Brake Discs and Pad life

I just replaced my discs and pads all around. My pads do have some life in them but one of the discs is "warped" and after any spirited driving I get that lovely grinding sound. Last time I did them was October 2008. Around 30000 miles in that time. As posted above I treat my car well but it is abused too.
 
I wouldn't be at all surprised to find the rear pads on my Clio were the originals when I changed them at 100k. The rear wheels on a Clio are only there to stop your shopping dragging on the floor, and the rear brakes to very little.
 
PMKeates, Mine is like that. Rears wear heavier than fronts. They've been up and down all over the place. Fronts are 11k and rears are 8k
 
PMKeates said:
On an interesting point related to the OP, when I picked up my 535d I had an indicated 26k left on the front pads and I think 23k on the rear pads. 10k of driving later and the fronts are indicating 26k and the rears 8k. Is someone shaving my rear pads down at night and are my front brakes not working?
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Heavy right foot I reckon, I think the rear brakes operate during traction control braking the spinning wheel to move power to the other.

Mine are showing another 12k or so on idrive but it hasn't changed for quite a few thousand miles, will be due at 47k ish if its right. I think they will end up longer than that going by how its worked so far though. The rears have slightly less life than the fronts.
 
ubersonic said:
Well the brake discs/pads have never been changed as the car has only covered just under 30k. Admittedly I cannot confirm the brake fluid has never been changed but I can confirm it has not been touched since 1998, it is on the list for the next major service but atm it stops perfectly so not going to go out of my way to fix what's fully working.

OP if a visual inspection backs up what the car is telling you I would be inclined to agree with it.
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If i remember correctly your car still has the original timing belt doesn't it? Sounds like you take a great approach to car maintenance, i'm sure your car will work perfectly until it breaks.
 
My Leon Cupra R has just done 62k miles on the original breaks and pads.

However, I am aware that new pads will be needed at my next service, which is in 1500 miles, hope its not too costly!
 
Lucero said:
PMKeates, Mine is like that. Rears wear heavier than fronts. They've been up and down all over the place. Fronts are 11k and rears are 8k
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Good to know I'm not the only one!
Dandle said:
Heavy right foot I reckon, I think the rear brakes operate during traction control braking the spinning wheel to move power to the other.

Mine are showing another 12k or so on idrive but it hasn't changed for quite a few thousand miles, will be due at 47k ish if its right. I think they will end up longer than that going by how its worked so far though. The rears have slightly less life than the fronts.
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Hmm I'm not so certain. Sure the ADB operates the rear brakes but the application is relatively rare and not prolonged. Certainly not enough that the rears are wearing at infinite times the rate of the fronts! Add to that my time is spent almost exclusively going along the motorway, and so I am hardly ever accelerating from a stop, and I just can't see it. The best guess I hav is that the EDB has a massive rear bias (to avoid dive) during light deceleration which is most of what I will be doing.
 
Just had new discs and pads on the front, 2nd set of discs I've put on the front but then I also think the current trend of new discs every time you have a small lip on the edge is bow lox. I got through the current pads in 15K but then I went non OEM pads so not surprised and this time I've gone OEM discs and Pagid pads, so time will tell. Rear discs will need swapping soon but then my car has 100K on the clock. Really should change it, simply can't be arsed.
 
It can vary a lot between cars and driving styles I've found. My old grande punto, 48k miles and still on the original pads and disks with still some life left.
However our work pool car (Renault clio 1.5 dci) 25k miles and all disks and pads 95% worn :eek:
 
PMKeates said:
Good to know I'm not the only one!Hmm I'm not so certain. Sure the ADB operates the rear brakes but the application is relatively rare and not prolonged. Certainly not enough that the rears are wearing at infinite times the rate of the fronts! Add to that my time is spent almost exclusively going along the motorway, and so I am hardly ever accelerating from a stop, and I just can't see it. The best guess I hav is that the EDB has a massive rear bias (to avoid dive) during light deceleration which is most of what I will be doing.
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My thoughts too. I read somewhere that the E60 (and other BMWs) bias the rear for braking to maintain a smooth cabin unless the pedal or pedal pressue exceeds a certain amount.
 
Put 50k on my Focus since changing discs & pads all round when it was 3 years old. Still has plenty of wear left in them, though I do tend to slow very gently. I tend to change the fluid every year, it only needs doing every 2 yrs but for the sake of a tenner it also gives me a good opportunity to get the wheels off & have a good look around.
 
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27k miles in the Swift and I've just changed the front discs and pads, Rears to be done soon also.
 
My Micra had worn through the pads which buggered the discs at circa 24,000 miles. It needed new pads and discs. I had it from 19,000 miles so **** knows how hard the former owner braked!

At 41,000 miles now and the fronts are looking fine. I put a thread up a week or so ago about the rear drums but I have read that the shoes cause a grove to wear in the drums and so the shoes sit in this grove. This would mean taking the drum off would likely result in the shoes getting damaged and need replacing regardless of whether they were worn out or not.
 
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