How long would you expect brake pads/discs to last ?

[andy15star]

Hello, i was expecting the garage to tell me i needed my pads/discs changing on this 80k service, however they said they were okay. This got me wondering how long brake pads and discs tend to last ?

I know there's no hard and fast rule, but in general what kind of life expectancy am i looking at ?

On my car:

Front Pads changed 18/8/06 (28,000 miles ago)
Rear Pads changed 10/4/07 (19,000 miles ago)

Front Discs changed 18/8/06 (28,000 miles ago)
Rear Discs changed 5/7/05 (44,000 miles ago)

Best Regards,
Andy

 

[DannyC87]

i got 27000miles out of my front discs and pads on my lcr, rears are still going strong.

 

[andy15star]

Cheers Danny!....mmm, so i wonder why they said mine were okay after 28,000 miles ??, i'm usually careful with braking, could that be it ?. Is there a dead cert way of knowing if the pads/discs are on their way out ? - scraping etc ?

Best Regards,
Andy

 

[lordgibbness]

Cheers Danny!....mmm, so i wonder why they said mine were okay after 28,000 miles ??, i'm usually careful with braking, could that be it ?. Is there a dead cert way of knowing if the pads/discs are on their way out ? - scraping etc ?

Best Regards,
Andy

Pads: You can inspect them visually by looking through your wheel. As long as you have at least 50-60mm of pad you should be fine.

Discs: You'd need a vernier caliper to check the width of the disc is still in tolerance. Don't worry about a lip as the pad never actually touches this. In general though anything except a large lip should be fine. Also if the discs are overworn they might warp in the near future.

 

[JamesL]

What car do you have Andy?

 

[JamesL]

50-60 mm of pad? I presume you mean 5-6mm?!

 

[andy15star]

i was thinking that !! 50-60mm is a lot ! lol. I have a 52 reg Leon Cupra (not R)

Cheers
Andy

 

[NickT]

This is for a Leon Cupra not Cupra R
Front discs thickness (312 dia)
New: 25mm
Min: 23mm
Think I've read on here you can check the lip with a 1p piece, if the lip is as thick as a 1p then they are near minimum permissible thickness.

Rear discs thickness (232 dia)
New: 9mm
Min: 7mm

 

[vwbassett]

Nick T do you also have the min/max measurements for the LCR's
Thanks
Adam

 

[Jonny]

Nick T do you also have the min/max measurements for the LCR's
Thanks
Adam

LCR Front:

New = 28mm
Min = 26mm

LRC Rear:

Don't know sorry

I changed my front pads at 10k, front discs & pads at 20k... now at 30k, front pads will probably need changing again soon.

Still on the original rear discs & pads... plenty of 'meat' left on them

 

[andy15star]

Cheers Nick ! - very helpful.

Andy

 

[NickT]

Nick T do you also have the min/max measurements for the LCR's
Thanks
Adam

Did a search and came up with this:
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=169226&highlight=disc+thickness

 

[BCM]

Front and rear, pads and discs all changed about 20k miles ago, all still going great, rears are not normally somethin i check often, but have a look at the fronts while giving the car a good clean.
Pads should last at least 20k with normall use, (no track, towing and driving like an arse constant)

 

[Gezz]

The car has a warning light for front pads anyway, so don't need to worry about them.

 

[Jonny]

The car has a warning light for front pads anyway, so don't need to worry about them.

The warning lights don't always work though, you shouldn't rely on them! Only 1 of the 4 pads has a sensor... my first set of pads were worn down to the backing plates... except the one with the sensor, which had about 1/2mm of friction material left

 

[NickT]

The warning lights don't always work though, you shouldn't rely on them! Only 1 of the 4 pads has a sensor... my first set of pads were worn down to the backing plates... except the one with the sensor, which had about 1/2mm of friction material left

Agreed, my last set of fronts looked ok from the outside but due to binding the inside pads were fecked, of course the sensor didn't register this as it's on the outside pad on the nearside.

 

[andycupra]

Hello, i was expecting the garage to tell me i needed my pads/discs changing on this 80k service, however they said they were okay. This got me wondering how long brake pads and discs tend to last ?

I know there's no hard and fast rule, but in general what kind of life expectancy am i looking at ?

On my car:

Front Pads changed 18/8/06 (28,000 miles ago)
Rear Pads changed 10/4/07 (19,000 miles ago)

Front Discs changed 18/8/06 (28,000 miles ago)
Rear Discs changed 5/7/05 (44,000 miles ago)

Best Regards,
Andy

it can vary massively. depends how you drive, type of roads etc etc.
that does seem a fairly long way for front pads, but not unachievable.
Inner pads often wear more than the outers so make sure to check this.

But all in all, if driven carefully they could be right.
If your not happy im suer they will be happy to take your money and replace them.

 

[lordgibbness]

50-60 mm of pad? I presume you mean 5-6mm?!

Yep sorry

 

[ChrisUK]

I'm on 40k now & still on original disks & pads (albeit I have a TDI) - I'll have a look at them tonight, but they flew through the MOT & not been mentioned at any service interval before.

 

[andy15star]

Yep that's what i was bothered about, see i usually rely on it being caught at the service intervals (as it has in the past), but i fear these pads wont last another 10k (just had service done 2 days ago). So i'll have to keep a look out.

Could i leave them until i start hearing them and then get them done ? or will that be too late ?

Also, i have a fair idea of how long the pads should last but what about the discs ? how long roughly should they last in normal driving mode! ?

Regards,
Andy