[rothwem]

I put a set of Akebono Ceramic pads and Zimmerman rotors on the rear of my car about 4 years ago, and I got the notification today that they were worn through and needed replacement. I don't drive this car a ton and I've only accumulated 28k miles in 4 years, so I'm a little surprised that my pads are worn through already. The OEMs lasted 98k miles.

Are the Akebono low dust ceramics known for fast wear or should I be concerned that I have a stuck caliper or something? The car drives great, no complaints.

[lowrydr310]

I have this combo on the front of my 330i. I've driven 30K miles in 2.5 years and have a lot of material left on the pads, not even close the wear sensor.

[rothwem]

Weird. I need to take my wheels off and see if my pads are actually low or if the sensor is bad, I've heard of that happening.

[Fireball5657]

My car does something similar. iDrive says I've got about 1000 miles left on my front pads, but I checked them and they've got a ton of material left.

I think it has something to do with how the car has built-in mileage and date intervals for maintenance. When you or the dealer replace the brakes and reset the brake replacement reminder, it resets the reminder out to like 30k or 40k miles iirc.

The mileage interval the car has is a safe bet for when you need to replace the pads, but if the sensor wears out before the interval is hit, the sensor will let the car know that they need to be replaced. So because OEM and good aftermarket parts usually last longer, usually the mileage interval for replacement is hit before the sensor gets worn, which causes the notification to come on before the pads are actually worn down enough to really need replacement.

That's my understanding of how it works anyways. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me!

[rothwem]

Well it turns out my hack mechanic (me) broke the little clips that hold the sensor cable to the subframe so the cable was hitting the axle or something, finally it snagged bad enough for the cable to snap, and voila, “new pads required!”

I put a new one on, but I seem to remember that it’s a bit of a task to reset the brake service light if you let the sensor wear enough to fail.

Btw, my brakes still has 9mm of material on them.

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by rothwem

Well it turns out my hack mechanic (me) broke the little clips that hold the sensor cable to the subframe so the cable was hitting the axle or something, finally it snagged bad enough for the cable to snap, and voila, “new pads required!”

I put a new one on, but I seem to remember that it’s a bit of a task to reset the brake service light if you let the sensor wear enough to fail.

Btw, my brakes still has 9mm of material on them.

You gotta' watch those mechanics, they're working of of book rate!!!

[rothwem]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

You gotta' watch those mechanics, they're working of of book rate!!!

I actually remember that my son was an infant and screaming upstairs while I did the brakes in the (quiet) garage, I finished and came upstairs to a very pissed off wife. There was no rushing happening here...