burtstyle
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Hi, how long should front pads last on my 4x4 cross? Front drivers side is squealing. If they need replacing is there a better option than oem?
Technical Front pads
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Technical Front pads
How long is a piece of string?
All depends on how you drive but I changed mine at around 20K and the rears were hardly touched (4x4 Multijet).
You can't go wrong with any good quality after market brand, they are cheap and easy to do and It's not exactly a high performance machine so they should last ages.
Squeals may be due to lack of copper ease on the back of the pad/piston interface. Also you should have a quick look at the pad thickness of both sides of the car. If the drivers side is much more worn than the passanger's then you might have a sticking piston.
There are plenty of performance pads on the market but they would be total overkill for a Panda and don't tend to come on song until you get a bit of heat in them.
All depends on how you drive but I changed mine at around 20K and the rears were hardly touched (4x4 Multijet).
You can't go wrong with any good quality after market brand, they are cheap and easy to do and It's not exactly a high performance machine so they should last ages.
Squeals may be due to lack of copper ease on the back of the pad/piston interface. Also you should have a quick look at the pad thickness of both sides of the car. If the drivers side is much more worn than the passanger's then you might have a sticking piston.
There are plenty of performance pads on the market but they would be total overkill for a Panda and don't tend to come on song until you get a bit of heat in them.
I put some girlings on my first punto and I swear they lasted longer than the discs put on at the same time
I don't find that surprising at all. Asbestos-free pads generally contain iron and are much more abrasive than the older asbestos based type. They wear the discs much faster than in days gone by.
In the '70's, I remember getting through 3-4 sets of pads before the discs were down to their wear limit. Nowadays, it's quite common to fit new discs every time the pads are changed.
If the discs have worn below 50% of the wear limit at the time the pads are first changed, then simple arithmetic tells you they'll be worn out before the second set of pads reaches the end of their life.
Fortunately, at least for the versions with solid discs, both discs and pads can be had for a very reasonable price.
As far as lifespan goes, I've seen some which were perfectly serviceable at 50k plus, and others completely worn out after a couple of trackdays.
The one certain way to guarantee the pads will wear prematurely is if one sticks in the reaction frame. Keeping the contact surfaces clean, lubricated and moving freely is the key to getting the full service life out of your brakes.
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There is a shiny metal ‘tab’ fitted to the outer pad on the drivers side wheel. This is carefully designed to make contact with the disc (and so squeal) as a warning that the pads are wearing. Initially it will squeal only as you brake, and as the pads wear further, more continuously. If you look through the wheel you can see this.
My pads lasted 45,000 miles - a roughly equal mix of town, lanes and fast dual carriageway, mostly in fairly flat Hertfordshire and into Norfolk. I’d expect them to last less long in the hills of, say, North Yorkshire
My pads lasted 45,000 miles - a roughly equal mix of town, lanes and fast dual carriageway, mostly in fairly flat Hertfordshire and into Norfolk. I’d expect them to last less long in the hills of, say, North Yorkshire
You’d be surprised how long things last here in N. Yorkshire
A comment based in part on my journeys today up and down a few 1 in 3 hills in North Yorkshire
A comment based in part on my journeys today up and down a few 1 in 3 hills in North Yorkshire
it’s where we use engine braking more, but yes, we’ve got some pretty steep roads
To be fair, even in Hertfordshire (and easier with the diesel), engine braking, by easing back sooner, is probably on reason why my pads still had plenty of life at 45000 miles.
Indeed…certainly helps
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Ive got a squeek on braking at the rear (drums) Is it time for new brake shoes?
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Does the drumbraked version have self adjuster on the handbrake? If not I'd associate rear brake shoe wear with excessive handbrake lever travel?? Is this your situation?
Drum braked versions have self adjusting rear brakes. The self adjusters are inside the drums.
Actually, I'm struggling to think of any modern drum brake setup that isn't self adjusting. The last car I had with manually adjusted brake shoes was a 1964 HA Viva.
Providing the self adjusters are working correctly (they can sometimes stick due to dust buildup/corrosion), increasing handbrake travel only happens if the handbrake cable stretches (unusual unless you haul on the lever like a gorilla). Excessive handbrake travel is usually a sign that one or both of the self adjusters has stopped working correctly. If this happens, the brakes should be stripped, checked and cleaned as necessary before attempting to adjust the cable. Adjusting the cable to 'correct' increasing handbrake travel without first checking the self adjusters are working properly is a commonly made mistake.
There needs to be a small amount of slack in the cable when the handbrake is off, or the self adjusters may not work correctly.
I've had no reason to adjust my handbrake cable in 13yrs/110k miles.
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