Brake question & advice request

[Guest]

I had my brakes replaced several thousand miles ago (cant think off the top of my head). Both front & rear were replaced on the garage (I trust them) recommendation.

Had my car back with them for another service, and they advised fronts were 80% remaining, rears 30-40%. I do around 25-30k a year, virtually all motorways so the mileage wasn't too much of a surprise for me. What was was the rear going much sooner then the fronts?

Is this normal?

Secondly, At this rate I am going to go through two sets of pads a year, which adds up. Can anyone recommend any after market pads that might be up for the motorway abuse and fairly regularly high speed braking? is it worth looking into them instead of the Bosch I usually go for?

Cheers guys

[cheezemonkhai]

I used EBC red, which work well on fast road, motorway (with fast stops) and wear pretty well.

They work well with OEM discs.

I've posted up here how they work well, but some people hate them. IMHO as long as it's the new version (ceramic V3 or newer) then you'll be fine with those. That plus the cost isn't much more than OEM.

[Aspman]

I've just changed my rears before the fronts. Not much between them for wear tbh but the rears were starting to grind.

Never had a set of discs outlast the pads for a long time now. I've always had to change both at the same time.

[Guest]

Thanks guys, still looking for more opinions! i would rather not have brakes that are good at fast but bad at slow speeds. I dont really drive the car ''fast'' these days due to fuel cost & I need the car to be reliable. I'm just looking at replacing them twice a year, at least.....

[marcevo1]

I'd expect to get 20-30k out of oe pads/disks on a road car. More for the rears as less work on them.

Beware the uprated pad route as your disks wear really quickly if they are not running the right temperature. I was getting 10k (just) out of carbone Lorraine fast roads - that's with spirited everyday driving... Very (VERY) good though - knackered the alloy wheels with hot metal as well!

[cheezemonkhai]

Thanks guys, still looking for more opinions! i would rather not have brakes that are good at fast but bad at slow speeds. I dont really drive the car ''fast'' these days due to fuel cost & I need the car to be reliable. I'm just looking at replacing them twice a year, at least.....

The EBC red are at least OEM standard of braking when cold and much better than OEM when warmed up IMHO.

All I would say is don't fit any uprated at the rears and OEM at the front.

I ran EBC up front and OEM at the rear and that's fine, but the other way around is potentially asking for trouble.

[skodacarman]

Rears will go sooner than fronts with routine gentle braking - the system loads the back rather than the front to reduce 'dive'