How many miles do you get from a set of brake pads?

BrianD3

The front brake pads on my Laguna are about 50% worn having covered 49k miles. Hopefully I can get at least 72k out of the pads before they're worn down to minimum allowable thickness (2 mm AFAIK)

I have heard of people getting a lot less out of a set of front pads. Naturally enough, driving style has a major influence on brake wear. I reckon that using good anticipation and leaving loads of space between yourself and the car in front allows you to use your brakes sparingly. Other factors include how fast/aggressive your driving style is, how heavy/powerful the car is, whether the car is driven laden down with passengers and luggage, the type of roads you drive on etc.

So, how many miles do others here get out of a set of pads?

BrianD3

Fudger

my car clocks up alot of miles. Get it serviced every 15 K and new tyres brake pads around every 20-25 k. Better safe than sorry.

robo

The first time that mine were replaced was about 3 weeks ago, and my car has 85K miles on it. It is a Suzuki Swift. I was told at the time that I had about 500 miles left on them but I was getting a servicing at the time before heading to France with the car, so I thought it best to get them replaced.

K2

37k out of the last set, I've heard the kwik fit types say 25k is about average but I would expect them to err on the side of caution, after all they are only interested in their customers safety and not in increasing profits by giving misleading information

tbh I don't think I would feel very confident in brakes with 72k on them. I'm not trying to imply that you are a mean oul bugger but apart from not wanting to spend the money on a new set, why would you want to take any chances?

BrianD3

robo wrote:

The first time that mine were replaced was about 3 weeks ago, and my car has 85K miles on it. It is a Suzuki Swift. I was told at the time that I had about 500 miles left on them but I was getting a servicing at the time before heading to France with the car, so I thought it best to get them replaced.

Were those the original pads that came with the car? You'll only know for sure if you've owned the car since new, otherwise the pads may have already been replaced by a previous owner. If they weren't, then 85k is very good going out of a set of pads.

BrianD3

BrianD3

K2 wrote:

tbh I don't think I would feel very confident in brakes with 72k on them. I'm not trying to imply that you are a mean oul bugger but apart from not wanting to spend the money on a new set, why would you want to take any chances?

Nah, I'm very safety conscious and I'd say I maintain my car better than 90% of the car owners out there. I do check the pad thickness myself regularly (between services) and generally keep a good eye on things.The brakes on my car actually feel nicer now than they did when the car was new. When new, they were almost too sharp and not progressive, it was quite difficult to brake gently, the brake pedal was like an on-off switch.

TBH, I think that there is a big ripoff going on in this country re: brake pads. Most people when told by a garage/kwik fit/whomever that their pads need replacing will not question it. There is no way that anyone (even a hard driver) should need new pads after only 25k miles driving on a public road.

BrianD3

robo

BrianD3 wrote:

Were those the original pads that came with the car? You'll only know for sure if you've owned the car since new, otherwise the pads may have already been replaced by a previous owner. If they weren't, then 85k is very good going out of a set of pads.

BrianD3

I wouldn't be 100% sure about whether they are the first set now that I think about it. Sorry for misleading anyone.

K2

I don't doubt your ability just wondering why you would try to get every last bit out of such an important element, I'm sure you are only too aware of the damaged caused by over worn pads so we won't go there, but for the sake of a few quid (you probably change them yourself so cheaper again) why take any chances with your stopping power?

btw I worked with a woman who got 90k out of the original front pads on a metro, and she drove like a lunatic. I know some of the cheaper brands will wear quicker but until then I didn't realise there was such difference.

BrianD3

K2 wrote:

I don't doubt your ability just wondering why you would try to get every last bit out of such an important element, I'm sure you are only too aware of the damaged caused by over worn pads so we won't go there, but for the sake of a few quid (you probably change them yourself so cheaper again) why take any chances with your stopping power?

Well I do a big mileage and it makes economic sense to get as much out of the pads (and brake discs, tyres and other wear and tear items) as possible while at the same time not compromising safety. Even though I plan to get 72 k out of my current pads, I will still change them a few thousand miles before they are worn down to the absolute minimum 2 mm. There is also no chance whatsoever that I will leave them so long that they will be wron down to nothing. If I were changing pads every 25k a set of pads wouldn't even last me a year. I don't change the pads myself so I have to pay for labour + parts. Main stealers charge around 150 quid to change front pads on a Laguna so you can see how the costs could build up if you were changing pads very regularly.

BrianD3

Furp

Is this a Renault trait with over sensitive brake pads,my brother -in-law bought a new Megane in 2003 and the brakes where unbelievable the pedal was higher then the other pedals and as soon as you touched it you where almost launched through the window with how heavy they came on just like a an on-off switch.

On my own car a Nissan Primera I just had the car serviced no pads replaced, but I'm not sure when they where last changed as I am the second owner and have put over 20,000 on the car in the last year, although the brakes still feel the same as when I got it, although I'm sure when they do need to be replaced it will be expensive as it has disc brakes all round.

