[Mayhem]

Just curious how long people's brake pads are lasting?

I am at about 18,000 KM (or roughly 11,000 miles) And just had my car in for service.. The service manager let me know that my brakes are going to be toast by the next service date.

This seems pretty fast for them to go?? Barely over a year.

 

[Ca5p3r]

I'm at a little over 17300 miles. Last time my car was in the dealership was about 1000 miles ago and they refinished the pads since I was having squeeling sounds when I braked. Other than that sound coming back, mine are still fine.

I haven't been to a track.

 

[marc89gti]

I just had my car in get a new winter tire installed (blew out front passenger side due to very large pothole), anyways tireshop said I have about 80% left on my front pads and I have about 29,000km. I try to gear down and use the engine as brake, which maybe explains the slow wear rate.

 

[Zormecteon]

I just had my car in get a new winter tire installed (blew out front passenger side due to very large pothole), anyways tireshop said I have about 80% left on my front pads and I have about 29,000km. I try to gear down and use the engine as brake, which maybe explains the slow wear rate.

Brakes are cheaper than clutches or transmission work. i.e. brakes are consumable items. Please don't be penny wise and pound foolish. Use compression braking for going down grades to keep your brakes from overheating, but otherwise use the brakes to slow down. It's cheaper in the long term.

 

[marc89gti]

Brakes are cheaper than clutches or transmission work. i.e. brakes are consumable items. Please don't be penny wise and pound foolish. Use compression braking for going down grades to keep your brakes from overheating, but otherwise use the brakes to slow down. It's cheaper in the long term.

I disagree, I use a combination of gearing down and brakes at the same time. I've done this with multiple cars and got close to 200,000km on the clutches before they need replacing. Could I get more out of the clutch doing as you say, perhaps for sure but at some point you have to down shift anyways when stopping or making a turn. Even in a automatic transmission car the transmission will to do some degree of automatic downshifting as you brake and apply a small amount of engine braking.

 

[Zormecteon]

My VW Rabbit had 180,000 miles on it when the engine blew up. Original clutch. ... My Ford Temp had 175,000 when I sold it on. Original clutch. The only two other cars I bought new. Of course one downshifts for a corner to be in the proper gear to come out of it, but the only shift one "needs" to do when coming to a full stop is the shift to put it into first to be able to pull away from said stop..... When coming up on a traffic light, I'll put it in neutral and have a hand on the shifter ready to put it into the appropriate gear to be ready to pull away in case the light changes, but otherwise don't use compression braking on the approach. ... Different people like to drive differently, that's why we all (here on the forums) want a stick not a slush box. ...

 

[marc89gti]

My VW Rabbit had 180,000 miles on it when the engine blew up. Original clutch. ... My Ford Temp had 175,000 when I sold it on. Original clutch. The only two other cars I bought new. Of course one downshifts for a corner to be in the proper gear to come out of it, but the only shift one "needs" to do when coming to a full stop is the shift to put it into first to be able to pull away from said stop..... When coming up on a traffic light, I'll put it in neutral and have a hand on the shifter ready to put it into the appropriate gear to be ready to pull away in case the light changes, but otherwise don't use compression braking on the approach. ... Different people like to drive differently, that's why we all (here on the forums) want a stick not a slush box. ...

Like you said we all have different driving techniques in terms of down shifting. Here's an interesting article from Popular Mechanics and quoting part of it "Coasting in neutral is dangerous and it burns up more fuel."

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a5977/coasting-in-neutral-fuel-economy/
This why I personally don't coast in neutral when slowing down and the article touches on this is because it dangerous, if you need to get out of an emergency situation where you need to put the power on you may not be able to get the gear in place in time before avoiding a potential accident. On the plus side for slowing down in gear it actually saves you some fuel, another bonus. I was taught at a young age not to coast in a manual and always be in a gear for those emergency situations.

