When should I replace brake pads?

[BigRedSwitch]

Just had my car serviced and I was expecting the main agent to say my brake pads were getting very low and that they needed replacing.  But they didn't, so a big bill is deferred for the time being.

The car has done 26,727 miles and the front pads are at 8mm, and the rears at 10mm.  So, the rears are good for another year or two but what about the fronts?  I'm a "Steady Eddie"-type driver so how much life would you reckon I have left in the fronts bearing in mind I only do about 1500 miles per year?

 

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

with your mileage probably your brakes will last lifetime of the car 😊, all you will need to do is a brake fluid change once every 2-3 years and cleaning and lubricating the slider pins on the brake callipers periodically, if you do that no joke for the very long lasting. Most of the braking is done by the electric motor and brake pads work only at the end of each stopping. 100k miles are possible with one set of brakes on these cars. 👍

[BigRedSwitch]

Thanks very much Tony.  I am very reassured by your comments.

[Gerg]

As Tony says, the wear limit is 2mm on front and rear brake pads.  And the front pads were likely around 10mm when new.  So, unless i'm missing something, that's around 1mm of front pad wear per 13,000 miles of your driving  You have 6mm of pad thickness left, so I'd look to you having about 70,000+ miles left on the fronts pads from the measurement you've given.

But that's assuming the caliper sliders aren't binding, which can make the pads wear more quickly.  It's a simple job to clean and lubricate them, and not different to any regular (non-hybrid) car, so not a specialist job at all, just a bit mucky and time-consuming.  Worth thinking about getting that done every 2 - 3 years as well.

[HS78]

30 minutes ago, Gerg said:

the wear limit is 2mm on front and rear brake pads.

From the UK MOT manual - 1.1.13. Brake linings and pads - (ii) worn below 1.5mm results in MOT failure. 

Also, new brake pads (front) have approximately 12 - 13mm of friction material. 

[tavy]

Mine is non-hybrid Auris. After 40000 miles I have 7mm left of front pads and 5mm of rear, after 13 years. Most of mileage, highway run...

[Catlover]

56 minutes ago, tavy said:

Mine is non-hybrid Auris. After 40000 miles I have 7mm left of front pads and 5mm of rear, after 13 years. Most of mileage, highway run...

That’s really good Tavey, means you must be concentrating on your driving, observing what is going on around you and planning well ahead. That will include seeing traffic lights on red ahead and slowing down without hard braking for one example.

[tavy]

Yes, that's true, thank you, sir !

[TonyHSD]

Agreed, 👍 brakes goes quickly for two main reasons : 

faulty system or 

bad driving 👌

 

[roks]

On 8/27/2021 at 7:30 AM, TonyHSD said:

Agreed, 👍 brakes goes quickly for two main reasons : 

faulty system or 

bad driving 👌

or driving in central London 🙂

[TonyHSD]

4 hours ago, roks said:

or driving in central London 🙂

Ouch, driving there kills the whole car 😳🤭

[AisinW]

It last really long but if you live in icy area with salt on the roads, it may get problems.  Check the brake sliding pins and pads if they can move freely. If not, clean the mounting bracket and lube with silicon on the pins.  Check the wear on the rotors too.  In Hybrid, very often the edges of the rotors corroded and cause the pads worn on the edges.