Got a flat, guy said brakes are only at 15%

[thestrangebrew1]

Wife's 2016 Explorer XLT got a flat so I had her take it in to the only guy in our small town. He looked at the brakes and said we've only got about 15% left on them. Car has ~30k miles. Does this sound right? I thought brakes were supposed to go till about 60k before needing replacement.

 

[KIAman]

The life of brakes have a lot to do with driving habits of the driver. For example, my wife thinks she is in a hurry all the time and pretends to be a nascar driver in our van. I replace the brakes every 10k miles as a result.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Well I called my dealership to see how much it would cost to replace them and they said $150/axle. I know nothing about cars except basics like changing a tire and oil etc. Are brakes hard to replace?

 

[Raizinman]

15% is not a true measurement of how long the remaining brakes will last. Also, without using a measurement tool, he was probably only guessing. Suggest you take the car in to have them checked.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Wife's 2016 Explorer XLT got a flat so I had her take it in to the only guy in our small town. He looked at the brakes and said we've only got about 15% left on them. Car has ~30k miles. Does this sound right? I thought brakes were supposed to go till about 60k before needing replacement.

Well... he may have been trying to sell you some brakes. But depending on pad material and driving habits, yeah. I've had pads last 70k, and pads that lasted 30k.

Well I called my dealership to see how much it would cost to replace them and they said $150/axle. I know nothing about cars except basics like changing a tire and oil etc. Are brakes hard to replace?

Just the pads? Not terribly difficult, but it requires some tools you might not have. Check youtube for videos of brake replacement specific to your car. A set of pads is probably between $30 and $50.

Then, take a wheel off and get a flashlight - you can verify for yourself if the pads look worn down. (Do a google image search for "worn vs. new brake pads" and you'll find lots of examples.)

Since you probably just need front brakes (rear brakes tend to wear a lot slower) $150 to have a pro do it and warranty their work isn't terrible, IMO.

 

[jlee]

Well... he may have been trying to sell you some brakes. But depending on pad material and driving habits, yeah. I've had pads last 70k, and pads that lasted 30k.



Just the pads? Not terribly difficult, but it requires some tools you might not have. Check youtube for videos of brake replacement specific to your car. A set of pads is probably between $30 and $50.

Then, take a wheel off and get a flashlight - you can verify for yourself if the pads look worn down. (Do a google image search for "worn vs. new brake pads" and you'll find lots of examples.)

Since you probably just need front brakes (rear brakes tend to wear a lot slower) $150 to have a pro do it and warranty their work isn't terrible, IMO.

I'm unsure if "axle" in this context means per corner, or for both sides on one end of the vehicle. I would assume both sides, but Explorers haven't had solid axles up front in a long time - so there are technically two up there.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Ah. Good point.

 

[bruceb]

Axle usually refers to doing left and right brakes at either the front or the back of the vehicle. The shop will tell you if it is the front or back. Prices are usually a little higher for the fronts. You can visually check the pads with the wheel off. Look at how close the wear sensor is to the rotor. Less than a 2/16" and you should get pads soon. Last thing you want is for the wear sensor to hit the rotor as that will cause scoring and eventually lead to needing new rotors as well. Pads for that vehicle run about $50 for the front pair. Labor is not very bad, unless the caliper doesn't slide or needs a rebuild. Unlikely given you have a 2016 model.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Thanks all. The job is actually for the rears. I read somewhere that the traction control on these vehicles tend to wear the rears out much faster. I believe the dealer quoted for just the pads and not rotors. I thought that when you replace brakes, you should just do both rotor and pads at the same time so everything wears in evenly. Our guy said he'll do both rotos and pads for $190.

 

[bruceb]

Generally on most cars, you can get 2 pad sets out of 1 rotor. So if the first set of pads went say 40K then you would expect to change rotors at the next change at 80K ... Depending on how scored the rotors are and the thickness as compared to the Minimum Thickness marked on the rotors, you might get them resurfaced once. When they get too thin, they must be replaced, as they can not handle the heat disapation and will crack when too thin.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah he might have been trying to get extra business but they might be showing noticeable wear (and I'd wager he's talking about the pads) and just wanted to give you a heads up so that you didn't get squealing brakes shortly after and then think he did something. $150 from a dealer isn't too bad, although if it's per wheel then kinda high (but not shocking for a dealer sadly).

