FireChicken
11 Secret Herbs & Spices
Member # 2067
posted
Some of you may know that I changed out my brake pads this past weekend. They were the original factory pads on my 2001 bird. 57950 miles on them. I replaced them, and to my surprise, found that about 1/3 of the usable padding was left on the shoes. Now, Ive been doing brake jobs here and there on a variety of cars, vans, and trucks for over a decade, and I have never even HEARD of brake pads lasting this long.
Is this normal for the Fcar, or is it just my driving?
Posts: 686 | From: Texas: Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck! | Registered: Aug 2003
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On my '98 I had 24,000 miles with more than 75% of the pad left. Of course, a lot of those miles were freeway miles with little to no braking. City driving will kill the brakes faster. You must drive more highway miles.
-------------------- Mark H.
Whoever said you couldn't run away from your problems obviously wasn't driving an SS. Posts: 942 | From: Santa Barbara and Ventura, CA | Registered: Feb 2000
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We pulled the wheels on mine a couple weeks ago and looked at them and they had at least 1/2 pad left and the car has almost 60,000 miles on it
-------------------- Willard (Mike) Scott Worldwide Camaro Club North Carolina state Rep. 2001 SS convertible with all SLP opts. Sunset Orange Neutral top Neutral leather http://community.webshots.com/user/wmss Posts: 737 | From: Siler City N.C. | Registered: Sep 2003
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I did mine this fall, over 60,000 miles, a lot of it highway but also at least a hundred trips down the 1/4 and 2 serious seasons of autoX. I was shocked by how much pad I had left. Posts: 4222 | From: Winnipeg MB CA | Registered: Feb 2000
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Yeah, but you should see what happens to how long they last if you do some serious lsapping or Solo I.
In 80,000 kms (about 50,000 miles) I must have gone through at least 4 sets of front brake pads, but with a single set of brake rotors.....and zero wrapage.
Posts: 383 | From: Oakville, Ontario Canada | Registered: Jan 2003
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Not unheard of for factory GM pads to last a long time especially if the car gets driven on the hiway often. My brother inlaw had a 1987 Cadillac he bought new and had over 100,000 miles on the original brake pads.He drives over 100 miles per day ...mostly hi way. Posts: 5682 | From: Dearborn,Mi. | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by 2002Z4CSS: Not unheard of for factory GM pads to last a long time especially if the car gets driven on the hiway often. My brother inlaw had a 1987 Cadillac he bought new and had over 100,000 miles on the original brake pads.He drives over 100 miles per day ...mostly hi way.
True Greg 90% of my miles are hiway I have one stop light from home to work and its about 60 miles a day round trip
-------------------- Willard (Mike) Scott Worldwide Camaro Club North Carolina state Rep. 2001 SS convertible with all SLP opts. Sunset Orange Neutral top Neutral leather http://community.webshots.com/user/wmss Posts: 737 | From: Siler City N.C. | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by 2002Z4CSS: Not unheard of for factory GM pads to last a long time especially if the car gets driven on the hiway often. My brother inlaw had a 1987 Cadillac he bought new and had over 100,000 miles on the original brake pads.He drives over 100 miles per day ...mostly hi way.
True Greg 90% of my miles are hiway I have one stop light from home to work and its about 60 miles a day round trip
When I worked in the GM dealer the people that insisted on buying non factory brake pads and shoes usually came back sooner with brake dust concerns and maybe even another brake job.Plus if there was a defect in the aftermarket pads,we would not warranty the labor. Posts: 5682 | From: Dearborn,Mi. | Registered: Feb 2002
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Your tranmission type will greatly affect the life of your brake pads. My last 4 vehicles were manual tranny and the pads lasted about 100K miles on all of them. A car with an automatic can expect about 40K miles.
Posts: 107 | From: San Marcos, CA | Registered: Jun 2002
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On my SS (RIP), I had 101,500 miles on the untouched front brakes. The car was bought brand new in late 96', and driven daily since that day. The first 50,000 miles it was pretty much pampered. The other half of its life, I really enjoyed driving it. It was still babied though, I couldnt tell you how many compliments I got.....even with 100,000 miles.
So yeah, over 100,000 miles on the stockers. I think the rears made it to about 65,000. And FWIW, the car died at 101,500, so no telling how many more thousands of miles it would have taken to replace the fronts.
quote: When I worked in the GM dealer the people that insisted on buying non factory brake pads and shoes usually came back sooner with brake dust concerns and maybe even another brake job.Plus if there was a defect in the aftermarket pads,we would not warranty the labor.
I have used aftermarket pads with great success. I use AC Delco Durastops (sort of aftermarket) and Hawk HPlus.
However, going in I knew they would dust like crazy and squeal, but they handle heat during lapping sessions and Solo I events way way better than the stock pads.
I started out with stock pads and I have a partially used set in the garage with a partial horizontal delamination in the pad material.
I would say the stock pads are okay for the street, but if you take the car to the track, the stock pads are not up to it. You MUST go afermarket.
Posts: 383 | From: Oakville, Ontario Canada | Registered: Jan 2003
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It was still babied though, I couldnt tell you how many compliments I got.....even with 100,000 miles.![[Frown]](frown.gif)
