When should I replace my brake pads? (guestimates)

[Cid]

My car now has about 30,000km on it from driving on the highway. I was just wondering if anyone had to replace them around this time or when they first wore out. I skipped my B service ($200 fee to tell me how much life remained on the pads + "inspections") so I would like to get a ball park figure?

[Chase]

Just have them on hand at this point, When you get down to the warning tabs they will start to screech.. At This point replace them immediately.

[RJJensen]

dont skip the service..do u have an inspection coming up? cause they will tell u then if ur brakes need replacing

[cypress]

if u can, go do the inspection. it is better to be safe then sorry.

[Excalibur]

Originally Posted by Chase

Just have them on hand at this point, When you get down to the warning tabs they will start to screech.. At This point replace them immediately.

Exactly.

[si_dick]

you could get another 70k out of them but you really should do the services. It really helps extend the the life of the pads and rotors

[mcinnism]

My car is at 18,000 kms of mostly city and some autocross and the fronts just started squeeling. I just ordered new pads and I will be replacing them within 2 weeks.

[07mugencivic]

brakes depends on driving conditions ....hwy...street...off roading..<<<lol

[Kidekat]

pull the wheel off an physically look. brand new pads have a little more than 1cm lining. If you have around 2-3mm of lining, it is time to replace them. Be sure to check the rotor with a caliper for minimum thickness.

[Tiller]

Like someone already mentioned, dont skip the "inspections" because it's not just an inspection.

I work at a Honda Dealership and this bugs me to no end people who think it's a $164 oil change. It's not. Yes inspections dont take long and should cost $164, and they dont. You are paying mostly for labour envolve din SERVICING the brakes.....that means every part of the brake, pulling the calipers (drums) apart, relubricating all the slide pins and saddles, to keep noises away, breaking rust build up off the outside edge of rotor to prevent it from creeping onto your braking surface......all of these things will extend the life of your pads a lot. The civic, SI depending on how its driven should easily get 80k on their pads....

For the guy who has 18k on his car and is going to replace his pads, thats absurd....there is no way they should be worn out, you are probably hearing some squeal from the pads being glazed over from braking. (when the metal in the pads spreads out more over the surface causing a squeal in some braking situations) which the service will take care of btw.

Long story short, don't skip the servicing, you dont want to have a pad seize up against your rotor either because rust has stopped the pad from moving freely cause then you will be replacing the pads prematurely and unexpectedly.

Hope this helped. Cheers.

On another note, I have a customer who has an EX sedan and does all highway, but he replaced his first set of pads at 156k, he does all his servicing....he has now over 230k on his civic with no problems. It is a 2006.

[Kroze]

Originally Posted by Tiller

Like someone already mentioned, dont skip the "inspections" because it's not just an inspection.

I work at a Honda Dealership and this bugs me to no end people who think it's a $164 oil change. It's not. Yes inspections dont take long and should cost $164, and they dont. You are paying mostly for labour envolve din SERVICING the brakes.....that means every part of the brake, pulling the calipers (drums) apart, relubricating all the slide pins and saddles, to keep noises away, breaking rust build up off the outside edge of rotor to prevent it from creeping onto your braking surface......all of these things will extend the life of your pads a lot. The civic, SI depending on how its driven should easily get 80k on their pads....

For the guy who has 18k on his car and is going to replace his pads, thats absurd....there is no way they should be worn out, you are probably hearing some squeal from the pads being glazed over from braking. (when the metal in the pads spreads out more over the surface causing a squeal in some braking situations) which the service will take care of btw.

Long story short, don't skip the servicing, you dont want to have a pad seize up against your rotor either because rust has stopped the pad from moving freely cause then you will be replacing the pads prematurely and unexpectedly.

Hope this helped. Cheers.

On another note, I have a customer who has an EX sedan and does all highway, but he replaced his first set of pads at 156k, he does all his servicing....he has now over 230k on his civic with no problems. It is a 2006.

230,000 miles on a 06 civic? that's insane or lying.

[sh33t_0f_p4p3r]

Originally Posted by Kroze

230,000 miles on a 06 civic? that's insane or lying.

no, when my grandparents got there 2002 accord in 2003 there was another 2002 that had 299k miles on it from a insurace sales man... i donno what they did with it, the guy said i dont even know how much there ganna get for it

[Tiller]

Originally Posted by Kroze

230,000 miles on a 06 civic? that's insane or lying.

I can get a picture of his odometer next time he is in, which will be in about a week.

He travels for a bank all day long, none stop driving for 8 hours a day. The vehicle was bought right when the civics were released in the fall of 05.

Cheers.

[jcxcr4000]

i had about 22 on my si and they where at about 3/32nds i replaced both front and rear pads but i only did it cause i was taking a long trip and wanted to be safe and not get into the rotor's

[Si_Jeff]

80k miles for si pads? r u serious?

[Tiller]

Absolutely I am, now it all depends on the driver, but as an example I have a lady in her 40's who owns an AS Si with 30k on it and at her last B service she had 80% remaining on her pads. As you can probably tell she isnt hard on the car so she might be at the top end of the pile. I personally plan on getting atleast 60k out of mine.

[CZ-75]

Originally Posted by Tiller

Like someone already mentioned, dont skip the "inspections" because it's not just an inspection.

I work at a Honda Dealership and this bugs me to no end people who think it's a $164 oil change. It's not. Yes inspections dont take long and should cost $164, and they dont. You are paying mostly for labour envolve din SERVICING the brakes.....that means every part of the brake, pulling the calipers (drums) apart, relubricating all the slide pins and saddles, to keep noises away, breaking rust build up off the outside edge of rotor to prevent it from creeping onto your braking surface......all of these things will extend the life of your pads a lot. The civic, SI depending on how its driven should easily get 80k on their pads....

