What Do You Do To Check Brake Pad Wear?
 

What Do You Do To Check Brake Pad Wear? I've searched yet no step by step. Keep it basic please. How much for stock pads? 2007 Z06...

Thanks-Bob

telescoping inspection mirror, flashlight, eyesight. make sure you have at least 3/16" thickness left. Mine are down to about 5/16" on my 06Z.

Pull the wheel and you will be able to see the pads in the caliper. A visual inspection from the outside of the caliper should suffice. However, if you want a more detailed inspection then you will have to pull the caliper so you can see the pads from the bottom.

Stock pad prices are absurdly high. Even the prices through forum vendors that offer great discounts are high. You will pay over $300 for just the OEM front pad kit.

Bill

:iagree:

Small telescoping inspection mirror and a good flashlight does the trick. It can be a bit difficult to check all pads from both sides--it is best just to pull the pads to check them out--for best piece of mind.

MC

New OEM pads list (MSRP) for $452 front and $385 rear. At GM parts direct they are $235 + $52 S&H for fronts and $228 + $50 S&H for the fronts. The front and rear are identical except for the number of padlets (12 front and 8 rear). The OEM pads come with new padlet locator pins (16 front and 12 rear). You don't have to replace the locator pins every time, but it is nice to have some extras. Pins alone run around $60 for a front set.

Part # front - 19153019 and rear - 19153020

I did get a set of front OEM pads from a local dealer at a discount for $228. Not sure why, the other dealers in town wanted close to the full MSRP.

I believe new pads are 10 mm and should be replaced with 4 mm remaining (works out to about 3/8" new and 3/16" to replace).

One additional thing to be aware of - the Z06 pads do not wear evenly. Both from padlet to padlet and on a padlet itself. I have seen pads that look OK when in the caliper, but have the lower or leading edge worn more. If you are getting close, it is best to pull the padlets and check them. Some years of Z06s padlets didn't have low pad warning tabs, most do (on one pair of padlets per caliper).

If you run hard (street or HDPE) with full stability control on (default setting) the rear brakes will wear very rapidly (stability function uses rear brakes to control over steer). I always run in Comp mode or Off when on the track.

Cheers - Jim

Just pull a wheel and look at the back of the caliper. I checked mine last week and was glad I did. One pad was much thinner that the others, about 1/16" so I changed them all with Hawk Ceramic. That one pad woulda ruined a rotor in no time.

Best way pull the wheel and take peak. The factory pad can be tricky because they wear at diffrent rates. You might have to pull 2 wheels to get a good indication.

The pad wear is different depending on the location in the caliper. You can move the pads around in the caliper to even out the wear and extend the pad life. Depending on how hard you used the brakes you may not be able to remove the pad pins. That will prevent you from pulling the pads out of the top of the caliper. Removing the caliper will allow you to change/move the pads while the pins are still in the calipers.

Bill

Don't bother buying stock pads because they are outrageously expensive and inferior to a lot of other good solutions. For the street, I went with Hawk Ceramic and they are great because they still have great stopping grip but have significantly less dust than the stock brakes. You also don't have to pay $460 + S/H for them either. You can get them at ZIP front/rear for <$290.
http://www.zip-corvette.com/GroupDetails/SubGroupResults.aspx?gid={0b70aea8-b42b-41ad-8e28-e7292a9f934d}&SearchType=_GROUP_SEARCH&G roupName=Hawk+Brake+Pads&

BTW, I have nothing to gain by pimping this product.:lol:

John

Thanks!
 

A belated THANKS! to all of you for a very good, brief, useful response.

Bill