I've had my car from new and it's done 31k miles and still has original pads and discs. Do you think they'll be nearing the end of their life now? The still seem to work fine. I do a variety of driving, mostly town but a bit of motorway as well.
Personally, if it were my brakes, I would be getting the wheels off and measuring both pads and discs rather than asking remote strangers who can have no idea what state your brakes are in but that just my two-penneth. ;-)
What model car? Perhaps someone who knows will post or you could go along to Halfrauds and get the book and then you could perhaps change them as well.
Pads at a minimum of 3mm. Discs if heavily worn, scored, or thinner than the minimum thickness recommended by the manufacturer. But it does sound as if you need someone who knows about cars to examine and advise. Mike
Many brake pads have a slot in them - if you can't see the slot, it's time to replace. Lots of modern cars have pad wear sensors . Depends on the car, and how you drive it. Get the wheels off, look at the pads. Bear in mind that new ones would be 8-10mm thick - how far have they gone?
Let's face it, most pads are faily cheap, and replacement usually a simple job, so why skimp on a safety item? Probably best to change them anyway.
Discs should last a lot longer than that, so unless they're scored or warped they should be OK for another 30K+.
Does the car have a warning system for pads near the end of their life? The driver's handbook should give clue. If not, the only way is to measure the friction material thickness - something like 2mm or less means they need changing. However, they're likely to still work fine until the moment they wear through to the steel backing...
They can do 10,000 miles or 100,000 miles depending on how the car is used. Take the wheels off and look at them. The handbook may give the minimum permitted thickness of pad material, but generally it's about
5mm for front pads and possibly less for rear pads (they wear more slowly).
Partly true, but the pad material is also a good thermal insulator and protects the caliper (and fluid) from too much heat. A couple of millimetres of pad is a much worse insulator than 10mm, not that fluid overheating is often relevant unless you live in the Alps.
Measure them. Typically pads come with 7mm of lining, and a worn when down to 2mm - but you can check the first figure by having a look at some brand new pads and measuring them. e.g. if originally 7mm, and they now have 4mm, you have a total usage of 5mm of which you have used 2 - or pads are about
60% worn
Then from that you can work out how long they will last.
I used to drive around town a lot, with occasional mway journeys on holiday, and pads would need replacing @ c30k (discs with every 2nd set of pads perhaps)
Now I commute on the mway and pads lat 2 - 3 times as long.
When I used to drive enthusiastically I could wear pads out in 12k miles ...
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