When to replace brake pads?

Brake pads wear out - that is the point

A brake pad is designed to be used up. The friction material is sacrificed so that your discs and, more importantly, you, are not. There is no fixed odometer figure that fits every car and every driver, so the answer to "when" is: when they are worn down, or when they show one of the signs below.

The signs that it is time

• Squealing or a high-pitched screech. Most pads have a small metal wear indicator that starts touching the disc when the friction material gets thin. It is meant to be noisy - it is your warning, not a fault.
• Grinding, metal on metal. A harsh grinding noise means the friction material is gone and the backing plate is cutting into the disc. Stop driving and get it looked at; grinding turns a cheap pad job into pads plus discs.
• A longer pedal or longer stopping distance. If you are pressing harder than you used to for the same stop, the pads are thin.
• Vibration or pulsing through the pedal. Often a disc problem, but worn or unevenly worn pads can cause it too.
• The car pulls to one side when braking. Uneven wear, a sticking caliper or a blocked line - worth checking either way.
• The brake warning light. On many cars this covers both pad wear and fluid level.
• Visible thin pads. Look through the spokes of the wheel - on most cars you can see the pad pressed against the disc.

How thin is too thin?

New friction material is typically around 10 to 12 mm thick. As a rule of thumb:

• Above about 6 mm: healthy, no action.
• Around 3 to 5 mm: getting thin, plan the replacement.
• At or below 3 mm: replace them - this is the usual workshop limit.

Measure the friction material only, not the metal backing plate behind it.

How often should you look?

Have the pads checked at every service, and at least once a year or every 10,000 to 15,000 km if you do a lot of town driving. Front pads normally wear faster than the rear, because the front does most of the braking. Typical pad life lands somewhere between 30,000 and 70,000 km, and the range is wide on purpose: stop-and-go traffic, heavy loads, towing and a lot of downhill braking all shorten it, while steady motorway driving stretches it.

Pads are not the whole story

Whenever the pads are replaced, the discs, the brake fluid and the rest of the system should be checked at the same time. Pads and discs wear together, and a new pad on a badly scored disc will not give you full braking and will not last. Always replace pads as an axle set - both sides of the same axle together - never one wheel only.

Brake pads in our shop

We stock brake pads matched to your vehicle's make, model and engine, so you get the right fitment rather than a "close enough" one.

See the brake pads in our shop

If you are not sure which set fits your car, send us your vehicle details and we will find the right part number for you.

One last thing

This article is general guidance. Brakes are a safety system: if you hear grinding, feel the pedal change, or you are simply not sure, have the car inspected by a qualified workshop before you drive it hard again.