Rear brakes wear faster than front

[demarpaint]

It's not so much controlled as we like to think. Brake force is reduced when mandatory (and when driving forward, that means the rear brake force gets reduced) but no more than that

Yes, and smaller pads don't help matters either.

 

[Badgerstate]

Its not just a thing on newer vehicles. My '06 Camry was like that. I think its because of how small the pads on rear brakes are.

 

[dumkid]

My 4800 lb suv has rear brake pads the size of dominos, i wouldn't be surprised if they wore out first

 

[Jetronic]

Its not just a thing on newer vehicles. My '06 Camry was like that. I think its because of how small the pads on rear brakes are.

It started mid nineties, but some makes and models before others

 

[97prizm]

Has anybody noticed rear brakes wearing faster than front brakes on newer vehicles. It seems to be the case on both my ‘15 F150 and my wife’s ‘22 BMW X1. My brakes have been done more than once but her’s have never been done, and the rear dusts the wheels way more than the front. Pretty sure the F150 is 2 rears to 1 front. First time noticing this in the 20+ cars I’ve owned and maintained.

Jaguar set up their brakes where the rear would ever so slightly engage first to promote "even wear" according to the manual.

 

[MrJayhawk]

On both my 2005 Pilot and my 2018 BMW X5, the rear’s wore out first. The Pilot has almost 210k miles and its about 2:1 so far back vs front replacements.

 

[raaizin]

My 2004 VW Jetta would do this. It used electronic brake distribution and would bring in the rears first, to help prevent nose dive during light braking. Press harder and the fronts would do what you'd expect.

My Tundra had "electronic" limited slip so it would pull brake lines to clamp down on a spinning wheel. I didn't chew up any brake pads with this but I could see how some could.

I did have to toss a set of pads at our hybrid at stupid low miles but that was because the pads froze in the caliper brackets and thus ground themselves into nothing at a low mileage. Usually they last a good length of time for me.

My daughter 2008 Jetta wears rear brakes twice as fast as fronts.

 

[Rogueman2016s]

Has anybody noticed rear brakes wearing faster than front brakes on newer vehicles. It seems to be the case on both my ‘15 F150 and my wife’s ‘22 BMW X1. My brakes have been done more than once but her’s have never been done, and the rear dusts the wheels way more than the front. Pretty sure the F150 is 2 rears to 1 front. First time noticing this in the 20+ cars I’ve owned and maintained.

yes... my father in laws 19' Nissan Pathfinder and my 16' Rogue. my father was a shop manager his last 10 working yrs before retiring and he told me this was becoming more common. I was thinking it could be all the fancy tech they got like trailer sway control, Nissan particularly has something called chassis trace control on the Rogue which uses sensor and braking to make the vehicle handle more sporty. and I am sure all the other stability controls on the market have a similar programming that will use brakes for lane keep etc.

 

[svtrit]

yes... my father in laws 19' Nissan Pathfinder and my 16' Rogue. my father was a shop manager his last 10 working yrs before retiring and he told me this was becoming more common. I was thinking it could be all the fancy tech they got like trailer sway control, Nissan particularly has something called chassis trace control on the Rogue which uses sensor and braking to make the vehicle handle more sporty. and I am sure all the other stability controls on the market have a similar programming that will use brakes for lane keep etc.

My 19 Rogue needed rear pads at 28,000 miles. I did all 4 because the fronts were going to need to be replaced soon anyway. It really surprised me how far gone the rear pads were. It was a big city car before I brought it to a country life. Maybe that city life contributed to the extra wear of the rear pads.

 

[supton]

My daughter 2008 Jetta wears rear brakes twice as fast as fronts.

Ironically, you could try braking harder. Should pull the fronts in and even out the wear. Then again... why bother, rear pads aren't that expensive, no?

Question for ya: on my Jetta, when I would do rear brake pads, I had to do calipers at the same time too. Granted, it was every 5 years and over 100k each time, but each time at least one MkIV caliper would be kaput. Different vintage I suppose (and yes, I was turning the pistons in, it wasn't that, it was purely our road salt).

 

[andrew_j]

People accidentally leave the parking brake on a factor ?

 

[Chris142]

The cars with rear discs wear the rears faster for some reason.

 

[Nick1994]

I had an '04 Beetle TDI that the dealer put rear brakes on when my aunt owned it at 104k miles. I sold it at 177k miles with the original front brakes, like 2/3 pad left at least.

She had a 2020 Ram ProMaster with drums in the rear that grabbed really hard. Probably because it was designed to haul weight.

 

[raaizin]

Ironically, you could try braking harder. Should pull the fronts in and even out the wear. Then again... why bother, rear pads aren't that expensive, no?

Question for ya: on my Jetta, when I would do rear brake pads, I had to do calipers at the same time too. Granted, it was every 5 years and over 100k each time, but each time at least one MkIV caliper would be kaput. Different vintage I suppose (and yes, I was turning the pistons in, it wasn't that, it was purely our road salt).

We are still on the original calipers but just getting the wheels off are a chore. I broke my breaker bar last week changing a flat. She will be getting rid of it as it has 190k miles and rust is starting to set in. We bought it for her in 2010 with 15k miles. We got our moneys worth out of it and contrary to what you here about VWs required very little over general maintenance

 

[meep]

My ‘18 F150 behaves traditionally with me, rear doesnt show much wear. My wife‘s CRV also seems pretty lite on the rear brakes.

 

[2005jettatdi]

On my Jetta TDI, the rear brakes (pads and rotors) had to be replaced after only 270,000 miles. The front ones a still good for a long time at 329,000 miles. In September I helped son replace rear pads and rotors on his wife's KIA. I tried explaining how modern braking works on cars. He didn't seem to believe me, even though the evidence was right there in front of him.

 

[Chevy454z71]

On my 2004 Silverado I’ve put three sets of rear pads and rotors on (always the right inside pad worn down to nothing) to the one set of front brakes. The front outside pads are still like brand new but the inside face of the rotors are chewed up pretty bad now from salt/rust so the inside pads are actually starting to wear haha. Gm actually came out with a bulletin for the rear disc brakes stating to put a mud flap kit in front of the rear wheels to keep debris and salt and all that crap from eating that pad down to nothing. I put that kit on the last time I changed the rear brakes and they seem to keep a decent amount of the road debris off the inside pads but aren’t perfect.

 

[CarDoc66]

I was told by an FCA engineer for the Jeep platforms that it’s part of the anti-dive braking strategy for SUV and trucks.
Jeeps would wear the backs very quick, not so much the Rams.
My brothers 2020 LX470 went metal to metal in 23,000 miles. Fronts were half worn, so it seems to be the norm more than the exception now.

 

[D60]

On my 2004 Silverado I’ve put three sets of rear pads and rotors on (always the right inside pad worn down to nothing) to the one set of front brakes. The front outside pads are still like brand new but the inside face of the rotors are chewed up pretty bad now from salt/rust so the inside pads are actually starting to wear haha. Gm actually came out with a bulletin for the rear disc brakes stating to put a mud flap kit in front of the rear wheels to keep debris and salt and all that crap from eating that pad down to nothing. I put that kit on the last time I changed the rear brakes and they seem to keep a decent amount of the road debris off the inside pads but aren’t perfect.

Yep we had an '02 Silverado that always had rear brake problems and ditto for our '05 Yukon. GM briefly threw in the towel around '05 on the pickups and returned to rear drums.

 

[KrisZ]

Normal, just keep changing them and stop complaining.