Hello all.

It is morgue like in the office today, which has seen a lot of day dreaming to pass the day (don't ask, I won't answer ;)) and one of the thoughts that has come to mind is:

What is the minimum level of material on brake pads before they need to be changed? is there any tell tail markers or signs to look for (ignoring the wrecked disks and inability to stop).

I ask as I have driven nearly 70k on the set I picked up the car with. There is still a wee about half an inch of material left! It still stops like an anchor has come out of the back too.

+1 on this. Been a while since I've looked at the cars past receipts to see if/when the previous owner changed them, I'm up to about 60k now?

I just changed pads at 85k miles and was surprised at how much wear was left on them judging by the thickness of material left. I have also previously changed pads and disks at less than 40k so it depends on the car and how you drive it. I mainly do motorway and A roads nowadays so a lot more miles and less braking. No idea how to tell when they need to be changed apart from checking the thickness every now and then or waiting for the grinding metal on metal noise...

I think in terms of the mot the thickness is around 1.5-2mm? I guess they are inspected if possible as on the mot if the car passes on the brake rollers they pretty much bypass checking much more from what I'm told.

As Stef has said as long as braking efficiency is ok then for Mot its a pass, unless the pads can be seen through the wheels.

Personally I change pads at 3mm never fancy extra cost of discs, as well as your pads don't forget to change your brake fluid every 2 years due to the life span of the additives in brake fluid (anti corrosion etc) . :D

I'd go with say 3-5mm minimum thickness - quite often with the single pot sliding calipers if you check pad thickness visually through the inspection hole at the top of the caliper, in fact the pads will have worn on a bit of an angle and can have less pad material left than you think.

The reason for the recommendation of a fluid change every 2 years is also because brake fluid is hygroscopic - it absorbs moisture, which reduces it's efficiency giving squidgy pedal feel and letting the fluid boil at lower temperature. Also don't forget to flush some fresh fluid through the clutch circuit too as it's all fed from the same reservoir.

Castrol React does the trick for me, it's a DOT 4 fluid but actually exceeds DOT5.1 :)