Anyone Know Pad Break Wear Limits

[IGGGY]

I have an '07 HB that just had it's 25K inspection. Service report says 8MM material remaining in the front and 5MM in the rear. At what point am I do a break job? Thanks in advance.

[RedRide]

I guess the legal minmum can vary with each state but, you are still well above it.
In other words, you still have plenty of safe and legal life left in them.

[yaris-me]

The pads usually squeal, because of the wear indicators. When you hear grinding, then you've gone too far.

[YarisSedan]

Brand new brake pads for the front are about 8mm and about 5-6 for the rear. So your brakes are brand new still.

So i guess according to how they are wearing you should need brakes in about 200k miles.

[40oz]

Originally Posted by yaris-me

The pads usually squeal, because of the wear indicators. When you hear grinding, then you've gone too far.

+1 on that.

Alot of people throw away there brakes too early. I just wait untill I hear the sensors grinding on the rotors. I mean they built them damn sensors for a reason, cause those companies know we are too lazy to do any kind of pad thickness measuring or what not.

[AND189]

well mate i have a 08 5 door man HB and they have said that i have 80% left at 10-->50,000 so if your auto you will bern through at about twice the rate as a man

[AND189]

40OZ Alot of people throw away there brakes too early. I just wait untill I hear the sensors grinding on the rotors. I mean they built them damn sensors for a reason, cause those companies know we are too lazy to do any kind of pad thickness measuring or what not.

mate you don't want to get to the point where you hear the sensors grinding on the rotors it will welt/ scrap the disk and the new set will not have 100% contact and will significantly reduse braking performance you need to finde people with the same car engine size and number of doors for weight then ask them when they changed there pads and around the time they do you should ... they are not expensive but can be if you scrape the disc, its a lot like tires you don't wait for the indicator to be level with the tread because they are unsafe to use well befor that (in the wet ), i guess you need to be in a crash or see one to understand you need to look after your tires and brakes because if they fail you will kick yourself if you could have avoided a crash or a near miss if you had changed brakes or tire, its your life .... something i learnt the hard way, all the best

[YarisSedan]

Originally Posted by 40oz

+1 on that.

Alot of people throw away there brakes too early. I just wait untill I hear the sensors grinding on the rotors. I mean they built them damn sensors for a reason, cause those companies know we are too lazy to do any kind of pad thickness measuring or what not.

Just so you know when you hear the sensor touching the rotor you have just about 1mm left of brakepad thickness if that much sometimes. Also sensors do brake off. You may here it for just a second and then pop it goes and you may not notice it.

One other thing to mention the last 1mm of thickness is where the binding material ie the glue that holds it to the metal plate of the brake pad. This portion of the remaining brake lining is much harder because of the glue that is saturated into it and typically you get a lot of rotor glazing if you continue to drive it. That is why most manufactures recommend replacement at 1.5mm to the sensor. Not because they want to change your brake pads early and waste your money. Because there is a reason.

[AND189]

YarisSedan thats what im talking bout On ya YarisSedan

[yaris-me]

Originally Posted by 40oz

+1 on that.

Alot of people throw away there brakes too early. I just wait untill I hear the sensors grinding on the rotors. I mean they built them damn sensors for a reason, cause those companies know we are too lazy to do any kind of pad thickness measuring or what not.

The wear indicators don't grind, they squeal. Grinding suggest that the indicators are causing damage.

I don't think anyone is suggesting to do anything unsafe, but the OP just wants to know a reasonable point when the brakes should be serviced. If the service dept suggest that the brakes be serviced, then do so. If you hear the brakes squeal then go and have them checked.

[BLH]

I have a very low mileage 2007 Sedan.
Dealer did an oil change and a 28 point complementary inspection
For the brakes it has.
A Green dot for >5mm disks or >2mm drum
A Yellow Dot for 3 to 5mm disk or 1.01 to 2mm drum
A Red dot for < 3mm disk or < 1mm drum.

[RedRide]

I has been my experience that by the time the wear indicator squeal, the brakes are past their original stopping power. The idicators are like idiot lights for the brakes and shoudl not be relied upon by someome who likes to keep their car in top notch condition.

Originally Posted by BLH

I have a very low mileage 2007 Sedan.
Dealer did an oil change and a 28 point complementary inspection
For the brakes it has.
A Green dot for >5mm disks or >2mm drum
A Yellow Dot for 3 to 5mm disk or 1.01 to 2mm drum
A Red dot for < 3mm disk or < 1mm drum.

