Rear brake pad wear

[The Weekend]

Hello all
Just had our 2017 Beach through an interim service. 15k miles on the clock.
Rear inner brake pad down to one millimetre. Outer pad has lots of life left. Is this normal?
Always drive gently. We'll get all the rear pads changed but wondered if this was usual.

Thanks

Ed

 

[WelshGas]

Hello all
Just had our 2017 Beach through an interim service. 15k miles on the clock.
Rear inner brake pad down to one millimetre. Outer pad has lots of life left. Is this normal?
Always drive gently. We'll get all the rear pads changed but wondered if this was usual.

Thanks

Ed

No. Indicates a problem. Sticky caliper.

 

[Alan Andrews]

The rear pads can last up to 100k.....definitely a lot longer than the fronts. As Welshgas has suggested, may indicate mechanical issue/failure. Surprising that your garage has not recommended further investigation.

 

[VW Guru]

Hi it’s a common trait of the transporter based vehicles that the inner rear pads ware more than the outer and also due to the weight of the vehicle and the brake force distribution the rear pads normally wear out faster than the front. Odd I know but true.

This being said 15k and worn down to 1mm hummm I would question that unless your driving the vehicle around on or over its weight limit that type of ware would not occur in that mileage ( note unless as previously mentioned you have a brake fault although I suspect everything is ok as rarely do we have faults with transporter/Cali brake systems) how exactly can your dealer say your pads are at 1mm have they taken them out and measured then with a vernia or micromeater ? I very much doubt it my suspicion is more they are up selling you brakes, it may well be they are worn maybe even down to 70-80 % worn but I doubt they are at 1mm that would be an instant MOT fail if they were and and I don’t think in my history as a tester have I failed a new Cali on brake wear at 3 years let alone had a Cali with 15,000 miles on it with brake pads worn that low. Ask your dealer to physically show you the pads. With a see it now video of them removing the pads or wait and watch them remove the pads and show you. I don’t believe there as low as they say.

 

[calikev]

I totally agree with all of that

 

[pjm-84]

Mine needed rears pad at 27k.

I have the similar issue on the JCW. Rear pad life appears to be no more than 20k.

 

[The Weekend]

Thanks all.

At most its three kids under 5 years and the my wife. And she isn't heavy!
I was sent a video with the pads in situ (still in callipers)
I'll know next weekend when I change them over.
Quote £186+ to change rear pads!

 

[WelshGas]

My rear pads were changed when 90% worn at 77,000 miles. At that time Front Pads were at 70% but there were ridges on the rear of the front discs probably due to corrosion. I decided to change front discs and all pads as I plan on some serious travelling this year.

 

[pjm-84]

I paid £174 +VAT which I thought was a tad expensive. (Didn't have the wind back tool or the time before we went away). Pads 80 - 90% worn at 26367 miles.

I suspect the JCW will be more expensive so I will buy a wind back kit and change them myself.

 

[briwy]

I changed ours at 50k. Simple job if you're handy with a spanner. £60 for genuine vw pads and about an hour at most
You will need a caliper wind back tool about £25 but that's a one off.

 

[pjm-84]

Agree. An hour would be leisurely

Which wind back tool did you buy Briwy?

 

[larrylamb]

I changed ours at 50k. Simple job if you're handy with a spanner. £60 for genuine vw pads and about an hour at most
You will need a caliper wind back tool about £25 but that's a one off.

Agree. An hour would be leisurely
Which wind back tool did you buy Briwy?

Anyone fancy doing a video? Never had the confidence to work on car mechanics when I was a youngster but would give it a go now.

 

[jts46]

Anyone fancy doing a video? Never had the confidence to work on car mechanics when I was a youngster but would give it a go now.

Does this help?

How to replace front brake discs and brake pads VOLKSWAGEN T5 ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nei1yrkwEEM

 

[larrylamb]

Rear brakes video.

 

[briwy]

This is the one I have. Worth getting one with various adapters so it can be used on any vehicle.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233097731911

The video shows the guy regreasing the caliper slides. This is where problems occur if this seizes as the caliper then operates only on one pad.
The other thing I do is put a drop of thread locking fluid on the bolts when they are replaced.
I use torque settings of 165nm for the caliper carrier and 35nm for the caliper bolts.

