Brake Pad Wear

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Aug 20, 2005 | 05:08 PM

DirteeDave

Thread Starter

Burning Brakes

Joined: Mar 2004

Posts: 805

Likes: 54

From: Murrieta CA

Brake Pad Wear

My 2004 coupe has about 22K miles with stock brakes and has not had any brake work performed. This is a daily driver (no racing or overly aggressive driving) and I'm just wondering about how many miles I can expect out of the pads. I had the front wheels off today and was trying to look at the pads to check for wear but I'm not really sure exactly what I'm looking for. I'm not getting any feedback from the brakes that indicates I'm ready for new pads but I'd like as much advance notice as I can get. Can someone also maybe explain to me how I can check the actual wear myself?

Thanks

Aug 20, 2005 | 05:11 PM

2KREDVert

Melting Slicks

Joined: May 2003

Posts: 2,840

Likes: 301

From: Bonita CA

Best way is to pull the caliper. Two bolts and it slides off. Then you can really see the situation. Unfortunately, the rotor wears about as fast as the pads these days so mike them too.
Phil

Aug 20, 2005 | 05:31 PM

H20Vette

Pro

Joined: Jun 2005

Posts: 529

Likes: 0

From: North Carolina

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2KREDVert

Best way is to pull the caliper. Two bolts and it slides off. Then you can really see the situation. Unfortunately, the rotor wears about as fast as the pads these days so mike them too.
Phil

That is the best way but there's really no reason to pull the caliper unless you think it is wearing unevenly. Just pull the wheel off and look at it from the side. You can see the front pad easily. The back pad is a little harder but there should be a viewing port in the caliper to see it through.

Aug 20, 2005 | 10:07 PM

LarryW

Pro

Joined: Jul 2004

Posts: 710

Likes: 1

From: Fremont (Livin' On The Fault Line!) CA

I use this to measure the brake pads:

Brake pad wear gauge

and this to measure the rotors:

Digital rotor gauge

The rotor tool is real nice (especially for the money!), it's digital so it's very easy to get an accurate reading quickly and it displays in either SAE (inches) or metric (mm). Oh and it comes in a nice case

This way no guesswork but actual numbers of how much pad/rotor you have left

Aug 21, 2005 | 12:38 AM

Dirty Howie

Team Owner

Joined: May 2004

Posts: 26,345

Likes: 232

From: SoCal

I'm no expert but my recent problems with completely wearing a pad out and into the rotor without any warning signs warrents caution.

Have the pads checked by someone who knows what they are doing. This cannot be done without taking the calipers off and checking the INSIDE pad. This is the one I wore right down to the metal backing, while the outside pad looked ok.

Aug 21, 2005 | 10:50 AM

konish

Instructor

Joined: Aug 2005

Posts: 133

Likes: 0

From: OKC OK

You really don't need to remove the caliper to check the inside pad. Remove the wheel and look around the rotor...if needed, you can use a small mirror. If your pads were wearing that unevenly (on the piston side), did you rebuild your calliper? I've seen uneven wear like that but its usually becasue the caliper was partially seized...(?)

R/
Dustin

Aug 21, 2005 | 01:46 PM

CoolRunnings

Intermediate

Joined: Dec 2004

Posts: 38

Likes: 0

From: Kennesaw Ga.

So...how long "should" the pads last under "normal" conditions?

Aug 21, 2005 | 03:53 PM

2KREDVert

Melting Slicks

Joined: May 2003

Posts: 2,840

Likes: 301

From: Bonita CA

That really depends what "normal" driving is. Could last anywhere from 10K miles to 80K. It is not so much a function of miles, more a function of stopping vs. speed. And you do need to pull those calipers to properly check those pads. A pad often cracks from the heat too and you won't see that with the caliper installed. 2 minute job to pull it.

Last edited by 2KREDVert; Aug 21, 2005 at 03:55 PM.