Original pads at 35K and still going strong?

[ajvee]

Guys,

My car has over 35K miles and my idrive says that I have 9K miles left on the front pads. I think something is amiss because I've done 6 or 7 HPDE sessions with the car as well. I am at an intermediate stage so I am guessing that I don't brake nearly as hard as some of you, but yet I am confused about how the sensors say I have 9K miles left.

Upon visual inspection, the outer pads look like they are getting low, but haven't seen the inners.

Any thoughts?

Thank you.

[New_m3]

Mine is on 38k and still on the original pads and disks. The pads have wear sensors on them so when they get too low the idrive will tell you to change them.

[arter]

I would take the front tires off so you can see the thickness of both the outer and inner pad. If you are doing HPDE events, you might want to change the pads if they are less than 6 mm ( about the thickness of the backing plate).
I think the sensor goes off about at the 3 mm thickness. The estimated mileage is made by brake intensity and count, it doesn't know the actual thickness of the pad until the sensor touches....

If you weren't doing HPDE events, then you could go much lower in pad thickness. ( The worry is that in a HPDE event you might go through a pad quicker as the pad gets thinner...)

[PhillyNate]

DAMN guys, these pads and rotors may last the life of the car for me then.

[1MOREMOD]

thats crazy you need to brake harder on your HPDEs. pads only last a couple of events and for some on here just single day especially OEMs. mine melted and left deposits all over my front rotors.

[bigjae1976]

Are you driving a 6MT? Usually you have choice...beat down your brake pads or beat down you clutch/transmission.

[1MOREMOD]

i beat my brakes. i brake very hard and shift during but after significant speed is coming off.

[gallian93]

i'm at 47K miles...
still on original pads... car says another 9k to go....
my service guy says it's because i've got a 6MT and downshift properly...
as usual ... i didn't believe him
but after some searches, i saw that that is not unheard off...
that said never done any HPDE...

[ajvee]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

Are you driving a 6MT? Usually you have choice...beat down your brake pads or beat down you clutch/transmission.

Good point. Lately, I've been easier on the transmission and harder on the brakes. For whatever reason, it is more intuitive for me to downshift progressively rather than slam down to bleed off speed. To alter my patterns, I've started to brake more and downshift less during regular driving as well.

Regardless, Stoptechs are on their way so can start "leaning" on it a bit more.

[ajvee]

Originally Posted by chriszeh

thats crazy you need to brake harder on your HPDEs. pads only last a couple of events and for some on here just single day especially OEMs. mine melted and left deposits all over my front rotors.

LOL! I will strive to have them burned by the end of my next HPDE day!

[ajvee]

Originally Posted by arter

I would take the front tires off so you can see the thickness of both the outer and inner pad. If you are doing HPDE events, you might want to change the pads if they are less than 6 mm ( about the thickness of the backing plate).
I think the sensor goes off about at the 3 mm thickness. The estimated mileage is made by brake intensity and count, it doesn't know the actual thickness of the pad until the sensor touches....

If you weren't doing HPDE events, then you could go much lower in pad thickness. ( The worry is that in a HPDE event you might go through a pad quicker as the pad gets thinner...)

I will make sure that I do this when I get a chance.

On a side note, are you going to the glen track event on the weekend of the 4th? I see that you are in Rochester.

[arter]

yeap, I will be at the BMW GVC event may 5&6th at Watkins Glen.
Also will be at Mid Ohio BMW event march 31 & April 1th....


Plus probably something in between....

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by ajvee

Good point. Lately, I've been easier on the transmission and harder on the brakes. For whatever reason, it is more intuitive for me to downshift progressively rather than slam down to bleed off speed. To alter my patterns, I've started to brake more and downshift less during regular driving as well.

Regardless, Stoptechs are on their way so can start "leaning" on it a bit more.

Yeah, I would definitely use the brakes a lot more at the track. A set of pads is much easier and cheaper to replace than a clutch. I used to be real easy on my brakes until I did the clutch in my E46. It wasn't the worst thing ever but not exactly fun...not looking forward to it.