On 7/30/2020 1:33 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:
> What metric do you use to estimate remaining front brake pad life on a
> typical economy sedan (assuming normal driving under normal conditions)?
>
> A neighbor's kid was heading off to college where her mother asked me to
> take a look at her vehicle, where I found a few things to warn them of
> such as this rack and pinion steering boot badly torn for some reason:
> <https://i.postimg.cc/L4GHNsQG/boot01.jpg>

>
> The owner asked me how many miles those pads had left under normal driving:
> <https://i.postimg.cc/nrD3HTJK/pads03.jpg>
>
> I wasn't sure, so I guessed wildly at roughly about 5 thousand miles to go:
> <https://i.postimg.cc/q7NyVq0y/pads04.jpg>
>
> But what metric do you use to estimate a pad's remaining life given only
> the thickness of the front pads, and the fact that you are told the vehicle
> is driven by a typical owner under typical driving on typical roads?
>

What is normal? Nothing a teenager does is normal.
What I use does not apply unless you are in the same situation.
When I lived in the city, it was a stretch to get 12 to 15,000 miles
from a set of pads. Stop sign on every corner, traffic lights on the
main streets, even the highway would have some stop and go at a couple
of spots.

When I moved to another state and did a lot of highway driving, I got
50,000 miles from pads.

You could measure them now and in 3000 miles to see how much wear and
make a decent calculation from that.