Hi all,

I had a service done in March 2025 just before MOT, and the garage said my brake shoes were at 4mm. 

What's the chances of this being accurate, and if so, do my shoes need replacing urgently? 

Handbrake holds well on small hills but i need to put car in park on steeper hills. Front discs and pads were changed in April so car stops okay. 

Currently at 94k miles.

55 reg focus lx 1.6l petrol. 

Check them again in another 12,000 miles.

They are probably the original shoes which might have started life at 12mm thick maximum. If you have used 8mm in 94k miles you are using 1mm every 11,750 miles. Often recommended to change them at 3mm.

29 minutes ago, pcaouolte said:

Check them again in another 12,000 miles.

They are probably the original shoes which might have started life at 12mm thick maximum. If you have used 8mm in 94k miles you are using 1mm every 11,750 miles. Often recommended to change them at 3mm.

Thank you!

3 hours ago, Eli_P said:

garage said my brake shoes were at 4mm. 

That's not critical. A brand of new set of shoes have a lining thickness of around 7 to 8mm 

The time to start and worry is when they get less than 3mm

 

shoes @12mm thick ? ..or do you mean pads 

And if the handbrake doesn't hold, is the linkage seized somewhere?

4 hours ago, unofix said:

That's not critical. A brand of new set of shoes have a lining thickness of around 7 to 8mm 

The time to start and worry is when they get less than 3mm

 

I've booked someone to come and change it tomorrow because ive realised the report i was reading was from November last year, not March this year. Done 8k miles since I was told its 4mm. 

1 hour ago, Shearers said:

And if the handbrake doesn't hold, is the linkage seized somewhere?

Will definitely look into that 

3 hours ago, ferretfloozy said:

shoes @12mm thick ? ..or do you mean pads 

New shoes can be between 8 & 12mm thick. I used 12 as the worst case in my calculations. If they were 8 when new then less material has been worn away in the 94k miles and they will last longer. My advice to check them again in 12k miles still stands.

In my 40+ years of servicing cars, I have generally found that brake shoes are USUALLY good for at least 100k miles, under normal driving conditions. I have never seen any brake shoes with 12mm of material on them...as ferretfloozy states above, that is more like a pad thickness !! 

If you've only done 8k miles since the last measurement then I will be very surprised if they are any less now 😉

2 hours ago, Phil3747 said:

In my 40+ years of servicing cars, I have generally found that brake shoes are USUALLY good for at least 100k miles, under normal driving conditions. I have never seen any brake shoes with 12mm of material on them...as ferretfloozy states above, that is more like a pad thickness !! 

If you've only done 8k miles since the last measurement then I will be very surprised if they are any less now 😉

Fair enough. In all fairness, I do a lot of stop/start as live near city centre traffic. Also so many idiots on the road in this area I'm on the breaks more than I would like (luckily got a dash cam a little while back which has led to prosecution). Getting them done just to be on the safe side. At 94k miles now I won't ever had to do shoes again after this. Given the advice above about 3mm time to change i think ill just get it out the way. 

Hopefully this thread will help anyone like me in the future who didn't have a clue about brake shoes before this thread

I've had the shoes replaced. Brake pedal feels much firmer like it should, and handbrake works a dream now. 

Thanks all for your advice