BTW this is one of the discs that I changed last week off our Yeti. This was MOTed and serviced by a main dealer two months ago. Not good. As I don't think they generally take the wheels off nowadays it's impossible to see this corrosion on the inner face of the disc. Bit scary.

 

[The Weekend]

Perfect.

I'll let you know how it goes

cheers

 

[Amarillo]

Hello all
Just had our 2017 Beach through an interim service. 15k miles on the clock.
Rear inner brake pad down to one millimetre. Outer pad has lots of life left. Is this normal?
Always drive gently. We'll get all the rear pads changed but wondered if this was usual.

Thanks

Ed

2017 Beach also.
At 34,000 miles rear pads were 20% worn and front pads 60% worn.
At 39,000 miles rear pads were 40% worn and front pads 65% worn.

How the rears lost 20% in 5000 miles and the fronts only 5% over the same distance I assume is sloppy approximations.

 

[SailSki]

We just bought a 2016 204 4M with 23k miles and as part of the pre delivery inspection they replaced rear pads and discs. Pads I thought was feasible but was surprised but also happy that they put new discs on too.

 

[briwy]

One thing I forgot is to say before you wind back the pistons in the calipers take the top off the brake master cylinder. As the pistons wind back then the fluid is pushed back into the master cylinder so you need to keep checking as you are winding back that the master cylinder reservoir is not overflowing . AND, don't forget to put the cap back on.

 

[scottk]

Don't use normal grease or copper slip if you decide to grease the slider pins. Need to use silicon or red brake grease so it doesn't react with the rubber boot.
Just had to do my Audi S3 rear discs and pads at 38k. First time I have ever done the rears before the fronts but believe it's because the rears have only 2mm wear allowed and there is some sort of dynamic steering which brakes the rears as you corner if they are spinning! Horrible job due to lack of space-took 2 hours.

 

[GreggB]

I’m in the worn rear pads club! 18k and they’ve been reported as 90-95% worn, particularly on the offside. The killer on mine is the corroded/pitted offside disc, I suspect it’s spent some time parked up before we bought it and the corrosion has never cleaned up with use and progressively got worse. Probably even worn the pads down quicker as well, my work T5 does 18-20k between services and has pads replaced every time regardless, weighs 3t and never had any premature wear on the rears.

Independent garage I had service at quoted about £280 with genuine parts. I’ll be DIY-ing it for £120 with genuine parts, could have gone non-genuine for about £90 or even less for some of the budget brands available.

With reference to the original post, that kind of wear does sound unusual and everything would need inspecting closely for signs of parts sticking. Does sound like the inner pad has got stuck as opposed to a calliper fault.

 

[The Weekend]

Wind back tool £7 eBay
Red grease £3 eBay
Pads Lucas OEM with 60% discount carparts4less or it might have been GSF £9
40 minutes start to finish. Hardest part was that the offside alloy didn't want to leave the disc hub.
The inner pad on nearside was down to a few mm. Discs all smooth. I'll take a look in a thousand mies or so to assess the wear again.
Thanks for all the advice.
Cheers

Ed

 

[pjm-84]

Bought my Brembo JCW mini pads from GSF today. New pads / new sensor + £165

60% discount code somehow brought it back down to £65.

​

Brembo pads kit also comes with new caliper bolts.

 

[pjm-84]

Did mine on Saturday after walking the dogs and before heading up to Wales.

Unfortunately the sensor was incorrect in the packet so I ended exchanging the sensor for the correct one and swapped it over at lunchtime today and then reset the warning light. Mini charges £255 for this.

​

 

[cgielectrical]

Hi everyone,

I have to change my pads every two years and the rears also wear faster than the fronts by approx 40%

This year, the disks are due.
What size is the star bolt holding the front disks on please (i.e. what size star bit do i need) Also, am i right in thinking the allen key required to remove the caliper is a 7mm?

And finally, do the rear disks require the same, or different tools? I watched the autodoc video to find out, but i couldn't see the sizes on the tools he held up. (I'm not worried about doing the job, would just like to have the right tools ready. (I've already a windback tool).

Thanks in advance, Chris.

PS. exported mine in a container to Melbourne. There's about two inches spare either side with the mirrors folded back! And last minute i decided to add a roll of loft insulation at either corner as a buffer .. glad i did, had imprints of the packaging text on one side where they used a forklift to move the container around at the docks / yard where i picked it up.