Brake Pads On 323

[fuzzo]

some of you might remember the issues i'm having with my brakes.. this is the 3rd set of pads i'm replacing in less than 2 years. i have run a total of 21K km's on the 2 pads and now i need to replace them again.

my car is an auto and i do a lot of driving during peak hours..but there is still no reason for the pads to waste so fast... i have changed the pads at the agents both times so there is no question if they are originial.

i have asked my mechanic to source a set of used set of pads from a spare shop just to see how fast these wear down. reason for this being i'm sure that the pads are originial from the factory.

any ideas what is going on.

[Duncan]

Hi Fuzzo

21k is low even if running in thick traffic all the time.

I personally don't entirely trust dealers so when they tell me that they have installed genuine parts, I take it with a pinch of salt.

I think, try out the used set and see what return you get before you start getting too concerned.

By the way.....did you actually see the pads worn out or were you just told about it?

Cheers

[Kadaffi]

It could be the brake caliper sticking, so have them checked out. I'm not 100% certain if this is true, but it could just be the fact that its an auto, as you can't use the gears for engine braking??

HTH

[gunat]

some of you might remember the issues i'm having with my brakes.. this is the 3rd set of pads i'm replacing in less than 2 years. i have run a total of 21K km's on the 2 pads and now i need to replace them again.

my car is an auto and i do a lot of driving during peak hours..but there is still no reason for the pads to waste so fast... i have changed the pads at the agents both times so there is no question if they are originial.

i have asked my mechanic to source a set of used set of pads from a spare shop just to see how fast these wear down. reason for this being i'm sure that the pads are originial from the factory.

any ideas what is going on.

Fuzzo,

As its an automatic, its not surprising that the wear is high.

When the car is brought to standstill, do you switch to neutral everytime? If no, thats one way of putting extra stress on the brakes. And town running in C'bo is the worst, given there so much stop/starting- it puts far more load on the brakes than long distance running...

Case in point- we have an Escudo Auto, and that needs new pads every 30k or so...

But one other thing to check is your disc rotors. It is possible that your front rotors have hairline cracks running from the inner to the outer diameter. Basically that means that the rotor is no longer smooth, and high friction leads to high pad wear. The crack should be visible by eye. Ideally, you should replace the rotor...or you'll endlessely go through pads.

Good luck

[fuzzo]

thanks for the advice all... the car is at the mechanic. he is checking the calipers and the rotors. will let you know the result.

in stop and go traffic, i don't normally change to N.. i figure if i keep doing that, i'll damage the gearbox constantly shifting from d to N

[thushara_g]

in stop and go traffic, i don't normally change to N.. i figure if i keep doing that, i'll damage the gearbox constantly shifting from d to N

And that kills the luxury of having automatic transmission if you are going to shift every few feet in traffic.

If you have the habit of slowly moving with pressure on the brakes that put constant wear on the pads and also builds up heat. But again if you dont do that, every bike and three wheeler will move in front of you and you will be sitting in one place.