Question re: brake pad wear
Discussion
Hi,
I'm after some advice - I had both sets of brake pads changed on my DBS about 2 months ago, and since then I have done just under 12,000km of mainly (95%) motorway driving. The roads here are pretty clear, so not a lot of stop/start traffic.
Today, I got the warning light on the dash stating that the rear pads were low, so my question would be, should I expect to get through a set of new pads in this sort of mileage, under these sorts of driving conditions? I know that wear will be affected by how hard I drive it, and needless to say, I try to put it through its paces whenever I can, but I'm certainly not track driving, or anything near it!
I appreciate any help or advice!
Thanks,
Scott.
I'm after some advice - I had both sets of brake pads changed on my DBS about 2 months ago, and since then I have done just under 12,000km of mainly (95%) motorway driving. The roads here are pretty clear, so not a lot of stop/start traffic.
Today, I got the warning light on the dash stating that the rear pads were low, so my question would be, should I expect to get through a set of new pads in this sort of mileage, under these sorts of driving conditions? I know that wear will be affected by how hard I drive it, and needless to say, I try to put it through its paces whenever I can, but I'm certainly not track driving, or anything near it!
I appreciate any help or advice!
Thanks,
Scott.
Traction control can muller the rear pads in short order and not show the light that often 
Both my V8's have done it, driving in track mode leaves the intervention to later (still safe) but saves the rear pads (does the DBS have 3 stage traction control?)
Both my V8's have done it, driving in track mode leaves the intervention to later (still safe) but saves the rear pads (does the DBS have 3 stage traction control?)
Edited by mikey k on Thursday 16th April 08:25
mmm...as per Mikey the TC does use the rear brake more than you might think, I too have had rear pads replaced and not understood why they wore so much ...but not after 8000miles...that does seem very odd. I was thinking more like 20-30K miles
unless of course you have done 1/2 dozen track days in that time ....
unless of course you have done 1/2 dozen track days in that time ....
@Bogey - I live in the Dubai, so it's dry and warm most of the time, so I rarely get the traction control kicking in... no track days, but I do drive it quite hard, but nothing out of the ordinary I don't think... I was expecting 20k miles, too, so I'm hoping it may be a faulty sensor wire or something...
@Nick - I had the CCM disks changed on the front recently, and they didn't suggest getting the rear ones done at the same time, so I can only assume that this means they're still OK... the car has done 65,000km so again, I wouldn't expect to be able to ruin a set of carbon ceramic disks in this mileage!
Ahh, OK - that's interesting, as I've just had the car serviced, not two weeks ago! I've messaged them to ask if the rear pads were low or anywhere near it when they serviced it, so I'm just waiting for them to reply...
Fingers crossed that's what it is, at 1k a set, I definitely don't want to be replacing them every two months!!!
Scott.
Fingers crossed that's what it is, at 1k a set, I definitely don't want to be replacing them every two months!!!
Scott.
Very timely thread - my five year old V8 with just over 10000 miles is on the borderline for new rear pads. No track days just normal use around town mainly.
I wondered how the hell a car can wear down rear pads so quickly, didn't think of the traction control - Doh!
Mind I still think it's premature at my mileage and use
I wondered how the hell a car can wear down rear pads so quickly, didn't think of the traction control - Doh!
Mind I still think it's premature at my mileage and use
steveatesh said:
Very timely thread - my five year old V8 with just over 10000 miles is on the borderline for new rear pads. No track days just normal use around town mainly.
I wondered how the hell a car can wear down rear pads so quickly, didn't think of the traction control - Doh!
Mind I still think it's premature at my mileage and use
The Aston TC is very active without showing the light much, almost Merc like. Very nannying I wondered how the hell a car can wear down rear pads so quickly, didn't think of the traction control - Doh!
Mind I still think it's premature at my mileage and use
It intervenes at the slightest hint of differing grip levels across the tyres.
Luckily the later cars have a track mode which allows a lot more scope without leaving in ditch finder mode
steveatesh said:
Very timely thread - my five year old V8 with just over 10000 miles is on the borderline for new rear pads. No track days just normal use around town mainly.
I wondered how the hell a car can wear down rear pads so quickly, didn't think of the traction control - Doh!
Mind I still think it's premature at my mileage and use
Steve, do you drive with your handbrake in the ON position? I wondered how the hell a car can wear down rear pads so quickly, didn't think of the traction control - Doh!
Mind I still think it's premature at my mileage and use
Scottsanders said:
@Nick - I had the CCM disks changed on the front recently, and they didn't suggest getting the rear ones done at the same time, so I can only assume that this means they're still OK... the car has done 65,000km so again, I wouldn't expect to be able to ruin a set of carbon ceramic disks in this mileage!
65,000km and you needed new front CCM disks? That's very different from the AML estimate of 100,000 miles...Do you drive hard or more Miss Daisy?
So, I've had the pads inspected by the dealer, and they have confirmed that both sets of pads need to be replaced, so it's not just the back set!
How the hell do you rip through a complete set of pads in less than 11,000km ?!?!
As previously stated, I do drive it pretty hard, but it's 95%+ motorway driving, so even with aggressive driving, I'd expect at least 20,000km out of a set of pads! To prove a point, I drove it to work today and just used the paddles, so used the engine to brake more than the actual brakes, and I hardly had to touch the brakes until I got off the motorway! This is very typical of the type of traffic that I usually drive in, so I refuse to believe that this is driving style that has worn them out so quickly!
One thing they did say was, AM recently changed the type of pad to a softer pad to deal with the constant squealing that a lot of DBS owners report with the CCM's, but even they said that it shouldn't shave more than a couple of thousand km's off the life of the pad.
To put it in perspective, when I got the car, it had 39,000km on the clock, and I got just shy of 20,000km out of the already worn pads that were on the car when I got it. I then get less than 11,000km out of the replacement set! This cannot be right!
Does anybody else have any experience of these new softer pads that AM are now fitting? If so, how much did you see the life go down by?
If I've got to change all the pads every 10,000km, I'm not going to be driving it for much longer!!! Shame, as I love the car in every other way!
Scott.
How the hell do you rip through a complete set of pads in less than 11,000km ?!?!
As previously stated, I do drive it pretty hard, but it's 95%+ motorway driving, so even with aggressive driving, I'd expect at least 20,000km out of a set of pads! To prove a point, I drove it to work today and just used the paddles, so used the engine to brake more than the actual brakes, and I hardly had to touch the brakes until I got off the motorway! This is very typical of the type of traffic that I usually drive in, so I refuse to believe that this is driving style that has worn them out so quickly!
One thing they did say was, AM recently changed the type of pad to a softer pad to deal with the constant squealing that a lot of DBS owners report with the CCM's, but even they said that it shouldn't shave more than a couple of thousand km's off the life of the pad.
To put it in perspective, when I got the car, it had 39,000km on the clock, and I got just shy of 20,000km out of the already worn pads that were on the car when I got it. I then get less than 11,000km out of the replacement set! This cannot be right!
Does anybody else have any experience of these new softer pads that AM are now fitting? If so, how much did you see the life go down by?
If I've got to change all the pads every 10,000km, I'm not going to be driving it for much longer!!! Shame, as I love the car in every other way!
Scott.
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