May 16, 200520 yr How many miles can you go with a set of front brake pads on a legacy 5mt. I do about 80% of city driving
May 16, 200520 yr vic/se, There is no definitive answer to your question, due to a lot of factors. Are you talking front or rear pads, since the fronts wearout much faster than the rears? How good are the brake pads, quality wise? Were they broken in carefully? Are you a driver who is on the gas, on the brake, on the gas, etc.? (I know of a lady who drives like that and can't get 20 000 kms out a set of pads.) Do you drive hard and brake hard? Are you living in an area where there is salt on the roads in winter, or high humidity that rusts the rotors quickly, thusly tearing up the face of the pads as well? So many factors affect their longevity. It is just a good rule of thumb to check them every 15 000 kms, take them out, and clean and lube where they slide on the caliper. Here in Southern Ontario, I expect to get 65 000 km at least out the fronts of my OBW, and almost twice that out of my rears, on original equipment pads. But then again, I don't drive hard, ride the brakes, and at least twice a year I personally pull, clean and lube the front and rear pads. Every 3 years I even flush and replace the brake fluid. Hope this helps.
May 17, 200520 yr On slotted discs, which are less kind to pads, I get at least 30,000km. On plain discs I would expect 50,000km. Any more than that and I would be tempted to replace them anyway due to age.
May 17, 200520 yr My parents, who drive gently, got almost 90,000 miles out of their front pads on a '98 legacy wagon. Brian
May 17, 200520 yr My parents, who drive gently, got almost 90,000 miles out of their front pads on a '98 legacy wagon. Brian My wife gets about 6000 miles on a set of pads...............of course she has a Right hand steer Legacy she uses to deliver mail. 600 boxes a day, so that many stops and more............. I KEEP SPARE PADS IN THE GARAGE........... SWI66
May 17, 200520 yr Author Thanks for your answers, so far I have 51000km (about 32k miles) I ask this question because I bought this car new and she still drives like new. I do live in a area of 3 million people, and like I said up to now I did 80% of my driving in urban area, and of course I did it in a very sane way! By the way I like the way it feels on the road, except for the seats
May 17, 200520 yr Thanks for your answers, so far I have 51000km (about 32k miles) I ask this question because I bought this car new and she still drives like new. I do live in a area of 3 million people, and like I said up to now I did 80% of my driving in urban area, and of course I did it in a very sane way!By the way I like the way it feels on the road, except for the seats There are too many variables on brake wear. Some people are just brutal on brakes. City driving is rough on them, too many stops! On my Dodge Ram pickup I went 70,000 miles before changing front pads, some say that's unheard of! I finally changed them just out of principal though I probably could have gotten another 10,000 out of them. On my wife's Subaru, we got the best mileage out of the original pads, replacements we got less. Driving style has a lot to do with it........2 footed drivers tend to rest their foot on the brake pedal, some people always in a hurry charge up to stop signs. swi66
May 17, 200520 yr My wife gets about 6000 miles on a set of pads...............of course she has a Right hand steer Legacy she uses to deliver mail. 600 boxes a day, so that many stops and more............. I KEEP SPARE PADS IN THE GARAGE........... SWI66 Changing the pads at every oil change...What's your preference in rotors? Cheap chinese? OE? NAPA?
May 18, 200520 yr Changing the pads at every oil change...What's your preference in rotors? Cheap chinese? OE? NAPA? I don't always replace the rotors as I pretty well know when to chage before metal on metal. When I do I use NAPA, though the last set I put on were off a junk car out of the boneyard. 88 miles on it! Bought the whole assemblies with bearings, hub, rotors, and pads still together and shiney......... The junkyard just happens to pick up cars which have been used in federal crash testing! swi66
May 18, 200520 yr My last car ('89 Dodgesubishi Colt) went 100k miles on the front pads and 196k miles on the clutch. Actually Michigan roads busted the car apart at 196k but the clutch was still functioning fine. My '02 OBS (4EAT) currently has 51k miles on the odo and I've only worn 1/3 of the front pads off. I'm not a slowpoke driver-I move right with traffic, but I've developed a technique of looking out ahead of my immediate situation (rather than tunneling on the bumper in front of me) in combination with holding the lower gear I might be in until I know that a burst of traffic flow is for real and I DON'T tailgate. Sometimes I'll be behind someone who has lit their brake lights 15 times in a stretch where I've only had to do it once. I'm not referring to one of those "brake-lamp flashers" either ...cripes, it would be about 50 lamp-flashes for one of those nincompoops. Bottom line: Easily, 2 out of every 3 brake applications is nothing more than frivolous habit. Also the "gear-holding" technique means my auto-trans is only making half as many gear changes as it ordinarily would (left to it's own logic).
May 18, 200520 yr but it has rear drums which have been eating shoes a bit. It got about 80,000 miles on the first set of shoes and pads. When I got it I had a local garage do a brake job anfd they turned the rear trums oversize. The car still vibrated on braking so after a bout 10,000 miles I put new rotors pads and tried to do drums. Of course the drums did not fit so I had to put new shoes on the turned drums. Now I will have to fit new drums this summer as the shoes are wearing on the ends of the arc. Just inspect your brakes at every major service and replace them in the order that your car and driving habits dictate.
June 29, 200520 yr I give up...How many? How many miles can you go with a set of front brake pads on a legacy 5mt. I do about 80% of city driving
June 30, 200520 yr It's not just a question of miles, age means a lot too. Especially in areas where salt is used on the roads to keep ice from forming. 30k miles or 5 years, and I would replace the pads no matter how much lining is left.
July 1, 200520 yr I had to replace the OEM pads on the 01 OBW at about 23k. It's an AT, not an MT. The wife drives it mostly, she's not too hard on the brakes. I replaced with at set of NAPA OE pads. I got them from a buddy who worked for NAPA, he had me replace them with about 15k on them, and replace them with their new Ceramix pads. He warrantied my old pads, so I only had to pay the difference... I've now got over 30k on the Ceramix and there's still at about 50%. I'm starting to notice a little of chatter, got to pull them apart and clean them and resuface the rotors (first time). I'll keep all posted on the results of the cleaning, etc...
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