Yeah, I got that (28 point inpection) done recently with my '02 Celica during a NYS inspection (it passed "with flying colors") and it was/is a complete farce. I know they did not inspect half the things they said they did. It was all well and good with me though as I didn't want them poking around my car anyway!

[40oz]

to AND189: when you say the sensors will scrap the rotor and damage them I say you are wrong. Maybe when you drive with them scraping continuosly. I mean change the pads as soon as you hear the sound. Those sensors arent strong enough to damage your rotors. Infact they are designed to wear with the rotor producing a squeling sound. Maybe it will damage rotors if you drive with them rotors squeling for a prolong period of time.

to yaris sedan: When I look at a new pair of pads, seems like where the sensors line up with more than 1mm on the pads. It seems like its meaty enough to grab the rotors in emergency situations. I use hawk pads so it might be different on what your used to, so I can't say. Maybe Ill measure tomorrow, but sure looks meaty enough. You are right about them sensors braking off. But what chances of all the sensors on different brake pads aswell braking off at same time. I mean thats a bad example to say whats on my mind but let me put it this way...

If you driven your car enough, do your own maintenance, and know the dynamics of your car and have a keen ear for unusual sounds of your car I think you are good to go. If not then take as much preventative measure as you can. I'm just not that way and try to use everything efficently as possible.

Some people say fix it before it breaks. Some people say fix when you have too (when it breaks). I say fix it when you catch the symptons of a failing part (before it completely breaks).

to yaris-me: grinding squeling pretty much the same thing. I refer to squeling as a sound. The sensors itself are grinding on the rotor. I agree with you on what you have to say though.

"I don't think anyone is suggesting to do anything unsafe, but the OP just wants to know a reasonable point when the brakes should be serviced. If the service dept suggest that the brakes be serviced, then do so. If you hear the brakes squeal then go and have them checked." yaris-me

To sum it all up. It is true everyone has different ways and what not doing things. If you dont do your own maintenance, talk with the service man and see whats best after hearing what people ought to say. If you know alot about whats up, do your thing. If your broke (like me) drive safe and do thing efficently as possible. If your better off, buy some nice comfort tires before your tires go bald, better pads... etc...

Many variables on how things are done, and everyone has there own way.
I never really got this phrase in its entirety, but I'm just dropping my 2 cents.

[YarisSedan]

i think to sum it up really is its better safe than sorry. Especially when you are talking about something as important as brakes.

[AND189]

here here YarisSedan

[Yaris Hilton]

"Sensors" (brake pad wear indicators) don't grind rotors, they make a little cyclic squeak that varies with the wheel rotation speed and is only heard when the car's going fairly slow with the brakes off. Put the brakes on and the squeak goes away. People who always drive with their windows shut and the stereo on never hear them, and when metal parts of the caliper hit the disk and grind, permanent damage has already been done. It's very unsafe to drive by that time. Last year I had to pay $500 for a brake job on my daughter's Echo because she'd let it go to that point and the only place I could get it fixed over the holiday was the pricey Goodyear tire store.

[40oz]

Originally Posted by Yaris Hilton

"Sensors" (brake pad wear indicators) don't grind rotors, they make a little cyclic squeak that varies with the wheel rotation speed and is only heard when the car's going fairly slow with the brakes off. Put the brakes on and the squeak goes away. People who always drive with their windows shut and the stereo on never hear them, and when metal parts of the caliper hit the disk and grind, permanent damage has already been done. It's very unsafe to drive by that time. Last year I had to pay $500 for a brake job on my daughter's Echo because she'd let it go to that point and the only place I could get it fixed over the holiday was the pricey Goodyear tire store.

Of course its unsafe to drive to the metal part. Whether people agree with me or not, I'm saying its okay to ride the pads untill you hear the sound. Let me tell you, before my sister got her camry she had a honda accord that had spueling brakes. The sound was very noticeable even with windows up and radio (not blasting though). Every time I met her I told her to do a brake job. Then it been a few months since I first heard that sound on my sisters car and still she hadn't taken it to a shop. When she came over to my place I just did it for her. Looked at the pad and was very close to metal but still some meat after a few months of squealing brakes.

I'm not saying take it that far by anymeans. I'm saying its safe enough to service it when you first hear the sound.

Again everyone has their own circumstances. Just sharing mine.

[IGGGY]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I think it's safe to say that the front disk brakes can wait to be changed until you hear the wear indicator. But the rear brakes are drum with no wear warning. How thin can the rear brakes safely go?