When to change brakepads?

Brakes are designed to start to make a sort of metal on metal grinding when they are close to requiring a change, if when the window is down you don't hear that your prpbrably good, however that's not the only sign you may need new pads even if you don't hear this sign or don't need them if you do.

You can see the pad through the wheel, you should have at least 1/4 inch minimum of good pad



My 2011 cruze ltz 1.4T has 48k on the odo and has around 15-20k miles left on the pads, and yes the first few presses on the pads after rain is superficial rust adhering to the ceramic pads a little better that the fine metal rotor, you wear that down with only a couple turns of the wheel

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ProDigit said:

After how many miles should I start looking at changing my brake pads?
I have a 2011 Chevrolet Eco, and I always brake the car very mildly.
I also shift into higher gear, and have the engine engine-brake at between 2-3k RPM to aid the braking process.
I never go below 1750RPM or 2nd gear, because the engine does not aid braking there anymore, but pushes the car forward instead. So Third gear, 1750RPM is about 15MPH when I shift it into neutral, and come to a full stop in Neutral, never in gear, before a stoplight.

Lately I've noted, with the rain and stuff, that my brakes work really really well the first or second time using them from a cold start.
I'm thinking it might be the humidity, or perhaps some superficial rust.
And they squeak a bit too, mostly the rear brakes; only the first few brakes.
Once on the road, the brakes make no more noise, and brake pretty well.

I changed my tires at 48k miles; and wonder when the brake pads should be changed?
I currently have 50k miles on my car.

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Replacingbrakes

Replacing brakes is more of a matter of wear and condition than a specific set mileage. Most brake pads have wear indicators that begin to make a very bad scraping sound when the pads are close to done, but waiting for that sound can be misleading at times. If a caliper is sticking or any of a number of other problems can cause uneven pad wear and the one with the scraper might not be hitting yet, but the other pads could be metal to metal. Also the rotors can be worn, heat checked and glazed causing them to need to be turned and/or replaced.

The best thing to do is physically inspect all four brake rotors and pads (or drums and shoes in the rear if the Eco has drum rear brakes). Honestly if you are asking when to replace if they are drum in the rear it would probably be best to have them professionally inspected as drum brakes are much more complicated than disc brakes and also require specialty tools to change and adjust. If your car is 4 wheel disc brakes doing an inspection and ultimately a brake job yourself is pretty easy, but I wont go into that here...

Basically remove each wheel one at a time while properly supporting the vehicle with jackstands and look at the condition of the rotors and pads. The rotors should be smooth and free of any grooves or abrasive wear, they should also not be glossy or show evidence of overheating like hot spots or cracks. Then for your pads, look at the pads from the back of the caliper and/or edge of the rotor to make sure there is adequate pad thickness from the pad material not the metal backer plate of the pad. I generally would not recommend letting the brake pads wear down much more than about an 1/8 or 1/16 of an inch. If they are there or less you need to buy new pads and plan on doing a brake job pretty quickly. It is easy to check and monitor you pad wear when you are rotating your tires.

I hope this helps...

Major problem with my Cruze and other vehicles using these metal clips on the torque plates is that they trap moisture or in our case, road salt. Expands the clips, binds the pads, and they can't return to their home position. Have to remove and clean them then coat with anti-seize. Also have to clean the caliper guide pins with a nice thick coat of silicone grease.

Just had to redo the brakes on my 88 Supra, was getting brake drag, just turned 60K miles on it. You don't jam in the pistons with a large C-clamp, the edges of the pistons have to be cleaned. But this was not my problem, just 28 years old and a lot of gum on the pistons.

Had to remove each one and clean the gum off the pistons, looked like new again, quick hone on the cylinders, and paid four bucks per caliper for new rubber. Pads are still original, very little wear, guide pins needed cleaning, that silicone was getting hard. Does have an AT, can downshift that just like a MT to save on brake wear, but just about everybody in town flies up to a stop sign and slams on their brakes. They don't last very long driving this way.

They also slam on the gas pedal when taking off, not good on the powertrain. But somehow manage to stay ahead of them by judging traffic about a half mile ahead, without wrecking my vehicles in the process.