I hope this is the appropriate forum for this question. There wasn't anything under maintenance that covered brakes.

My question is simple. Is it normal for front brake pads to not have wear detectors (the metal clip that scrapes against the rotor when the pad is warn)? I recently purchased some ceramic pads from Pep Boys (they are the same as Satisfied Pro pads) and the front pads did not have this clip. Oddly enough the rear pads did. When I contacted both PepBoys and SatisfiedPro they both told me that its not uncommon for front pads to be missing them. This seems ridiculous to me. They both acted as if it was rare for pads to have them. My experience is otherwise.

Any comments? Thanks.

 

They are right, it is not uncommon for pads for not having the wear indicators.

 

i think i have the same pads

what does this metal strip look like ? or where is it located on the pad? obviously on the side where the wear happens, but where more precisely?

 

Thanks twiggy144. I would have paid more money for pads with the indicators. Now I have to periodically check the pads. I've had pads where the indicators were on both the inboard and outboard pads. It also seems really strange that their rear pads would have them and not the front. My experience is the front pads often wear out before the rears. Anyways thanks for the response.

andrei3333, the metal strip is somewhat in the shape of a question mark (?) the straight part (bottom of the question mark) is part of the metal plate that the brake pad materials is mounted on. The curved part (u shaped) sticks out one side of the pad and points in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the pad. The end of the clip does not extend beyond the pad. The idea is as the pad wears away the clip will eventually scrape against the rotor. This is what makes the squealing noise when you break and tells you to replace your pads.

 

The rear pad sensors were installed on the inside pads, leading edge. This is the edge pointing downwards. The new OEM pads only had one sensor but the original pads on the car had two sensors.

The front pads were replaced a few years ago and I don't remember seeing any sensors on the original or the OEM replacement pads.

I am a drive-by-the-gas-paddle kind of guy and the front lasted 60K miles+. The rears were replaced at 88K but the old pads still had quite a bit of wear left. They would have lasted 100K miles.

 

change oil --> rotate tires --> inspect brakes and suspension. Unless there's something drastically wrong that you couldn't predict the pad wear, you should be ok just inspecting them whenever u rotate tires and predict when you'll need new pads. No big deal.

In the old skoo days, I remember that you can buy aftermarket pad wear detector tabs. I haven't seen them recently tho.

Jae

 

you dont have to check anything. when your pads drop too low, your brake light will come on. thats how u know u need to change pads.

 

Not always. It depends on your brake fluid level

 

I don't think that will work... brake warning light will come on if your fluid level is low. There are no electrical components of the brakes aside from ABS for those who have them.

 

But since you're an OG, :and you ed me.

 

low pads = low brake fluid = brake light (assuming you start with full brake fluid bottle when pads are brand new)

 

Not always, but, again, . I've had complaining brake pads with no BRAKE light. i.e. my fluid level was fine.

 

because you topped your fluid.

 

Nope, but ok :

 

Using your fluid as an indicator for all FOUR sets of brake pads is not a good idea even if you assume they wear at any predictable rate? Front/rear/left right biasing?

It's just safer to check the pads yourself. It's not that hard to do.

NmexMAX I'm stuck on cellular modem so it took me 2 minutes to post