Brake disc life?

[qprdude]

C5 2.2 exclusive.
Brakes mostly used on short journeys , so local and town type usage. Half a dozen long motorway journeys too.They are squeaking a bit. Car in tomorrow for a intermediate service and I've asked them to have a look at the brakes. He said maybe new pads required but he'll check it out. The garage is a "French car" specialist and use genuine parts.

Pads were changed 25,000 miles ago. Would that be a reasonable lifetime?

[HDI]

Wow, I wish I could get 25K miles from a set of front pads, I'm lucky to reach 12K miles! One or more pads could be sticking in the calipers, this can ultimately cause one pad to drag on the disc and wear it out prematurely.

[qprdude]

Seriously? I was kind of thinking I should get more.
To be honest, they look as if they still have a bit of meat on them, but if 25,000 is reasonable, then I'll ask him to change the lot. He said £75 so IWould be happy with that. Maybe that was £75 a corner!

[GiveMeABreak]

I've had discs and 2 lots of fronts in that time Rick!

[daviemck2006]

I would be happy with 25k from front discs and pads, espically as it's a heavy car, more town driving, and automatic. All these things I would expect to accelerate brake wear.

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[white exec]

IIRC rightly, brake pads are sometimes offered in two qualities - Fleet and LongLife.
Fleet pads are intended to be changed at each long service (when an oil change would be done), and tend to be cheaper and softer, but still offering powerful braking. It is the pads that wear, ratherr than the discs.
LongLife/standard pads are harder, likely to do double the mileage, but wear the discs more, which are also then regarded as consumables.
GM/Opel/Vauxhall offered a choice of the two pad qualities for years. Not sure whether they or others still do.
The mileages quoted above do look a bit dismal.

[qprdude]

Mines a manual box Davie and I tend to drive "the old fashioned way" by using the gears to slow rather than always the brakes. I don't have a particularly light right foot, but several advanced driving courses have taught me to look well ahead and try to anticipate the need to slow down without having to jump on the brake pedal. I am very pleasantly surprised that 25000 miles is considered good for a set of pads. Last time I had to change a set was on a Mk 1 C5 around 10 years ago. Before that it was probably a Ford Cortina Mk 4 ! Thanks for all the input guys.

Davie, I'm on the way to Aberdeen next Friday for a quick visit, hence the service and brake check.

[daviemck2006]

I thought you had an auto Rick. I used to drive like you, using the gears, but when I learned in a bus, after I had been driving 20 years, Stagecoach taught us to use the brakes and block change, eg, if approaching a roundabout at 40mph in 5th gear brake down to 15mph, time your gap, change from 5 down to 2 and boot it into gap. You would be holding it back in 5th destroying the brakes. The cynical amongst us said it was because brakes are cheaper than clutches!

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[bobins]

As far as I know, I'm only on my second set of brake pads and original discs at 75k. The car had its MOT today and there was an advisory that the front discs where starting to wear, but he told me not to worry about the discs until I came to do the pads - and I'd expect at least another 10k out of the pads

[qprdude]

Now THAT'S more like my kind of mileage!

[GiveMeABreak]

Dream on!

[bobins]

I think it helps that I do a lot of long distance driving !!
Not that it's much of a comparison, but my pick-up truck is only on its second set of pads and second set of discs (the first ones warped) and it's at just short of 100k. There's still plennnnnty of meat left on the pads

[Paul-R]

Going back a little bit my late father expected his brake linings to last the entire time he owned a car! He did do a lot of slowing down using the gears though.

His cars at the time? Ford Consul followed by a Vauxhall Victor 101 (FC). Both three-speed column changes ISTR.

[Lenny]

I'm only on my second set of brake pads and original discs at 75k. The car had its MOT today and there was an advisory that the front discs where starting to wear,

Similar story to mine. It's now at 70k and only had one set of front pads according to the pretty full service history.
On the last service there was an advisory about the discs having a lip on them but I've had a look and they're fine for a while yet.

I've got full set of genuine front and rear pads and discs in the garage ready though (all bought from Ebay at bargain prices as I was in no hurry to buy them).

[qprdude]

Going back a little bit my late father expected his brake linings to last the entire time he owned a car! He did do a lot of slowing down using the gears though.

His cars at the time? Ford Consul followed by a Vauxhall Victor 101 (FC). Both three-speed column changes ISTR.

Lovely old cars. Even with the famed Vauxhall rust problem . Dad had a VX101. I took a couple of driving lessons in a VX4 90. (Then on the test day they brought along a Datsun 180B)!