Mondeo Brake durability

[AlanD]

Hi all,

Had reason to check the Mondeo's tyres this morning because I hit a nasty pot hole on a C class Victorian road yesterday - hell of a jolt through the passenger side of the car - happily no damage that I can see, so all is good.

But I noticed the brake pads are still showing lots of depth - about 8 mm at the front and 5mm at the rear.

Now since the car is coming up to its 60,000 km service interval it's looking like better than 100,000 km before any attention is going to be needed.

But that will probably be both pads and rotors, since the rotors are showing quite a ridge at the perimeter now. Guess I need to look at sourcing some spares across the next year or so to spread the financial load.

Anyone else had this sort of distance expectation, or am I just light footed on the brakes?

Does anyone know what the full pad depth (front and rear) is for a new pad?

Cheers

[Superoo]

My experience is the polar opposite. Just under 90k on the clock and have chewed through 2 set of pads and rotors (the second stint was shortened significantly due to shocking brake shudder). Eats tyres as well. You've done very well. Highway driving?

[AlanD]

Hi Superoo,

In the last 12 months (say 12000 km) probably 50/50 highway/around town in the previous three years 25/75 highway/around town.

But I can't remember when I last had to use the brakes heavily as I tend to use the 1 car length per 10 km per hour rule all the time and usually can let the car wash off speed on the over-run with very light braking, so I guess I qualify a a light foot in the brakes department.

It was the same story on the Territory, where at 60,000 km I replaced the front and rear pads and had the front rotors skimmed. When I compared the old and new pads I discovered there was more than 50% of the old pads left - but I changed them anyway since I had the brakes disassembled. I would have liked to get the rear rotors off but gave up when tender application of a clump hammer could not break the "rust" seal between rotor and hub. I didn't want to damage the constant velocity joints (I believe these don't like lateral shock loads). That car in now up to 90,000 km and the pads have almost no wear.

Cheers

[allanv6gt]

I'd say you are a light braker - congrats !!!
Using the overrun / engine braking trick works a treat.

I just had my 60,000K service done, and was advised I would need brakes at the next regular service.
As for pad wear, I do know that I have more than 5 mm on the rear pads, maybe 8mm and is still easily on the indicator taper on the leading/trailing edge of pad. And still work very adequately thanks.

The discs will be done at the same time as the pads seem to wear the discs giving you the ridge mentioned. On another thread, I found that to get the caliper off the rear disc you 'simply' grind some of the lip away for clearance, remove caliper and then *wind in* the pistons ( hence the reason you cannot just push them back in like days of olde).

Won't be a cheap exercise. Someone mentioned a $600-800 price tag for the job - pads + discs.