Could someone who knows what they're looking at please advise whether the brake pad in the attached photo is OK? I thought the pad friction material itself was against the disc but there is a metal clip visible that is making me doubt myself. 

The metal clip will probably be a wear marker, so when wears down to it you will hear a scraping noise and will be time to change the pads. When the brakes are off there should be a small gap between the pads and disc. Is the wheel(s) easy to turn whey you jacked it up? Do the the brakes feel seized on? Are both pads evenly warn (inner and outer pad)?

 

17 minutes ago, Jim H said:

The metal clip will probably be a wear marker, so when wears down to it you will hear a scraping noise and will be time to change the pads. When the brakes are off there should be a small gap between the pads and disc. Is the wheel(s) easy to turn whey you jacked it up? Do the the brakes feel seized on? Are both pads evenly warn (inner and outer pad)?

 

Hi, thanks for your reply. The problem is I have no suitable jack so can't check properly. For some context the car made some metallic clanking noises when coming down a very steep hill earlier. The noise stopped once I was back on the flat. I can't get anyone to look at it straight away so just trying to check the obvious myself. It's a 1.0 16 plate with 35k on clock. We got the car three years ago at 13k so assume its still on the original pads.

 

The pads are chamfered at either side like the picture. Unless they are nearing the end of life then the pad will never look like it's touching in those positions.

As said above that metal clip is the wear marker. You'll get an awful screeching noise every time you brake when the pad wears down to it.

It's hard to tell the proper condition of the brakes without removing the calliper.

8 hours ago, PeeDeeTee said:

the car made some metallic clanking noises when coming down a very steep hill

The gap between the brake pads and the brake disk are usually incredibly close, this stops the majority of grit from the ground being slung into them from the wheels. (The gap is usually about the thickness of a playing card/bank card).

my guess is that a small stone got in there causing the brakes to screech, due to weight of the car going down a hill. Putting significantly more amount of stress on the pads causing this to happen.

If you have a look at the brake disk? My guess is you will have a grove in it where the stone imprinted on it. (You will have a few marks going around the disk but this1 will stand out from the rest?

Image is just an idea at what to look for.