For the guy who has 18k on his car and is going to replace his pads, thats absurd....there is no way they should be worn out, you are probably hearing some squeal from the pads being glazed over from braking. (when the metal in the pads spreads out more over the surface causing a squeal in some braking situations) which the service will take care of btw.

Long story short, don't skip the servicing, you dont want to have a pad seize up against your rotor either because rust has stopped the pad from moving freely cause then you will be replacing the pads prematurely and unexpectedly.

Hope this helped. Cheers.

On another note, I have a customer who has an EX sedan and does all highway, but he replaced his first set of pads at 156k, he does all his servicing....he has now over 230k on his civic with no problems. It is a 2006.

I relubricate the slider pins with every brake job, which takes me all of an extra 5 minutes. No dealer rebuilds the caliper pistons. I "brake" the rust off my rotors, since I never see rust form on the pad/rotor interface unless they've been rained on or sat a long time. A few miles of driving and braking gets this right off. Interestingly enough, the place where I see the rustiest rotors are at new car dealers on the vehicles sitting on the lot. Tell me the dealer scrubs the rust off each one.

As for glazed pads, that is an indicator that the pads aren't all that good and can't take the heat they've been subjected to and have melted at the friction surface. Higher quality pads are in order.

[Tiller]

Originally Posted by CZ-75

I relubricate the slider pins with every brake job, which takes me all of an extra 5 minutes. No dealer rebuilds the caliper pistons. I "brake" the rust off my rotors, since I never see rust form on the pad/rotor interface unless they've been rained on or sat a long time. A few miles of driving and braking gets this right off. Interestingly enough, the place where I see the rustiest rotors are at new car dealers on the vehicles sitting on the lot. Tell me the dealer scrubs the rust off each one.

As for glazed pads, that is an indicator that the pads aren't all that good and can't take the heat they've been subjected to and have melted at the friction surface. Higher quality pads are in order.

I can understand your situation and the brake service isnt needed as much for some people, especially if you live in the "Deep South" our climates are quite different. You should see some of our vehicles under bodies after our winters. I wish I had the luxury of owning a vehicle in the lower states, each one of our vehicles if not properly undercoated will start showing rust in a matter of years with our climate. As for (sorry) "breaking" the rust off the outside edge of the rotors this is true with only 20k on them you dont have much build up, but let your rotors go 50k without attention and sure enough you will build a nice enough "lip" of rust and start making rubbing or grinding noises. By all means if you can do this all yourself, good for you, not arguing you cant. But for the average person who cannot do this "simple" procedure which is about 90% of car owners it is important to get done. As for the glazing, well it does happen and through my experience Honda uses some of the highest quality pads still, unlike some manufacturers, no manufacturer aside from high end ones are going to put the very top of the line pads in every vehicle, especially not a compact car costing 20k. Glazing doesnt occur to every driver either, it is typical so a certain style of braking, people who like to ride the brakes down a hill rather then applying force and then releasing and reapplying as needed for an example.

All in all, this is all my opinion take it as you want, but if you are in a northern area of the continent it is worth the money if you cant do it yourself, it just bugs me that people call it an "inspection" of the brakes for $160, it's not. Sure you can do it yourself for a fraction of the price, but it's like anything a business is a business and needs to cover it's own cost of operation to provide these services. You dont go and rip into roofers when they quote you a cost of $2000 to redo your shingles when the parts only cost $300, the fact remains that most peple wont and cant re-shingle their roofs....thats my point.

[CZ-75]

Originally Posted by Tiller

I can understand your situation and the brake service isnt needed as much for some people, especially if you live in the "Deep South" our climates are quite different. You should see some of our vehicles under bodies after our winters. I wish I had the luxury of owning a vehicle in the lower states, each one of our vehicles if not properly undercoated will start showing rust in a matter of years with our climate. As for (sorry) "breaking" the rust off the outside edge of the rotors this is true with only 20k on them you dont have much build up, but let your rotors go 50k without attention and sure enough you will build a nice enough "lip" of rust and start making rubbing or grinding noises. By all means if you can do this all yourself, good for you, not arguing you cant. But for the average person who cannot do this "simple" procedure which is about 90% of car owners it is important to get done. As for the glazing, well it does happen and through my experience Honda uses some of the highest quality pads still, unlike some manufacturers, no manufacturer aside from high end ones are going to put the very top of the line pads in every vehicle, especially not a compact car costing 20k. Glazing doesnt occur to every driver either, it is typical so a certain style of braking, people who like to ride the brakes down a hill rather then applying force and then releasing and reapplying as needed for an example.

All in all, this is all my opinion take it as you want, but if you are in a northern area of the continent it is worth the money if you cant do it yourself, it just bugs me that people call it an "inspection" of the brakes for $160, it's not. Sure you can do it yourself for a fraction of the price, but it's like anything a business is a business and needs to cover it's own cost of operation to provide these services. You dont go and rip into roofers when they quote you a cost of $2000 to redo your shingles when the parts only cost $300, the fact remains that most peple wont and cant re-shingle their roofs....thats my point.

Our climates are very different; rust is 12 months a year issue here, unlike back up North, where winter and all the road salt usually makes it a three month issue. I never undercoated any vehicle and I never had a rust problem for the 9 years I owned my first Acura in Missouri and Illinois.
My rotors get lips on them, but not of rust, even though the lip is rusty. Pad wear of the rotor causes that. I don't do anything about it until it gets fairly significant and then I pitch the rotors and buy new ones at the next brake job. Never caused noise issues for me.

[iqbbang]

^ i have been avoiding dealerships ever since i got my exhaust and intake. Am i just being dumb? will dealerships accept to service my car when they see this:

hate to jack, but i really want to get my brakes or the whole car serviced by a dealership