Hi

 

Just had the car MOT'd and no advisories. I asked about bake pad wear and the guy said probably another couple of thousand miles and warned about going down to the rivets. I came away thinking if they were so low wouldn't it have been an advisory and isn't there a wear sensor on the brakes?

 

Is he just latching on to me showing concern or should I carry on until wear indicator comes on?

 

If I need to change are Bosche pads good enough or would you recommend other brand? 

 

Cheers

 

Simon

Did your garage provide any form of report?

 

I had my car MOT and minor serviced by ATS, they gave me a report: 5mm on front tyres, 3mm on rear tyres. 6mm on front brake pads, 7mm on rear pads. Pretty good for an 80k miles car. Should be able to do another 40k on the same pads.

There are no rivets on pads.

 

If he said your pads were only good for a couple of couple of thousand miles then there should have been an advisory (2mm pad thickness or less)

 

Some cars have wear sensors, some don't. You'll need to take off the front wheels to check for the wire from the pads, usually just on near side.

 

Measure the pad thicknesses outer and inner all round ideally with a micrometer, measure disc thickness at the same time and compare to minimum thickness, sometimes engraved on the hub, or look it up.

 

Change pads if less than 3 or 4mm, or if you are a high miler, 5mm or more. 

 

Bosch pads are good. All European supplied pads should be as required by ECE 90 regulations.

Thanks for the replies. 

 

No report. I thought the new MOT might have provided more info.

 

Just had a look (poked camera at several angles behind the wheel) and no sensor and having pushed and poke my fingers around the pads I suspect around 4mm on the front pads. 

 

I think I'll bite the bullet and get them done before any damage is done to the disks themselves as I'll be keeping the car for another couple of years.

 

Thanks

 

Simon

New pads are 20mm pad thickness

At a Main Dealers they would likely have said the discs were worn rather than pads and advised replacing.

Actually often the pads outlast discs once you check them closely. 

If pads are needed then replace, if pads and discs then do that, but the brakes need servicing and maintenance and brake fluid changed if not done already.

Thanks I did wonder just how much material was there in the first place.

 

This is a pic of a front pad.