Brake pad wear

[Tino82]

I've taken my car in for the big software uPdate and the guys at the garage had a check over the car. The car has only done 3500 Miles so I was surprised that they found the brake pads showed 35% wear on front pads and 55% wear on rears. That can't be correct, can it?
Tyre wear is minimal and I don't drive the car like a lunatic!

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[philbur]

sounds wrong.. did they do a measurement? i dont know what the pad height is new, but overall i dont listen to the dealers as they try to replace everything at 50% pad (in my cayenne they wanted to replace rotors + pads all 4 corners when the fronts had life left.. rears last 2 front pads.. rotors last a long time!)

Ill have to take a look at mine when i swap to winters and will measure and track wear. i do see dust on the rims, so they do get used a bit.

 

[Tino82]

sounds wrong.. did they do a measurement? i dont know what the pad height is new, but overall i dont listen to the dealers as they try to replace everything at 50% pad (in my cayenne they wanted to replace rotors + pads all 4 corners when the fronts had life left.. rears last 2 front pads.. rotors last a long time!)

Ill have to take a look at mine when i swap to winters and will measure and track wear. i do see dust on the rims, so they do get used a bit.

That's the measurements attached on the photo. I can't see how that's correct?

Also, I'm not sure what tread the pirelli p zeros are as new?

 

[W1NGE]

I've taken my car in for the big software uPdate and the guys at the garage had a check over the car. The car has only done 3500 Miles so I was surprised that they found the brake pads showed 35% wear on front pads and 55% wear on rears. That can't be correct, can it?
Tyre wear is minimal and I don't drive the car like a lunatic!

That is hard to believe or fathom..I have my 18000 mile service (2 years) next week and they are not part of the service (brake fluid change which is mandatory is).

Robustly challenge and push warranty as no pads would deteriorate so quickly and have a much longer service life.

 

[KensingtonPark]

It's possible if you have a couple of factors in play:

• Lots of hilly (esp. downhill) braking
• Lots of trips starting at 100% state of charge

Both of those could conceivably contribute to higher brake pad wear.

 

[Tino82]

That is hard to believe or fathom..I have my 18000 mile service (2 years) next week and they are not part of the service (brake fluid change which is mandatory is).

Robustly challenge and push warranty as no pads would deteriorate so quickly and have a much longer service life.

I've asked them to call me tomorrow to discuss. Very odd.

 

[Tino82]

It's possible if you have a couple of factors in play:

• Lots of hilly (esp. downhill) braking
• Lots of trips starting at 100% state of charge

Both of those could conceivably contribute to higher brake pad wear.

I don't have either of those conditions, so shouldn't contribute to increased wear. It's excessive for just over 3k Miles.

 

[W1NGE]

It's possible if you have a couple of factors in play:

• Lots of hilly (esp. downhill) braking
• Lots of trips starting at 100% state of charge

Both of those could conceivably contribute to higher brake pad wear.

I don't think so unless you are standing on the brakes!

95% of braking is via the motors and not the pads remember.

 

[KensingtonPark]

I don't think so unless you are standing on the brakes!

95% of braking is via the motors and not the pads remember.

Agreed, but if you have a sufficiently large stopping demand requirement (e.g., from sudden hard braking or from stopping coming down a steep incline), then the physical brakes do take over. If you live in a very hilly area where you're coming to a stop coming downhill (e.g., at a stop sign), then you're using the brakes more than someone who has a similar driving profile but on less hilly terrain. And if you regularly charge to 100%, you'll use the physical brakes exclusively until there is some battery capacity remaining for the regenerative brakes to dump energy.

It was just a guess, and it sounds like the OP does not have either of these scenarios anyway.

 

[W1NGE]

Agreed, but if you have a sufficiently large stopping demand requirement (e.g., from sudden hard braking or from stopping coming down a steep incline), then the physical brakes do take over. If you live in a very hilly area where you're coming to a stop coming downhill (e.g., at a stop sign), then you're using the brakes more than someone who has a similar driving profile but on less hilly terrain. And if you regularly charge to 100%, you'll use the physical brakes exclusively until there is some battery capacity remaining for the regenerative brakes to dump energy.

It was just a guess, and it sounds like the OP does not have either of these scenarios anyway.

Don't lose sight either of the 3.5K miles on the clock - just not possible to have this amount of deterioration IMHO.

Consider also the cars used at PEC - typically when released for public sale they don't replace components (tyres an exception) and stick to standard Porsche service cycles.

Porsches are priced at a premium as many of the components are engineered to last a lot longer and the cars are expected to be driven.

 

[bsclywilly]

That's the measurements attached on the photo. I can't see how that's correct?

Also, I'm not sure what tread the pirelli p zeros are as new?

Their wear calculation is wrong. The front and rear pads start with a 10mm thickness (15.0mm total with backing plate). It should be 90% pad life front and 70% left rear, to do the obvious calculation...

Even so, that's a high amount of wear if their measurements are correct. I was still measuring about 10mm all around (essentially 100% after my first 7k miles.). Besides a track event, I actually haven't had measurable wear in my brake pads in the 7k miles after that track day. I just hit about 14.5kmiles and measured last week.

I also wouldn't trust the measurements very much either, I've had measurements from the service center that don't match my actual measurements at all. You can ask them to measure again and if they're correct, there may be some other problem. Or just wait until your next service/recall/update and ask them to take the measurement more accurately.

 

[Midlifecrisis]

If the brake pads had really worn that much through braking the tyre would be well worn as well. They are subject to the same forces

 

[Tino82]

If the brake pads had really worn that much through braking the tyre would be well worn as well. They are subject to the same forces

My thinking exactly!

 

[BigBob]

Is the car definitely using the engine to brake? Do you get the green braking bar in your middle tube when you brake? Maybe the car is stuck in use the proper brakes mode you get for a new car and wearing them as a result?

 

[W1NGE]

Is the car definitely using the engine to brake? Do you get the green braking bar in your middle tube when you brake? Maybe the car is stuck in use the proper brakes mode you get for a new car and wearing them as a result?

It still wouldn't explain the wear in 3.5K miles. How many cars have you had that needed brake pad replacement this early no matter how you drive?

My Boxster S.is still on the original pads and disks from new (10 years old now , 22K miles).

I really think this is a cock up or a component failure / not within spec.

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