hellfyre

Hello everyone,

I recently took my car 99 SE max to get some small thingy fixed.

The mechanic told me my pads were worn or close to be worn out. He said he knew this by looking at the brake fluid level. It is close of the MIN mark. Is this a reliable way of finding out if your pads are worn out? (Seems sensible, but is it correct)

I have replaced pads before but haven't really identified worn out pads. Would the brake fluid just be low? leak maybe?

edit: well i think i would just know by inspection. Is it customary to replace the pads from all 4 wheels or just the fronts if they are the ones worn out?

Frank Fontaine

Well, it would be normal for your fluid to go down as the pads wear, as the pistons are extending themselves more due to the less pad. To give you an idea, on two occasions I changed my front pads at around 60k. The first time the pads were 60% shot, the 2nd time about 70%. On the rears, I waited for about 89k, and they were 75% shot. So from my experience, the rears wear much more slowly.

It's a bit deceiving when you pull the wheel and view the pads through the window, I think you have more than it seems. But pads are so cheap, just replace sooner than later. I have 120k now, never touched the rotors, and have zero pulsation.

I'd decide upon the rears based on mileage, or just pull the wheels and look. You don't have to replace them at the same time. What you should do is change your brake fluid every 2 years to avoid water getting in there--that's the culprit that ruins the calipers and brake system from the inside-out. Good luck.

hellfyre

Thanks Frank. I haven't flushed the brake fluid since i got the car.. about to be 3 years. I will get on that next weekend.

I will just pull the pads and check them. I am running on Axxis metal masters and just have 25K on them, so I found it odd that it would waear out this quickly without doing any extreme braking.

Bobo

I doubt that you need new brake pads given you only have 25K on them.