The life of brakes have a lot to do with driving habits of the driver. For example, my wife thinks she is in a hurry all the time and pretends to be a nascar driver in our van. I replace the brakes every 10k miles as a result.

This. My sister is terrible about going full start/stop, and surprise their vehicles get crap MPG and go through brakes. She drove my Mom's Prius for like a week a little while back, and the reported mileage went from ~50 to ~40 (I've basically never seen it report as low as it was, even when doing awful freeway stop and then go 70mph driving with the A/C cranked and 5 people and carrying other extra weight in the back).

That's why I wish they would put regenerative braking in every vehicle, it'd save a lot on brake wear and tear, plus would help for the people that feel like they must get back up to speed ASAP.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Generally on most cars, you can get 2 pad sets out of 1 rotor. So if the first set of pads went say 40K then you would expect to change rotors at the next change at 80K ... Depending on how scored the rotors are and the thickness as compared to the Minimum Thickness marked on the rotors, you might get them resurfaced once. When they get too thin, they must be replaced, as they can not handle the heat disapation and will crack when too thin.

Yeah rotors usually last longer than the pads. Obviously depending on wear so check them fairly regularly, but shouldn't need to change them too often unless there's some issue causing abnormal wear or driving habits leading to excessive brake wear. Or if you live in a hilly/mountanous area. And stop and go driving also will hit your brakes more (compared to say rural highway driving or if most of your mileage is on interstate or something).

It is true that it makes sense to do both at the same time largely because if you're going to the trouble of removing the calipers and dealing with the brake line pressure (which you would do for both, and that's generally the most in depth part of brake work is dealing with the calipers/pressure) but you shouldn't need to change the rotors that often.

I can see why you'd figure to do it with the guy quoting $190 for both compared to $150 for the pads through the dealer. From the mechanic's standpoint, it'd take almost as long to do just the pads as both, and rotors aren't too expensive, so he probably figures he's saving you a bit of trouble (like if you had to change the rotors say 10k miles later).

Do some cars have brakes that are easy to change just the pads? I'm guessing not since it likely introduces potential for failure (and brakes are pretty important for safety) and they generally don't need changing often enough to warrant the bit of extra convenience. But if they made it so that the brake system could automatically manage the pressure, it'd make things a lot easier and it'd be easy to just change the pads, rotors, and tires all at the same time.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

For $150 from Ford you are getting new pads and resurfaced rotors, not new rotors.

Pretty good price!

 

[Drako]

Thanks all. The job is actually for the rears. I read somewhere that the traction control on these vehicles tend to wear the rears out much faster. I believe the dealer quoted for just the pads and not rotors. I thought that when you replace brakes, you should just do both rotor and pads at the same time so everything wears in evenly. Our guy said he'll do both rotos and pads for $190.

If your wife is like my wife, she drives with the parking brake partially engaged sometimes. I've had to replace the rear brakes on or 2011 Ford Edge three times already, and it's got less than 50K on it. Have not had to replaced the front brakes yet.

 

[ruturaj1989]

Do you trust the shop?

2 places told me I needed new brakes. First one in November and the second one in last month and 4,000 miles later. The second one told me I needed them immediately. Both gave me a quote I did not like. Decided to buy parts and do the job myself, found out I did not need new pads (had a lot of life left on them).

 

[thecoolnessrune]

It's definitely dependent on the car driver. My story is like some of the other posters. My grandfather made it to 80K on his Bronco before he needed to have the brakes replaced. When I got my dinky Olds Intrigue, it had 75K miles and new brakes / pads. I had used a little over 1/4th the pad's life by 100K. At that time, I gave the car to my wife to drive in to college, because it was the more dependable car of our two at the time (She was about 100 miles away, and I wanted to make sure she had a "reliable" car to make the trip there and back every couple of weeks). By 115K miles the pads were done.

