staleycornell

iTrader: (6)

01 Ws6 with 15,900 miles. So I go in to have my wheels swapped out and was told that my front pads are wore down. Now is this even possible on a car with that low of mileage? The car has never been driven hard. I am assuming these are the original pads. Does time kind of "deteriorate" the pads more rapidly when the car is rarely driven or is this guy BS'ing me? Right now I'm too lazy to go take the wheels off and look myself and just wanted input on the life of brake pads on a rarely driven car. Thanks!

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Nope.

Mine is even older than yours ('98, with 16k miles). I recently removed the wheels to clean the inner wheel area, and inspected the pads at that time. The factory original pads still looked great, they don't even appear to be close to half-life yet. This car is also not driven hard at all. Only other things I can think of that would wear the pads down quickly would be someone constantly riding the brakes, or a stuck caliper (but this is usually more common with a car that is regularly exposed to the elements, which I'm guessing yours is not based on the mileage).

NC01TA

I would get a second opinion at the very least. 15,900 miles are nothing.
I have 30,000 miles on my 2001 T/A with the original pads. I live in a very mountainous area too with serious braking at times. They are still OK.

blk/slvr02ss

iTrader: (21)

I doubt they are even half way worn yet and were ever you went is just trying to make money but just to be sure i would check them myself.

staleycornell

iTrader: (6)

Thanks guys. I figured as much. They dont even squeal or anything and there is no sign of them being worn down.

NC01TA

You are smart to ask other owners here for some validity.
You also learned to AVOID that shop in the future.

mjs1012

iTrader: (36)

i work at a place with a garage and they try getting people to get their brakes done every chance they get. one guy called them out on it saying he did them a week or so before my boss said they were shot lol.

staleycornell

iTrader: (6)

and they dont realize I can basically change out the pads blindfolded. lol

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

Honestly, I wouldn't have even justified their bs attempt at an up sale with a thread about it.

Common sense should tell you without removing the wheels if your brakes are bad or not. Brake pads have squealers on them for that reason.

I'm not saying a visiual every now and again is a bad thing, but you should be able to tell just by feeling how it reacts to applied pedal.

slikrider20

iTrader: (9)

Your break pads are SHOT, you should probably just give me your car.

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

other than someone driving riding the brakes as mentioned the only other legitimate ways to wear out the brakes would be pizza delivery , newspaper delivery , commuting daily in stop and go traffic ( a lot of it lol) etc.. something where you are constantly braking

or by having a 6 speed car and never downshifting but instead pushing in the clutch and hitting the brakes from speed to stop or slow down- even an auto gets some engine braking when you let off the throttle but stopping a freewheeling car could wear them out prematurely