When To Change Brakes

I took my 2002 Honda Civic LX in for service yesterday. The tech noted the
front brakes is at 6.9MM and the rear brakes is at 3.4MM. I'm wondering at
what point should they be replaced.

 

How many miles you have on them?

 

Brake specs/service limits:

1.6mm for front/rear pad thickness.
2.0mm for rear lining thickness.

HTH

 

23,000 miles

 

--
Brian
www.accesswave.ca/~orion


How many kilometres are on your car? You gave us the measurements, how much
is that in a percentage? What did the technician recommend?

It's really hard to give you an answer, because different people drive in
(sometimes) radically different ways. I replaced the rear pads on my '01
Accord V6 after 89,000 kilometres of combined mileage (mostly city, though).
If my Wife was to be the only driver of the car, I would have had to change
them a considerable amount sooner.

 

Unless you ride the brakes, it should go 50K
Tom

 

City driving or a lot of stop n' go driving is harder on brakes,so you
can't go by mileage alone.

 

Hello,
I agree with HTH--when the brakes are at or below the below figures--it's
time to have them replaced regardless of the mileage.

Brake specs/service limits:

1.6mm for front/rear pad thickness.
2.0mm for rear lining thickness.

 

Driving style prevails, as is the quality of the pads. I had 92K miles on a
set of pads in a manual Sentra, 60K miles on a set of pads in an automatic
Sentra, 30K miles on the original pads in the Accord and they're still have
66% tread. Most of my driving is city/suburb. Automatic transmission is
harsher on the pads. If you go easy on the brakes, they will last longer.

 

The manual's limits are what you can get without hardware damage. But
if the pad has less than 25%-30% left, then its' time to change. You
are likely to start noticing brake fades and the thinner pads wear
faster than newer ones. 4-5mm (front) is about where I'll change mine.
(I think the accord started with 5mm at the rear? Dunno)

 

Great point. Two neighbors could buy identical new vehicles on the same
day. Due to driving style--the brakes on one of the vehicles may last one
year but the brakes on the other identical vehicle may last 4 years.

 

Good point. Besides, often all 4 pads on same axle wear unevenly: from pad
to pad and on the 4 corners of the same pad itself: I have measured before
pad material left from 2mm to 4mm on all 4 pads for same axle. Because of
this, when I inspect pads, I inspect all 4 pads, I even remove the pads for
measurement with a small ruler on all 4 corners of each pad. Most mechanics
in garages dont bother and visual inspect only one side of the pad on one
wheel. If they find 4 or 5 mm, they might say 50 % life left, without
noticing another pad might have only 2mm left: due for an immediate change.

..