She's still much rougher on cars than I am, but I baby them, so I know it just feels different to me. She still drives alot better than some people I've rode with.

Off topic, but how on earth do so many people just let their car puke all over itself and not notice? So many times I've asked a person "what's that noise"? when I hear something strange, and the answer is "Oh, its done that forever". One friend had her wheel bearing completely shot, and she didn't notice until I pointed out that it was raising unholy hell while riding with her. I got out and pushed the wheel and it was moving!

If I hear so much as a louder tick from the Engine on a cold morning, I'm checking things over, but I'm pretty paranoid after a few really crappy strandings.

 

[ruturaj1989]

It's definitely dependent on the car driver. My story is like some of the other posters. My grandfather made it to 80K on his Bronco before he needed to have the brakes replaced. When I got my dinky Olds Intrigue, it had 75K miles and new brakes / pads. I had used a little over 1/4th the pad's life by 100K. At that time, I gave the car to my wife to drive in to college, because it was the more dependable car of our two at the time (She was about 100 miles away, and I wanted to make sure she had a "reliable" car to make the trip there and back every couple of weeks). By 115K miles the pads were done.

She's still much rougher on cars than I am, but I baby them, so I know it just feels different to me. She still drives alot better than some people I've rode with.

Off topic, but how on earth do so many people just let their car puke all over itself and not notice? So many times I've asked a person "what's that noise"? when I hear something strange, and the answer is "Oh, its done that forever". One friend had her wheel bearing completely shot, and she didn't notice until I pointed out that it was raising unholy hell while riding with her. I got out and pushed the wheel and it was moving!

If I hear so much as a louder tick from the Engine on a cold morning, I'm checking things over, but I'm pretty paranoid after a few really crappy strandings.

LOL. I am paranoid as well. Once I replaced all struts on car since it was making noise (after consulting 2-3 mechanics), and during change they found that stabilizer link was the issue.

 

[mindless1]

Thanks all. The job is actually for the rears. I read somewhere that the traction control on these vehicles tend to wear the rears out much faster. I believe the dealer quoted for just the pads and not rotors. I thought that when you replace brakes, you should just do both rotor and pads at the same time so everything wears in evenly. Our guy said he'll do both rotos and pads for $190.

Can you link that info that the TC wears the rear out faster? That is a FWD biased vehicle, so no the TC shouldn't be wearing the rear out faster than the front with TC or not. Faster should mean within 80K mi. instead of 30K with a bad driving environment.

You don't even need to remove the wheels on those to check pads. The wheel spokes are open enough to see what is going on, pad material thickness and whether the rotors are scored badly or discolored. If the rotor are in bad shape then yes they should be replaced, though at this low milesage and for rears, may only need turned this time, except it's not likely that the rear needs done at all, seems like a scam to me.

The "he'll do both rotos and pads for $190" is dubious. First, either it needs rotors or doesn't. Second, that's only a $40 difference which suggests he will use the crappiest cheap parts he can find and probably half-ass the whole job. I wouldn't let this guy touch my brakes for free, not on a ~$30K vehicle opposed to a $2K beater. Granted I wrote "I" and I have done my own without paying for decades so my reference point may not apply.

He may mean well, but more likely he's just going to spend 10 minutes slapping cheap junk pads on and that's it. Sometimes that is enough, but not when there is abnormal wear like this case!

I would just wait. If you aren't getting pedal pulsations like it has a (pseudo-) warped rotor(s), no excessive noise, no ABS light on, no loss of fluids, then there is no rush, but if I were you then I would lookup the part # for brake pads for that vehicle so you know what you're looking at, then look in the wheels to see how much pad material there is. Generally I'd replace brake pads while I already had the wheels off for some other reason if that made it convenient, while there was a little more pad material remaining, but otherwise would wait until about 3mm or less material which is the point where a stack of two nickel coins won't fit between the pad backing and the rotor, or if as mentioned above the rotor has deep ridges. However some vehicles can still get 15K miles or more out of 3mm of brake pad material, particularly on rear brakes.