Original brake pads lasting forever
 

I am up to 115k miles on my 2013 BRZ (bought new in 2013 with 5 miles). I drive 100 miles per day for work 5 days a week, hitting heavy stop and go traffic each way. In addition to that, I drive a decent amount for personal use. Probably ~26k/year

Last week I started hearing a squeak when I applied the brakes and thought I was finally due for new pads so I go out to my local dealership yesterday to pick up pads. I flipped up my caliper today to find my current pads have almost half of pad meat left; both sides have identical wear. Has anyone else had pads this long? On my prior cars (Integra GSR, S2000) I've replaced pads twice within similar mileage.

https://i.imgur.com/Dt0teEJ.jpg

By 20k km (12.4k miles), I had my brakes changed twice.

At 36k after dozens of autocrosses and canyon runs my pads still had 75+% left

I have replaced a motor before I have replaced discs or pads....

:iono:

I have gone 65000km on my 86 just recently got my car serviced and was told I have 50% left on my front pads 70-75% rear

2.5 years, nearly 20k miles with majority of it being city driving - 80% pad life left...

If you think about it these stock pads are pretty damn economical. Nothing to brag about, but hey they certainly give you a crap ton of service before kaput.

It's not stock pads that last long. It's not driving on track that makes pads last long hence putting 5-20 times less wear on them, depending how often. Most going to track had upgraded to non-stock pads after all, be it right away, or after quick wearing down of stockers.

Brakes make you go slow. Good on you for not using them.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/68/75...3cf1857f3f.jpg

But i guess it might be applicable only for past, when brakes were so bad that couldn't be much relied upon anyway. Unless it's straight like eg. dragstrip, one cannot lap faster without using brakes. There are other ways to bleed speed too, eg. sliding sideways, but they'll make one's lap speed worse aswell vs proper driving. And even in rally driving on gravel or ice sliding everywhere stages, brakes are used for mass transfer / turning a lot, not just for primary function. If one drives fast enough, one needs to slow down enough .. and at right point, right amount and in right fashion.

I have a 2013 FR-S with 131k miles on it. 150 miles a day, daily driver.

And yeah, at 125k I bought new pads, pulled the driver's side caliper off and there was so much pad left I just bolted 'em back on.

I do a lot of hypermiling though and use gears to drop my speed in a lot of the twisties. And on i-65 I don't need to brake much.


BTW, I haven't replaced the plugs yet, either.

I'm not a fan of the brakes on this car, though.

At about 80k I was coming off the freeway, dropping from 80 to about 50 and they started rumbling pretty bad. I thought they were worn out, but they were not. It must just be the modern material in the brakes because I notice my wife's car does it too. It's not the pulsating of a warped rotor. It's a weird rumbling. I hate it.

I thought about getting slotted discs when I DO replace the pads, but even that doesn't look like it will do the trick. (drilled are obsolete according to every single "knowledgeable" brake rundown I read).

I wouldn't get slotted pads, they just wear pads out faster. I'd check the rotors for deposits of pad material, that could make them feel a bit funny.

I'm at 36.7k @ 3.5 years, with about 210 miles a week for work.

I'm almost over 75% use of pads. I think due to all the stopping I do (imagine going only 10 miles an hour across 20 miles).

So I'm researching new pads now since I'd probably use the rest by Valentines day.

My wife's Camry did the same thing. The pads were fine and disc runout didn't seem to be the problem. I bet on the hunch it was a bedding issue. Took the car out to a back road and did threshold level 65-15 mph stops until the brakes faded just a bit. Problem solved.

Do different pads provide a different feel? Like do organic pads feel firmer or softer than semi-metallic or ceramic or whatever?

I have a Wilwood kit with semi-metallic pads. I've bled my brakes with a mechanic friend twice on two separate occasions and there is no air in the lines, but the pedal feels like I can bottom it out if I push hard enough. The pedal feels to have less bite unless I slam it when braking abruptly. My friend's M2 has huge brakes, but I never expected them to be so on and off. I figured mine would be better than stock in endurance (heat management), stopping power and modulation/feel. I really can't remember what my car felt like stock, so it is hard to tell how the car compares. I guess I am looking for firmer feel.

