How long should
brake pads last?

Pads are a consumable, like tyres. The question is never really how long they last, it is whether yours are wearing faster than they should be and why.

What actually decides it

• Traffic. Stop-start city driving wears pads several times faster than motorway miles.
• Terrain. Hills mean braking on descents, which is heat, which is wear.
• Weight. A loaded van or a towed caravan asks far more of the same pads.
• Style. Late, hard braking wears a set out quickly. Reading the road ahead genuinely doubles their life.
• Material. It matters, but less than the four above.

How to know where yours are

The honest answer is that you cannot tell by feel until they are nearly gone, which is why they get measured at every service and the figure written down.

A wear indicator squeals when the pad is near its limit and stops squealing when you brake harder. That is a book-it-in noise rather than a panic. Grinding you can feel through the pedal is the other one, and that means stop.

Do the discs go at the same time?

Not always, and anybody who says always is selling something. Discs have a minimum thickness stamped on them and we measure against it.

What does force discs is lipping, scoring or warping. A pronounced lip at the edge means new pads will never bed properly, and in that case doing pads alone is throwing them away.

Why the cheapest set is a false economy

Budget friction material glazes under heat, fades when you need it most, and is abrasive enough to eat the disc it runs against. The saving is small and it is spent twice.

If you want the detail on what a brake job involves, the brakes page sets out what is included and what gets measured.