Front brake pad wear

Adski · Post by **Adski** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:11 pm

My front brake has started making that horrible "I need new pads urgently" noise the last few days so I've just been out and replaced them...even though they looked absolutely fine to me.
I'm not sure how low down pads are meant to wear, but they were only about 1mm off the new EBC HH ones (exact same type) which I found a bit odd.

They've been on there about 4k I think but I've really no idea how long they're meant to last. I wasn't paying much attention last time I changed them, but the BMW pads looked a lot more worn than the EBC ones I've just replaced.

Assuming the old pads are fine, and the new ones have cured the metal on metal noise under braking then is it just a case of "they all do that?"

What do you find in the best way to judge how worn your pads are, I find it rather hard to tell.

Cheers!
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Ade B · Post by **Ade B** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:51 pm

When I did mine a couple of months back, a couple of the pads were almost down to the backing plates

No squealing noise warning, just shit brakes and lots of lever travel..

Ade

bigblackfalco · Post by **bigblackfalco** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:52 pm

If the EBC pads you took out are the HH sintered ones, they do make a rather grinding kind of noise particualrly if your discs are a bit rattly/loose on the wheel.
It doesn't sound like they needed changing to me. Use the wear makers buit into the pads as a guide.
Bailey.

Adski · Post by **Adski** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 7:57 am

Cheers for the info. I'll check the discs are firmly on there at the weekend...and put the old pads back on.

Lightrunner · Post by **Lightrunner** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 9:05 am

Just out of curiousity - I've a set of EBC HH pads sat next to me atm and I didn't think they had a wear indicator?

Or am I being incredibly dense?

Adski · Post by **Adski** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 1:14 pm

Lightrunner wrote:I've a set of EBC HH pads sat next to me atm and I didn't think they had a wear indicator?

Glad to hear it's not just me.

It's not like the older/other pads with two seperate blocks so you can see how much gap you've got left, I just don't know with these ones.

bigblackfalco · Post by **bigblackfalco** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 2:02 pm

I think typically most wear indicators leave 3 mm of friction material before you need to replace.
Bailey.

Lightrunner · Post by **Lightrunner** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 2:20 pm

yeah I'm used to seeing a groove in the pad material... the depth of the groove indicating useable material left before replacement (or time to start thinking about ordering replacements

)

these pads just don't have that groove