If brake warning indicator goes off....not much time left

[thu]

I had a squeaking wheel problem this weekend. I could hear the noise only if the passenger side window was down and I was driving near a fence (e.g. a fence that runs along side a street). The noise would go away when I applied the brakes.

The problem was worn-out front brake pads. When I inspected them off the car, there was almost no brake pad material left. There was no brake pad material at all on the end 1/4ths of the pads. The Brake Warning Indicator in the dash had not illuminated yet. There was enough material left to complete the warning circuit.

This leaves me to believe that when the dash Brake Warning Indicator finally goes off, one doesn't have much time left to replace them. I'd say maybe two or three hundred miles, if that.

Anyways, I also had to replace both front rotors, which were worn beyond service limits (minimum = 1.244" total rotor thickness).

After replacement, braking feel was much better and noise disappeared.

These were the original rotors. Car has 108,000 miles on it.

Parts cost was: $184 for both rotors, $60 total for the pads. I had someone else do it for $100 labor (Sears).

[adallak]

If the front brake pads wear to that extent one should see longer braking distances. Did not you experience that? I did, and it was scary!

[jking220]

Did your pads wear straight?

I had my sensor tell me to change the brakes last winter. Between being a senior college student, it being winter, and waiting on ordered parts, I think I left the pads go for about 3000 to 5000 miles, and I still had material left.

I did measure my pad thickness at the time because I was trying to track down uneven pad wear (inside to outside, which I still havent figured out). I will have to look for that spreadsheet.

My only point is that I think there must be something wrong with the way the pad contacts the rotor if you could get metal on metal before the sensor went out. I think I had atleast .200 inches of pad material left when my sensor went out.

[Ranger]

Sometimes the inner pad will wear faster than the outer. This was the case with my daughters '02 SLS (Ruby). The warning came on and she brought the car over. I figured I still had time left. Not so. The inner pads where gone and the backing plate was into the rotor. Surprisingly, the rotors where not as bad as I would have expected them to be. Had them resurfaced and installed the new pad and sensors. Yes, the pins where still lubed and the caliper slide on them just fine.

[thu]

The pads wore evenly. There might have been more pad material left than I thought - I didn't keep the pads. Stopping distances didn't seem to increase.