 

[Ca5p3r]

one thing to keep on mind, I believe that the above information only applies to non-carbureted engines.

and I think someone with an accessport should be able to easily confirm it... Isnt one of the functions being able to see the air fuel ratio or something? I really need to get one. :/

 

[marc89gti]

one thing to keep on mind, I believe that the above information only applies to non-carbureted engines.

and I think someone with an accessport should be able to easily confirm it... Isnt one of the functions being able to see the air fuel ratio or something? I really need to get one. :/

Yes your right this does apply to fuel injected cars only which probably makeup 95% of the cars on the road these days.

 

[Zormecteon]

Like you said we all have different driving techniques in terms of down shifting. Here's an interesting article from Popular Mechanics and quoting part of it "Coasting in neutral is dangerous and it burns up more fuel."

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a5977/coasting-in-neutral-fuel-economy/
This why I personally don't coast in neutral when slowing down and the article touches on this is because it dangerous, if you need to get out of an emergency situation where you need to put the power on you may not be able to get the gear in place in time before avoiding a potential accident. On the plus side for slowing down in gear it actually saves you some fuel, another bonus. I was taught at a young age not to coast in a manual and always be in a gear for those emergency situations.

I don't coast in neutral to save fuel. I don't generally coast in neutral. ... but as I approach a light I leave it in gear until the point the engine is about to lug. At that time I will push in the clutch and coast up to the light with my hand on the shift knob... If the light goes green I let out the clutch. If it doesn't I apply the brakes and stop. ... If I've slowed too much to be able to just let out the clutch and continue, I'm ready to shift into the appropriate gear.as I have my hand on the shifter already. ..

 

[marc89gti]

When coming up on a traffic light, I'll put it in neutral and have a hand on the shifter ready to put it into the appropriate gear

OK thanks for further clarifying in your latest post, from reading your earlier post quoted above I took it as you were coasting in neutral when I read your post, but as you said you push in the clutch and leave it in gear which makes more sense to me.

 

[rweidman]

Speaking of rear brake pads, mine are Toast after only 15,000mi. Either my emergency brake needs adjustment or that torque vectoring system is killing my rear pads. Anyone else with worn out rear pads.

 

[RodMoe]

Speaking of rear brake pads, mine are Toast after only 15,000mi. Either my emergency brake needs adjustment or that torque vectoring system is killing my rear pads. Anyone else with worn out rear pads.

Yup ... Track it and they go really fast lol

 

[miketank89]

My rear pads have worn faster then the fronts. Don't need to replace them yet but it's safe to say because sport mode.

 

[DayJ]

I've got 25k and the pads are still good to go. No squealing, no issues. I tend to piss off people behind me when I coast up to the red light. They seem to like to gas it and then slam on the breaks. Race on the green, not up to the red, dude!

 

[Methane Herder]

@ about 18k miles, I had about 3/16" of pad left on the rears. They ground a track into both rear rotors that required retracting the pistons back into the calipers. I bought Centric high carbon rotors and some HPS+ pads. So far, so good.
MH

 

[eRic]

rear brake pads were replaced at 20,000 miles. front brake pads and rotors were replaced at 26,000 miles.

 

[WScottCross]

55,000 miles on the original pads and I'm maybe 50% worn. Needless to say I have ALOT of highway miles!

 

[jimclark]

Replaced both sets of pads and had rotors (lightly) ground at about 6500 miles, after a season of autocross and a hard half-day at a track. It was no doubt the track that pretty much did 'em in; they suffered more in one lap around the track than in a half-dozen runs of a Solo event. But . . . they worked, and did well. Brakes pads are meant to be replaced when they're used up. Nature of the beast. Like changing oil. Conditions, not just miles, determine need.

 

[SlowPaul]

I'm at 23k and lifted my ST up today to see just how worn my pads were. After the miles, an autocross and a couple spirited drives in the local canyons, these pads are dead. I want to replace them with OE pads, but in doing so know that in another 20k or so I'll be doing the same thing. Aftermarket seems like a good place to look, but there are limited options. What is everyone else running after the OE pads bite the dust?