Brake Pads at 80% Worn

[Deleted User]

Hi all, can you help? :cool:

I was told by the garage that I use today that my brake pads are 80% worn.

I was thinking that means 20% is left, so they are fine to use for a while longer.

Then a colleague told me that this is dangerous and that I should get them changed immediately.

What do you think about this?

Cameron1590_2

Hi Buddy,

Dont worry

It depends on your how many miles you do but just think how long its taken to get them that worn.

I often do 10,000 miles to a set of pads on my bike so I would do around another 2,000 miles and get them checked, unless you can check yourself.

C

motorguy

Theyre not expensive so i would get them changed. once they get down to the last 25% or so the heat being generated can break the bonding between the abrasive pad and the backing plate, so you could end up damaging your discs. Plus braking efficiency generally starts to go as the pads reach end of life

Richard53

I would regard 80% worn as ready for replacement. As said above, part of the pads' job is absorbing heat from braking, and the less pad material, the hotter they get. You can use them down to the last millimetre if you like, but you'd better be using them gently and checking them regularly - get down to metal and your discs are damaged, which puts the cost of replacement up considerably.

20% remaining sounds like a good time to replace. Cheap insurance.

jay1181

If it was my car i would have them replaced in the next few months if you don't do much miles. But if you do i would get them changed for peace of mind. Should only cost about £100 tops at good garage scheme members garage.

assj wrote: »

Hi all, can you help? :cool:

I was told by the garage that I use today that my brake pads are 80% worn.

I was thinking that means 20% is left, so they are fine to use for a while longer.

Then a colleague told me that this is dangerous and that I should get them changed immediately.

What do you think about this?

londonTiger

25% is the minimum I would get the pads down. How much is that in mm? I on on about 5mm and is somerwhere between 1/3 and 1/4 it's due to be done.

pads are cheap to buy, but labour is expensive because it is fidgity to change over. Parts and labour costs about £200 all corners.

[Deleted User]

I have a quote to do the front pads for just under £70.

But I just wanted to check before I decided, I only have the car 6 more months and then it goes back, so I wanted to be sure :-)

Thanks all

waynedance

I would also change if get worn out could score the discs up and more expense.

Joe_Horner

Brake linings are a (relatively) bad conductor of heat. The heat they generate has to go in one of two directions - into the disk (which is why vented disks were invented) or through the backing and into the calipers. Thin pads will make no difference to heat being transferred to the disk because it's generated right at the disk anyway, and will actually increase heat dissipation through the backing into the calipers.

"80 percent worn" is a bit like a Jezzer Kyle contestant saying they're "90% sure" who the daddy is - it's a complete misuse of maths to give a false sense of certainty. Unless he knew what the original thickness was, has removed and measured the remaining thickness, and has accounted for the faster initial wear as they bed in and the slightly reduced wear rate as they hin (because their surfaces run cooler because of the better heat transfer) the sort of accuracy that a percentage figure appears to give just isn't possible. Even putting that to one side, is he saying that 80% of the total lining thickness has worn away or is he talking 80% of the useable thickness?

A much more useful figure is the actual thickness that's left. For MOT purposes, you can wear them down to 1.5mm quite legally (and safely). For sensible use and not risking your disks, 2mm remaining is a nice safe limit.

Looks at a ruler - 2mm is surprisingly thin - then (if you can see them) look at your pads. If they're clearly thicker than that 2mm then he's trying to sell you pads you don't need yet.

zeon999

Saying 80% worn is not the best way of putting it, 80% of what the total amount allowed to be used or the total amount, meaning 100% would be grinding metal.

What you have to keep in mind here is the less pad you have the hotter the calipers will get and more likely to have brake fade. Which if you have not changed your brake fluid in a long time too can be a very dangerous combination.

Also to keep in mind if you run them down to 100% used then you would be grinding metal meaning cost of disc replacement too. Pads are cheap, discs and pads together are an expensive job.

Do get them done soon.

JQ.

JJSmithh wrote: »

I would highly recommend getting them sorted, although, my advice would to use this site called ******** where basically, you upload pictures of what you need doing and your local garages fight to give you the cheapest price, its awesome!

Hope this is helpful

x

So you've posted 3 times on this site since joinng and every post includes the website you're abviously promoting. Spam reported.