Hi all,

I`ve got my car infor it's 2 year service, at an independent garage that I trust (it has a good reputation too).

They have just rung to say that there is only a couple of months wear left in the front pads and really need replacing, at a cost of £125 fitted.

It`s not so much the cost (though it is!) as brakes saves lives, but should they have worn down after only 2 years (car was brand new) and only 11,000 miles?

Advice appreciated.

Pad wear varies hugely with driving style & journey profile, but that does sound excessive to me.

Have a read of this thread for an explanation of one possible cause. Remember any corrosion will be accelerated on cars living by the seaside.

This thread is also worth reading - the only difference between 1.2 500 & Panda brakes is that there isn't a wear sensor on the Panda.

£125 is a fortune for a pad change at an independent - I'd expect the discs changed as well for that money.

Our 2 year old 100hp also has done 11000 miles..........

1. It has no more than 25% pad wear

2. Pads are cheap as chips to buy - even decent ones (£20 -£40)

3. Pads are very quick/easy to fit

4. Everyone on Earth has a smartphone. Ask them to MMS/email the pads in situ

5. http://www.eurocarparts.com/

£50-£70 to fit should be more than enough. If it needed them.

I used ebc green stuff front and rear. took me just over an hour....from not knowing what or how to do the job....piece of proverbial.

Well, I went to pick it up & queried it. Chap explained that it's because of the stop/start type of driving we have to over here. He said Honda Jazz's wear out between 8,500-12,000 miles so to expect the same. Although an independeent, they get genuine Fiat parts from the dealer, to ensure my warranty is still valid. I`m guessing they have to pay over the odds for that & pass it on to me

Haven`t got the bill yet, but as we're off to France in 2 weeks, it needed doing :/

All three Panda's in our family have had a short pad life from new.
All three cars have had replacement pads and two have had discs and pads within the first three years.

I guess the genuine parts aren't "best quality".

Saying that, most cars brakes don't last as long as they used to, since they took asbestos out of the pad material and upped the metal content, they wear a lot quicker.

I'd say duff original brake pads... I too had a similar thing with my first set. They were fine and then suddenly seemed to disintegrate. Strangely enough the second and third sets both lasted 30K miles each.

I don't envy you driving around Jersey. I don't think I could live any longer than a week with a max speed limit of 40 (for just a couple of miles)! I couldn't wait to put the boot down when I got back to Belfast when I was there...

Replaced my pads at 24000 with still a little left on them,got Ferrodo pads from local shop for £15.Previous Puntos and Pandas all managed 25000 miles on the pads.I do an awful lot of stop start driving and some motorway.

Wee Smurf said:

I don't envy you driving around Jersey. I don't think I could live any longer than a week with a max speed limit of 40 (for just a couple of miles)! I couldn't wait to put the boot down when I got back to Belfast when I was there...

Click to expand...

That's why we're off to France
Driving for 4 hours at 70mph is just what I, and the car, needs :slayer: