Hey guys,

I'm at about 15,500 miles my '13 and I'm wondering when i should be looking at new brake pads. Does anyone know what mileage the OEM Pads normally need to be replaced?

How about the rear drums? my understanding is that the drums usually wear very slowly so I'm not terribly worried about them but thought i would double check.

Thanks!

Edit: Crap, i put this in the wrong sub-forum. Meant to put this in 2nd Generation GE8 Specific Suspension & Brakes Sub-Forum. Anyone able to move thread?

 

It depends on your driving habits.

I just replaced mine at about 2.5mm of material left @ 55,000 miles. I drive metro atlanta, about 70/30 freeway/surface streets.

Honda told me they needed changing at 40,000 and they probably would have been fine until 60K. The wear sensors start sounding at 2.0mm and the service life is 1.5mm, so it's ok to leave them until you hear the wear sensors.

Rear shoes wear much more slowly, so don't worry about them...

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Sounds like i don't have to worry about it yet. I guess ill give them a check next time I change my oil.

 

I've got 71k miles on my OEM pads, but I'm driving manual trans and am pretty soft on my brakes.

Like Steve said get ready to replace them when they start a little squeal, service life is beyond that.

 

We are at 84k and just now replacing pads&rotors only because the pedal has a very slight pulse when coming off freeways. No wear indicator noises and I checked the pads and they still have a fair amount of pad left. Ordered brembo rotors and hawk hps pads.

 

I've seen on both the GD3 and GE8 needing brake pad replacement typically between 70k to 110k miles. Depending on daily driving situation and driving habits of course.

 

These miles sound great to me was getting to 27k after 15 months of ownership and was starting to wonder about the pads. Was inspected by the dealership in June with no recommendations so I will not worry.

 

Thanks for all the responses guys!

I imagine I'll be upgrading to a more performance oriented Pad before the OEM ones are close needing replaced.

 

If you rotate your own tires, check them then. At least the fronts. Rear every 2 or 3 rotations I guess.

 

It's easy to check them if you have sport wheels. Just look between the spokes while washing the car and you can see how much is left of the pads from the outside.

 

you should still check them regularly, to see if there is uneven wear or signs of a pad sticking.
When they go though, there are wear sensors, and it will make a low grinding noise when you hit the brakes to let you know there is only a few mm left on that pad... But if you reach that stage, you will also need to replace rotors.
For some reason one of my pads stuck, and the left front started grinding due to the wear sensors at 20k miles, and this is with my mom's granny and mostly freeway driving.

So, whenever it's convenient. Also brake fluid supposedly every 3years/30k miles so that's also another good time to get them peeked at that checkpoint.

 

I hope this is an exception to the rule...

The wear sensor tabs start hitting metal at 2mm; the service life is 1.5mm. The tabs are on the inside pads, which tend to wear more than the outside. I don't think there is any reason to change before this time other than convenience (if you have the wheels off and it's close, why not). Of course if you autocross I don't think you should wait until they get to that point.

On the issue of rotors, these shouldn't need replacing over the life of the car unless they are too thin, or damaged in some way. It annoys me when brake mechanics resurface them without need. Honda didn't used to do this, but I noticed in the last few years they started saying it was recommended. The shop manual does NOT recommend resurfacing unless needed (only if they're uneven). I think resurfacing when not needed only serves to decrease rotor life and increase brake-repair revenue. Honda probably got on the boat because everyone else is doing it. If you have someone change your pads, tell them you don't want the rotors resurfaced (turned) unless there is pulsing, pulling to the side, or some other issue that specifically requires this. This should reduce the cost for brake service too.

 

on my 09 with my wife driving 99% of the time, i was able to get about 40k miles from the front pads. was replaced, rear pads has about 50% remaining.

on my '12 with my driving, i will be happy if i can get more than 30K miles on the front pads. i usually check pad thickness when i swap wheels between summer and winter.

 

^The only time i'd consider resurfacing rotors is if there is a groove in it from a rock or something. If they're warped, throw them out, if you resurface they will just warp again.

I also don't like when places use sandpaper and stuff to scuff up the rotors, the possibility of material transfer from the sandpaper or wire brush to the metal scares me, just leave it alone! Midas did this to me one time and I vowed to never again have someone else do my brakes and stop being lazy, i've DIY'd everything since then.

