How long do your brakes last?

[Steve L]

Having just changed the front brake pads on our Laguna estate I checked back through my records and those of the previous owner and I discovered that our car has done in excess of 40K miles on a set of brake pads.

Now considering I tow a twenty foot twin axle caravan, I think that I've had good value at £28-20 for 40K miles.

Another bench mark you could take from that is that the car has been driven with care and thought. But then I'm a driver that drives to the upper end of the speed limits and sometimes way beyond.

Probabdly the biggest factor is that I've been trained to higher standards than Advanced Motorist. Which is all focused around safety and anticipation of situations which is also termed "defencive driving". All of the training focuses on not making any last minuit sudden manouvers and or braking/acceleration.

In the last twenty years of driving I've only changed one set of rear brake shoes on one of my previous cars.

I wonder how many folks take the interest in their cars to evaluate how the car performs and if there are any significat improvements in either the car or the way it is driven can either be a contributary factor or improved upon?

Also as a further foot note, the clutch plate in my 1998 Laguna 2Ltr has definately done 40K with me and fron the extensive service records that came with the car appears to of lasted for 110K miles so far. The car has covered 146K but had a new factory fitted motor at 36K due to cam belt failure and at that point a new clutch was fitted.

How does your car perform?

 

[Lutz]

Speed, on its own, especially if you drive fast on motorways only, is not unusually heavy on brakes. My experience is that towing a caravan in the mountains is a real brake killer. I'm not a particularly fast driver but after touring the Pyrenees, the brakes on my Monterey were so far down at 40000 miles that I needed new front discs. And it was not only the car's brakes. The brakes on the caravan were glazed after the trip and had to be replaced even though there was still enough meat on them.

 

[emmerson2]

Steve, My old Peugeot 505 of many years ago did 90,000 - yes 90,000 on it's original front brake pads, and 52,000 on the second. I never changed the rear ones. My current Range Rover's fronts are now about due for change at 21,000, and the rears were only changed because the calipers seized up from lack of use!Btw, the RR pads still have about 3mm left.

 

[Bri-C]

Hi..

40,000 is that all?? shame on you.(hehehe)

I had a Mondeo estate from 95 and had to have the pads changed for the first time at 82,000, but the Transit I had from 98 for a few years didn't have new pads until 110,000.

That said i didn't tow with either and most of the miles were on motorways.

My current car has had its fronts in for 50,000 and still looks good for another 40,000

However like you I was also trained to an extreamly high standads of "Road Craft" before they had decided to call it that and as a result my driving style is considerably different to the vast majority.

That said when you start doing the hilly bits with a caravan you can use several thousand motorway miles of brakes on one journey.

Regards Brian....

 

[Garfield]

The front pads on our Sharan lasted 95,000 I was monitoring the wear by looking at the outer pad through the spokes of the alloy wheel but the inner pad wore faster and we ended up metal to metal in Andorra, oops

 

[Rioja]

Try reversing up a slight incline with a Passat and then see how long your clutch will last !

 

[Darce]

Just had the front pads replaced on our Freelander at 37K - which bearing in mind these get used for the Hill Descent Control function that we have used a fair bit, especially in the floods of late, seems OK to me.

Personaly I prefer upgraded pads for towing that are that little bit softer to give more bite when towing. You have to replace them sooner of course but the increased breaking performance is so good it is well worth it.

On our other vehicle, upgraded groved discs, for better water dispersal, proved their worth as well!!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello All,

I think this thread has been posted as a bit of one upmanship!

The truth is that brake wear is fundamentally the result of using them, so If you travel in a busy city centre with a lot of stop start, then it is likely you will use more brake material more quickly than the motorist who drives for hours on the motorway.

Equally it will be affected by different drivers styles of driving - along a stretch of the A5 there is a a dual carriage way which is limited to 40mph and enforced by 4 gatso's in less than two miles. It is interesting to watch the drivers who come to camera and brake hard to bring their speed down, then as soon as they are past it accelerate hard, only to have to repeat the process a few hundred yards up the road. They are using far more brake material and fuel than the more cautious driver who just keeps to the speed limit.

 

[GrahamSouthBrum]

Speed, on its own, especially if you drive fast on motorways only, is not unusually heavy on brakes. My experience is that towing a caravan in the mountains is a real brake killer. I'm not a particularly fast driver but after touring the Pyrenees, the brakes on my Monterey were so far down at 40000 miles that I needed new front discs. And it was not only the car's brakes. The brakes on the caravan were glazed after the trip and had to be replaced even though there was still enough meat on them.

I usually take a break after 2 hours, they last about half an hour.

Ooops silly me

Graham W.