pull in in front of it and ease off the accelerator and the *$%£%* thing puts the brakes on (the brake lights come on as well). I can only imagine what the driver I'd just overtaken was calling me.
I much preferred my previous cars more basic system that just relied on engine braking to slow the car down to cruise speed. Granted I had to be more vigilant going down steep hills but that wasn't very often.

 

[otherclive]

My current car does that, I don't like it. It scared the crap out of me a couple of times when I first got it - pull out and accelerate to overtake something, pull in in front of it and ease off the accelerator and the *$%£%* thing puts the brakes on (the brake lights come on as well). I can only imagine what the driver I'd just overtaken was calling me.
I much preferred my previous cars more basic system that just relied on engine braking to slow the car down to cruise speed. Granted I had to be more vigilant going down steep hills but that wasn't very often.

Wonder if the preponderance of ACC might account for the number of cars that kept braking on the M4 last night. I even commented to my wife “there’s a lot of braking going on”. Some cars were showing brake lights for up to 10-15 seconds on a motorway moving at 60 + mph. I can’t imagine why a braking action would take so long.

 

[GaryB]

Wonder if the preponderance of ACC might account for the number of cars that kept braking on the M4 last night. I even commented to my wife “there’s a lot of braking going on”. Some cars were showing brake lights for up to 10-15 seconds on a motorway moving at 60 + mph. I can’t imagine why a braking action would take so long.

Yes, that’s what mine does. It doesn’t shift down a gear, it just keeps applying the brakes to maintain the set speed on long downhill stretches.

 

[Buckman]

With a bit of digging on the internet it's possible to get Brembo quality without breaking the bank - thanks to it's Porsche origin, the VW Touareg uses Brembo brakes but internet digging shows that Pagid supply the disks & pads to VW and Brembo - in my case they lasted 62,000 miles and needed new disk, pads and wear sensors front and rear.

Are the Brembo pads in essence Pagid brake pads? Brembo are highly regarded and come with good reviews.

I think brake life is most dependent on the nature of your driving pattern - where cars spend most of their mileage in congested urban peak traffic, then brake life is inevitably shorter while cars that do most of their mileage in motorway off-peak longer journeys will last much longer - on top of that of course drivers' style makes a difference.

We live in a rural area down twisty lanes and the A road to get to our twisty lanes is fairly winding with a couple of sharp bends. I expect that the life of the pads on the Jeep will have shorter than normal life expectancy.

 

[RogerL]

Are the Brembo pads in essence Pagid brake pads? Brembo are highly regarded and come with good reviews.


We live in a rural area down twisty lanes and the A road to get to our twisty lanes is fairly winding with a couple of sharp bends. I expect that the life of the pads on the Jeep will have shorter than normal life expectancy.

Brembo seem to focus on the design & manufacture of the calipers, 4-pot on my Touareg, 6-pot on the higher powered versions and Porsches - with international car forums, Pagid are known to supply the pads and disks for Brembo, and VW.

An interesting snippet - most cars with vented disks have straight vanes so the same disk is used on both sides - but the generation 1&2 Touaregs use curved vanes which are more efficient but need "handed" disks for each side - although some workshops aren't aware of this and fit them anyway round!