 

Ive got about 75k on the OEM pads and they are still fine even with the amount of twisties and trackday the car has been through.

 

yah, i dont get my rotors turned either if it's just a pad replacement. by the time i need to swap pads the 2nd time, i usually just replace the rotors all together.

 

There is no "mileage" for the brake system.

For fluid, it is a matter of time, I do my best to stick to a 1.5-2 year change. If you suck out the reservoir fluid and replace with new fluid every 6 months, that can extend the total system bleed/change by another year or so.

Brake pads wear based on the driver. Ive seen many hondas use up brake pads over the course of 70k miles, others required changing after a measly 20k miles.

The key thing is to check your reservoir level just as often as teh pads (maybe once a month). As the pads wear down, the fluid fills in the gap left by the caliper piston moving closer to rotor. this means the reservoir level will DROP. If it drops enough, you suck air in the system and lose brake pressure and operation.


Key notes: Check fluid level and pads monthly. Change fluid completely on approx 2 year interval. Or extend that a year or two by using a turkey baster and changing the reservoir fluid every 6 months or so.


Last note, ALL rubber brake lines should be checked every 6 months or so to look for leaks. Slow leaks are hard to detect, but it can change from a slow loss in pressure to a sudden burst and potential accident!

 

13fit's advice is non-standard.

There is no service manual for any mainstream production car that says to check your brake pads so frequently as once a month. They all say it should be inspected as part of your regular 5-to-15k service checkup (either every oil change or every other).

While it is true that the reservoir level will drop as the pads wear; it is non-standard advice to replace the fluid using a turkey baster or to refill the reservoir. Brake fluid does not circulate so this is a bit of a fool's game.

You could use reservoir level as a warning that one should check your brake system and see if the pads are worn down. But one should not add/replace fluid. When the pads are replaced, this would cause the fluid to overflow.

One should not open the brake fluid reservoir at all, because what affects brake fluid is water vapor through fresh air. So opening up your reservoir to do this procedure is actually is exposing the fluid to air again. Additionally, your bottle of brake fluid isn't going to get fully used by the turkey baster method, so it is degrading sitting on your shelf between your procedures, even though it is not in service.

The industry standard interval for brake fluid is 3years/30k miles. You often can schedule this with replacing the pads to get things all taken care of at once.

 

I do non standard maintenance, because it allows me to find worn items EARLY.

Why do I recommend such a short interval for brakes? Because brakes keep me alive.


But also, if I skip one check and it turns to a two month check, I still have enough time to catch something early and budget for the repairs necessary.

For example, I checked my brakes last month at 15600 miles or so, and I found ZERO grooves in brake rotor, and brake pads were BARELY worn. Im satisfied that my brakes will continue to perform well even deep into winter. Even if I double my current mileage.

What those early checks do is allow you to actually see what the effects of your driving style are having on your vehicle.

Maybe its becuase I have had the opportunity to services cars for the last 10-15 years. Maybe its because now that Ive been in the military, I follow even more strict standards.


Either way, I have NEVER been stranded on side of road due to ignorance of my vehicle. I take pride in keeping it running top notch. I do believe in taking care of anything that I own.


That being said, bottom line, if you get into habit of checking on your vehicle EARLY, you can afford to fix ANYTHING on it. Lets say you notice your suspension bushings are cracking. They will operate just fine like that for many months even, until they actually break down and become totally useless. Now that you had knowledge, and budgeted a meager, say 10 bucks every 2 weeks, now you can EASILY afford to take the car to a shop and have it done at your time, instead of on short time, and potentially getting bent over on repair costs, or labor costs at an expensive shop.

@raytseng, Im not disagreeign with your post at all, just explaining my view point.

EDIT also, the mileage maintenance of most manufacturers is built around profit in addition to the obvious vehicle care. If they change it early, they will change it more often over the lifetime of that vehicle. I know some people who change their transmission fluid every other oil change. They even get irritated at me for suggesting they adjust their intervals, especially when they do not even put a realisitic load/duty on their vehicle (aka, they are using it simply as a daily driver). They claim they were told to do this. We as people need to get some knowledge to the rest of car owners!!

 

Just turned over 38K miles, and haven't even looked at the brakes yet. My tires are shot tho.

The advantage of having such a light vehicle is the brakes wear pretty slowly. I'm expecting to get around 50-60k on my OEM brakes.