How you know when brake pads need to be replaced?

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How do you know when your brake pads need to be replaced? When I brake, I hear a funny low pitched rubbing sound coming from the rear
 
Originally Posted By: 7055
How do you know when your brake pads need to be replaced?

When you look at them and you see no padding material left.

Alternatively, some cars have brake wear sensors and will notify you. But you typically still have some brake life left at that point.
 
You could take wheel off and look at pad thickness through caliper, or take caliper off and look at pad also. Or have shop take a look.
mine normal will start to make the squeeling sound
 
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"How do you know when your brake pads need to be replaced?"

I check them periodically, if they are down to a bout 20% or less I set about replacing them.
 
Originally Posted By: 7055
When I brake, I hear a funny low pitched rubbing sound coming from the rear


Time to look at them ... sounds like they might be down to metal, meaning no pad material is left.
eek.gif
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: 7055
When I brake, I hear a funny low pitched rubbing sound coming from the rear


Time to look at them ... sounds like they might be down to metal, meaning no pad material is left.
eek.gif



I never got any squeeking though, is it possible they could still be worn down?
 
You have to inspect them unless you have a low brake fluid sensor and haven't topped off. If your master cylinder is completely full after a pad installation and there are no leaks the low fluid sensor should come on when the pads are near minimum, which is why your not supposed to top off brake fluid unless it leaks.

With most disc setups you can visually see pad thickness through the rim or at worst by removing the wheel.
 
I have seen brake pads run to the base plate because it squealed a little bit and the wear sensor snapped off. Since it quit squealing , they keep driving it until a nasty grinding sound surfaced!!
 
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I brake lightly so I usually have "some other problem" before I run out of friction material.

This was a mismatch of hawk street/race pads and cheap chinese rotors, the hawks dug into the rotors and made grooves:



The hawks were also falling apart-- rust jacking, the seperation of lining and backing plate-- after 2.5 years on the car. Not okay.

I also find warped rotors or frozen pins/ calipers/ hardware before my pads wear out.

Other cars I've brought home have been metal on metal with oblivious former owners. The pedal only feels slightly different and the noise isn't awful either.
 
1) Noise when breaking
2) Looking at pads there isnt much metal left
3) Cracks or abnormal wear on the pads.

number 3 could be caused by bad install or caliper maulfunction. so Its good to replace that too while at it.
 
You ll know!the infernal noise is so loud you cannot not notice it even if you ignore the issue!when it does, it dont delay ,that is usually yelling at you this:hey :you ?YES YOU the driver,im chewing the brake disk right about now!
 
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Originally Posted By: eljefino
I brake lightly so I usually have "some other problem" before I run out of friction material.

This was a mismatch of hawk street/race pads and cheap chinese rotors, the hawks dug into the rotors and made grooves:



The hawks were also falling apart-- rust jacking, the seperation of lining and backing plate-- after 2.5 years on the car. Not okay.

I also find warped rotors or frozen pins/ calipers/ hardware before my pads wear out.

Other cars I've brought home have been metal on metal with oblivious former owners. The pedal only feels slightly different and the noise isn't awful either.


I like that vid! I too brake lightly, but I don't have that "raceway" going on. Well, it's there, but not quite that bad. The five year old rotors that I pulled looked worse; still had good pad lining but a couple were separating. Anyhow, I plan checking a couple times a year, and probably replace every five as a rule.

Otherwise, unless if the rotors are expensive and/or still in good shape, I'm not sure what is wrong with going until the pad wears out. Can change them sooner, but metal on metal stops ok, and if the rotors are just going to be changed anyhow...?
 
Running the pads all the way down to the metal can mean throwing little bits of hot iron that stick to paint and turn to rust.
 
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