Front brake pad life

[davidrc]

Hi,
When my 54 130 highline was last serviced 6months/4000miles ago there was a comment "front pads 2mm". I did check at the time but found that the pad thickness was much more than this so just decided to keep an eye on them.

Have checked again now and find that pads on the o/s are 5mm while the n/s are 6mm (not sure why they should wear differently) so I think they still have plenty of life, Haynes gives minimum as 2mm.

What pad life would you expect? Car just coming up to 40k miles, I assume they are original. Not driven hard.

Does anyone know at what thickness the warning light comes on?

How thick are new pads?

I'm trying to estimate how much life is safely left in them, will be touring France shortly and don't want to have to replace while I'm away. Happy to replace now if needed but prefer not to do so unneccessarily!

Any info will be appreciated, thanks.

[cazyp]

My last set lasted 50'000 miles before the warning light on the dash came on. Changed them and there was still around 3-4mm left on.

Get them done before you go. Sods law and all that... IME pay the extra tenner and use the genuine ones.

[ChillOut]

I'd say about 50,000 is about right. They are around 10mm thick to start, giving about 8mm wear.

Always use genuine - never worth saving money on brakes. Been there done that, wasted more time and money in the long run. Ensure you ask for OE Genuine too - maybe VW don't so this, but Vauxhall sell there own cheaper non OE variants and they were rubbish - they often won't well you if you don't ask.

[Sam]

I changed my fronts when the low pad warning light came on ~50k

I was also told at my 40k service that I'd need new pads and discs. I didn't. You'll find it's part of the standard dealership patter.

[ddave05]

If any of you guys did the pad replacement yourselves, where did you get the reset tool for the rear caliper?

And are the discs normally meant to out-live the pads?

[martin1810]

You don't need a reset tool for the 5.5 model. You just push the pistons back. Try a big g- cramp.

[cazyp]

I used a g clamp and a hammer handle.
Replaced my disks at 120'000 with Brembo ones. Not as expensive as you might think - infact not a lot more than the cost of the OE pads.

[Sam]

Take the cap off the brake fluid reservoir and wrap a rag round it before you push the calipers back.

I used a G-cramp and a sliver of wood.

[snapdragon]

You don't need a reset tool for the 5.5 model. You just push the pistons back. Try a big g- cramp.

I did need to wind mine in, I got one from Halfords and used the instructions on ELSA/EKTA.

[Sam]

SD, is that the rears or the fronts?

I wound the fronts of my 3BG/B5.5 with the above method, the rears I needed the Halfords tool