It was the rear pads, they had only a few mm of pad left. Fronts are good for a few more years.

What do you mean by "bedding"?

Never mind. I googled it. Who knew?!

Yup! Lots of cars with EBD will go through rear pads more quickly than fronts for those that do mostly easy-ish street driving.

- Andrew

I pulled my stock pads off at 35k because I got a great deal on my favorite spirited DD pad, the stoptech sports. I was shocked that there was barely any wear. I've been doing mountain runs, up and down, and DD'ing on backroads the cars whole life.

The brake dust was hardly evident before I swapped the stoptechs on...

Put nearly 200k on my truck before I replaced the factory pads

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In my commuter cars I used to do a lot of engine breaking, because of that my pads used to last a very long time. After some research I discovered the general recommendation is NOT to use engine breaking when you should be using breaks.

The logic is simple: Its cheaper and easier to replace break pads than to replace a clutch. I still take my foot off the gas to slow but if I need to change gear I use the breaks.

I would suspect people with high mileage break pads instinctively do the following:

1. Keep a good distance between you and the car in front allowing you to slow without the need to break constantly.
2. Do not over accelerate in traffic causing excessive breaking (and fuel consumption).
3. Use engine breaking a lot.
4. Do not race to the next set of traffic lights.
5. Do a lot of freeway driving. (This is major).

People with low mileage break pads are doing the following:

1. Accelerate hard.
2. Break Hard.
3. Race to the next set of traffic lights.
4. Ride peoples butt/ass on the freeway.
5. Get less than 25 mpg.

Having said all of the above there are days where I go back to my old pattern of engine breaking all the time. Its hard to break old habits.

P.S.
I have excluded people who autocross/race. If your breaks are lasting your doing it wrong.

I try not to break my engine nor my brakes.

On a serious note, I'm at 60,000 miles, and my pads are only down about 1 mm from when I bough the car w/ 23,000 miles on it. And here I thought I was special.... :)

I've seen this before where people think that engine braking wears out the clutch. If the clutch is fully engauged then it will no longer be slipping. If it isn't slipping then it isn't wearing. The only extra wear I can think of from engine braking is if you downshift through each gear in which case you would put a little wear on the clutch and the syncros.

I don't engine brake to save pads though. I just do it because it's fun. It's part of driving a manual. The extra wear would be hard to measure so who cares.

I know this is an old post, but yes pads can give a different feel but I don't think that's the case for your pads. Does the pedal feel change much from when the pads are cold vs. when you've been putting a lot of heat into them?


What are the size of the pistons in the Wilwoods compared to stock?

I made it 70,000 miles with my stock brakes. Just bought new rotors and pads all around. Should be a fun install next week.

I have used engine braking (not so much into engine breaking) on every car I have ever owned. Never had to replace a clutch yet. When you figure in how many times you shift during driving then the total amount to do it to brake becomes meaningless as far as wear is concerned. Even if slowing down by using the brakes you still need to downshift so the gains are minimal at best.

MMMM, I knead to pruf reed better. :bonk:

I agree, the one thing I don't do any more is shift down the gears to slow down. I just hit the breaks and go direct the lowest gear I think I will "knead".

Yes, different pads will feel different. My Winmax W5s feel very spongy and vague when cold but simply swap in my EBC Yellows and I get consistently solid feel from stone cold in -20c up to 32c being pounded around on track.

Edit: Feel I should clarify, I'm not talking up the EBC Yellows against the Winmax W5. The W5 is a dedicated track pad and isn't designed to be run cold but it is amazing once it's hot and the EBC Yellows don't compare in terms of bite or feel once they're hot.

Double clutch to be kind to your synchros when you do that.

Which I do but most people don’t and/or don’t know how.

I add speed bleeders and did a power bleed. I tried to cycle the ABS too before bleeding in case any air was trapped. It is much better but not 100%. In general the pedal feel is amazing at high speeds when I have to punch the brakes. Not as much at low speeds. Im planning to rebleed in a few months and then try EBC red stuff for the street when my pads need changing.

How are you supposed to check the pad thickness ?
I had the wheels off and I could not even see the pads.
Do you need to remove the caliper to check the pad thickness ?