Is it difficult to change the pad, can you just swap them for new ones or do you have to bleed the system, or recalibrate it.

BrianD3

Furp wrote:

Is this a Renault trait with over sensitive brake pads,my brother -in-law bought a new Megane in 2003 and the brakes where unbelievable the pedal was higher then the other pedals and as soon as you touched it you where almost launched through the window with how heavy they came on just like a an on-off switch.

Is it difficult to change the pad, can you just swap them for new ones or do you have to bleed the system, or recalibrate it.

I've driven lots of renaults (old Megane, 19 and old Clio) and most of them had a high, hard brake pedal which takes a little getting used to but gives good confidence when you're used to it. Although it is purely a feel thing - I don't think the actual stopping distance of these cars was anything to write home about. The Laguna II and new Megane are a bit different, the brake pedal doesn't feel as hard and moves a bit more but the brakes can feel really snatchy when they do come on.

Then there's the Citroens with hydropneumatic brakes (BX, CX, Xantia, XM) they tend to have a really "on-off" pedal and an overassisted feel. This takes a lot of getting used to and some people hate the brake feeling on these cars.

The answer to the other question is, changing front pads is usually a very straightforward job and doesn't require bleeding of the system, basically all you do is swap the pads and apply some copper grease between the new pads and the calipers.This job should take a decent mechanic no more than an hour or so.

BrianD3

mike65

Never had a car long enough to know how many miles were covered before I put new ones in!

Mike.

HashSlinging

I've got 63k miles on my disks, only replaced the front pads once at 45k. still plenty of thickness left on all disks. Asked dealer to tighten things up at the last service and are perfect now. So 75k+ not a problem on these disks.

Car is a Seat Leon

unkel

BrianD3, from your previous posts I am convinced you are a smooth and safe driver

I was wondering why you were interested to safely get the max out of your pads until you posted:

BrianD3 wrote:

Main stealers charge around 150 quid to change front pads on a Laguna

OMG :eek:

Never paid anywhere near that. In fact I would be very happy if my brake pads were just replaced when due according to servicing schedule, regardless of real wear. I was a bit annnoyed when I had my car serviced and the pads were not replaced. My garage (they don't hold spares), informed me the pads had another 5k miles left at least and that the on-board computer would tell me when it's time to replace

I'd rather that they'd replaced them anyway. Prefer to go in once a year for a service and not have to go near them in between...

Gmodified

Main stealers charge around 150 quid to change front pads on a Laguna



wow, even if price includes pads this is cowboy price. You should look for alternative garage.

BrianD3

unkel wrote:

BrianD3, from your previous posts I am convinced you are a smooth and safe driver

Thanks I would say I have quite a sympathetic driving style. I make an active effort to maximise the mileage I get out of items such as tyres, brakes, clutches and a gallon of petrol

The thing about the main stealers is - my car is still under warranty and I feel that I must stick to the Renault stealer network for all maintenance/servicing until the warranty has expired. Otherwise Renault could use any work carried out by an independent garage as an excuse to invalidate my warranty.

BrianD3

sceptre

How much do brake pads tend to be?

(not the price any overcharging merchants charge to put them on, just the rough cost of the pads. Maybe the normal reasonable cost of getting them fitted as well if you don't mind)

unkel

BrianD3 wrote:

my car is still under warranty and I feel that I must stick to the Renault stealer network for all maintenance/servicing until the warranty has expired. Otherwise Renault could use any work carried out by an independent garage as an excuse to invalidate my warranty.

You have a point there - it probably states this in the contract you signed when you bought the car new...

zapata

If the disks are old or worn unevenly, the pads will wear quicker.
I got a set of OEM honda pads for my civic (€95 ish) about 2 years ago and fitted them myself with the help of Mr Haynes (manual - for those who are unfamiliar).
Ford had a problem with the focus brake pads wearing too quickly a couple of years ago. Some details here.

BrianD3

Just out of interest, I had another look at my front brakes, measured them and compared with the specs. in my Renault workshop manual. According to the manual, the front pads are 17 mm wide when new and should be replaced when the width reaches 7.5 mm.

After 49k miles, all four front pads in my car are between 13 and 15 mm wide so there is loads of life left in them.

All of the above widths include the friction material + the backplate. The backplate is around 4 mm wide. So, at the minimum allowable width, there is still a good margin for safety as there would still be 3.5 mm of friction material left.

Knowing this, I have revised upwards my hopes for pad life from 72k+ to 100k+ I regard myself as a fairly sedate driver compared to some of the loons on the road, however at the same time I don't drive like a granny and have been accused on this forum of being an impatient bastard (see the thread "who are these idiots")

If anyone wants to hear some of my tips for getting max life out of brake friction components I'll post them here. Might save people a few quid.

BrianD3