(T) Sei Sporting Brake Pad Wear

My Sporting Schumi did 36,000 miles on its original front pads. The Fiat original part replacement set then lasted only 12,000 miles. Now the latest Fiat replacement set are looking well worn in 12,000 miles too.
Brake operation seems fine, no binding, car pulls up straight. Car is standard spec. Is there anything I should be looking out for, or have Fiat (literally) gone soft on their material spec?
Oh, and I'm not aware that I've changed my driving style....

Hi,
Welcome.....the pad wear sounds fine, about 12000 miles is ok, after market pads(even from dealer) are a lot softer than factory fit items, they make them harder so there's nothing to service in the first 3 years except engine oil etc, its the same with tyres, the factory set will last for ages , replacements will wear out in half the time ..

Thanks
Paul T

Thanks for this info Paul. Glad it's not me or Schumi.... I'm toying with the idea of uprating to Punto GT discs & calipers at some point, but for now I'll put in a set of standard pads to keep me going.

How hard do you brake Professor?

Liam

I wouldn't have called myself an aggresive braker but at the same time I don't dawdle.... I've had the car from 3,000 miles and much of the first 36,000 was done around some fairly hilly bits of Germany. I'm fairly sure that I haven't changed my driving style since. If anything it's become less aggresive!
Fair question Liam, I intend to fit a new set of pads this weekend and perhaps I should make an effort to conserve the brakes and see how they wear.

I suppose if you were hammering the brakes then the discs would warp first but the hilly driving sounds like the culprit.

@ £20 a set the pads ain't expensive and their easy fitted too.

Liam

Well, yesterday I changed the pads for a set of EBC 'blacks'. On examination, the offside pads were in perfect condition, wear as I would expect - about 7-8mm of material left. The nearside ones were a different story. The saddle-side pad was down to 3mm and the piston side one about 5mm. Both calipers slide freely and I couldn't find any binding points. Both pistons pressed back without any excess effort. All the old pads (Bosch - Fiat official parts) have the same part number and batch code so it's not as if a 'rogue' pad was in there. And to add to the puzzle, this car definitely does not pull under braking, even with no hands on the wheel. I've tried the trick of hard braking mid-bend to see if the car dives into oversteer but nothing, it stays perfectly neutral....
Oh well, I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens. I might try to get hold of a hydraulic circuit for the ABS system to see if there's any way the offside's getting reduced pressure, but I would have expected the car to pull if that's the case.