What metric do you use to estimate remaining front brake pad life on a typical economy sedan (assuming normal driving under normal conditions)?
A neighbor's kid was heading off to college where her mother asked me to take a look at her vehicle, where I found a few things to warn them of such as this rack and pinion steering boot badly torn for some reason:
I told her that I had never replaced steering boots before so I wasn't even sure how to diagnose whether she needed just a boot or the whole rack:
One of the things I simply noted was they had "x" miles left on their front brake pads (where there is only one mechanical wear sensor per rotor):
If you look closely, the pad is about the thickness of the backing plate:
The owner asked me how many miles those pads had left under normal driving:
I wasn't sure, so I guessed wildly at roughly about 5 thousand miles to go:
But what metric do you use to estimate a pad's remaining life given only the thickness of the front pads, and the fact that you are told the vehicle is driven by a typical owner under typical driving on typical roads?