[Wedgit]

Hey all,

I took my car in for a new thermostat this afternoon and they told me that my brake pads were severely low. I was under the impression that each pad had a sensor to warn me when they were past a certain point.

I recently had my Virginia safety inspection done on the car and it passed with no issues regarding the brakes... I'm curious if I'm getting ripped off or if there's a reasonable explanation for this.

Thanks.

[BP3i7]

Originally Posted by Wedgit

Hey all,

I took my car in for a new thermostat this afternoon and they told me that my brake pads were severely low. I was under the impression that each pad had a sensor to warn me when they were past a certain point.

I recently had my Virginia safety inspection done on the car and it passed with no issues regarding the brakes... I'm curious if I'm getting ripped off or if there's a reasonable explanation for this.

Thanks.

Can't you just look for yourself how much pad is left? But to answer your question, there's only one sensor in the front, another in the rear. So if you dont replace in pairs, I guess this could happen.

[fravel]

I recently had a similar situation, I was about half way home on a 500 mile trip when I stopped for food and noticed the distinctive "there isn't any pad material left" grinding noise coming from my drivers-side rear tire. Got out, did a visual check and sure enough, I was all the way down to the backing plate - no lights.

When I got home and got a chance to tear into them, I discovered a couple things: #1 There was a thick build-up on my caliper pins that made them difficult to remove. #2. The outside pads on all 4 corners were dangerously low, but the inside pads still had a fair bit of life left in them (5000 miles at least).

Now, the Bentley manual explicitly states that you should not put grease on the caliper pins because it can cause them to bind. I believe that is what happened to me - whoever changed the brakes last put some sort of grease on the caliper pins, and over time that grease broke down and became the thick build-up I discovered. That build up kept my caliper from moving freely and caused the outside pads on all 4 wheels to have a slight drag, wearing them down faster. Since the pad wear monitors are on the inside pads, we get no warning.

[Wedgit]

Originally Posted by fravel

I recently had a similar situation, I was about half way home on a 500 mile trip when I stopped for food and noticed the distinctive "there isn't any pad material left" grinding noise coming from my drivers-side rear tire. Got out, did a visual check and sure enough, I was all the way down to the backing plate - no lights.

When I got home and got a chance to tear into them, I discovered a couple things: #1 There was a thick build-up on my caliper pins that made them difficult to remove. #2. The outside pads on all 4 corners were dangerously low, but the inside pads still had a fair bit of life left in them (5000 miles at least).

Now, the Bentley manual explicitly states that you should not put grease on the caliper pins because it can cause them to bind. I believe that is what happened to me - whoever changed the brakes last put some sort of grease on the caliper pins, and over time that grease broke down and became the thick build-up I discovered. That build up kept my caliper from moving freely and caused the outside pads on all 4 wheels to have a slight drag, wearing them down faster. Since the pad wear monitors are on the inside pads, we get no warning.

This is it - just about the same exact problem I had. Wondering now if they were even checked during the safety inspection heh.

Hope your rotors are ok!