How many miles do you get out of your car brakes?

[Andrew Joiner]

I drive a 2006 Toyota mostly on the highway. It has 90,000 miles with the original brakes. I don't hear any squealing on the brakes and they work fine.
What do you think?

[Patty Hann]

I drive a 2006 Toyota mostly on the highway. It has 90,000 miles with the original brakes. I don't hear any squealing on the brakes and they work fine.
What do you think?

Have always owned Toyotas. Current one is 2006 Corolla. Brake job done at around 115,000 or so.
That seems to be typical with the way I drive, it's always a little past 100K.
I do not brake hard, generally "coasting" up to a stoplight/sign. Also I maintain "close" ;) to the requisite car lengths when behind another car, especially on freeways.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

We live in a town stair stepped up the side of a couple hills. It's 800' down to the main part of town. Most of my driving is in the mountains. I am at 87,000 miles + on my Honda Pilot and on the original set of brake pads and rotors. My wife rides the brakes on her car more than I do on mine and she doesn't get as good mileage between brake jobs.

[Ronald Blue]

I had to put rear brakes on my 2014 Silverado last summer at about 99,000. Fronts are still original at 103,000. I sometimes pull a two axle car trailer. Less than 5,000 miles of the total though.

[Bill Dufour]

Rears last about double the fronts. Not sure if that is true with four wheel disks.
Bill D

[mike stenson]

Rears last about double the fronts. Not sure if that is true with four wheel disks.
Bill D

Depends on the bias. My GTi wore rears much faster than front, by design.

I think the OP isn't hitting the brakes as hard, or heating them up, the way I tend to :D

[Cameron Wood]

I don't know, but sometimes I check the number of times braking- me vs car in front.

Regularly 1:10, often 1:20, more on mountain or curvy roads.

Recently on a ~6 mile stretch, 1:60!

[George Yetka]

Wifes Hyundai sonota gets rotors and pads more than a f1 car. Every 20-30k sometimes under 20. The rotors are so poorly made that if you depress pedal more than say 75% the rotors will warp and eat the pads in the next few thousand miles. My GMC trucks are 90-100k.

[Jim Becker]

Many current generation vehicles are using "stickier" pads which often require replacement much sooner than folks are used to. That's the case with what I drive. (They also require a more careful break-in period to avoid uneven deposits on the rotors which makes it seem like there is a "warp", but there is not. When I sold the MY12 Grand Cherokee Overland Summit in 2019, it had 113K miles on it. The front brakes were original. The rears would likely have made it that far, too, but a broken caliper bolt at about 88K miles require replacement of the rears. I generally get good brake life as I don't actually use them as much as some folks do...I coast up to lights and rarely do any hard braking. So unlike some folks who have had repeated issues with the "sticky" brakes on the Ascent I drive these days, mine keep going. The MY19 had 36K on when I traded it last year and the brakes were just fine. I'm expecting the same with the MY23, again, because of how I drive.

[Frank Pratt]

I got over 200,000Km on the brakes in both my Accord and full size pickup. Both have 4 wheel discs and the rears wore out before the fronts.

[Alan Rutherford]

Seems to depend on whom you ask. I got new tires from a tire shop a while back and they said I needed brakes, which they'd be happy to take care of at the same time. I declined.

A few months later I took the car to the dealer (Toyota) for a software-update recall and they said I needed brakes, which they'd be happy to take care of at the same time. Nope.

A few weeks after that I took it to an honest brake shop and they said "So why did you think you need brakes?" I could have gone longer but I replaced them anyway.

[Ed Aumiller]

Almost all my vehicles with just gasoline engines get at least 100k miles on front, rear a lot more...

Have a Prius that wheel bearings went bad at 168k... thought I would just go ahead and put new pads on since I had it apart...
SURPRISE... the pads were still at least 90% !!!! Guess it is because when you slow down with the brakes, a lot of the stopping
power is used to charge battery and you have to move pedal more to actually engage brakes... It now has 228k and brakes still like almost new...

[Edward Weber]

It depends on the weight/geometry of your vehicle, your brake bias and how/where you drive. Not to mention what type of brake pads.
There is no magic number, some people are hard on equipment some are not. Some vehicles have brake systems that are arguably too small and brakes require more. frequent maintenance.
Towing and hauling all come into play.

For the OP, 90k and 18 years is time to look at the brake system

[Patrick McCarthy]

2015 Chev Silverado 4WD 6.2 liter V8 with 138k and still original brakes Front and Rear. Last 2 service visits i inquired re brakes, and each time told they are still within specs. 47k on OEM tires, 80k on Michelin LTX.

OTOH, 2007 911 with 45k and brakes done at 30k and tires replaced twice . . . and approaching third.

Different horses for different courses.

[Mike Null]

I got 60,000 on the rear brakes and I have 75,000 on the front of my Volvo XC60 with no indication I need to replace them.

[Jerome Stanek]

A friend of mine would get about 9000 miles on a set and rotors on his Subaru. Auto store with the life time warranty would give him new ones after aboul8 or 9 replacements. it was a special left hand drive that they said was made to deliver mail

[Mike Soaper]

Seems to depend on whom you ask. I got new tires from a tire shop a while back and they said I needed brakes, which they'd be happy to take care of at the same time. I declined.

A few months later I took the car to the dealer (Toyota) for a software-update recall and they said I needed brakes, which they'd be happy to take care of at the same time. Nope.

A few weeks after that I took it to an honest brake shop and they said "So why did you think you need brakes?" I could have longer but I replaced them anyway.

Many moons ago I had a car recalled to replace a rear brake cylinder. After dropping the car off I got a call from the service department saying while we had the car on the lift we checked your brakes and they need replacing, I was a bit surprised about that and told them not to, even though they were persistent the brakes needed replacement.

After a few weeks I heard a front brake wear tang screeching as if the brakes did need replacing, upon investigating there was to me plenty of pad material remaining but the brake wear tang had some shiny marks on it just like needle nose pliers would make if they were used to bend the tang towards the rotor

[mike stenson]

A friend of mine would get about 9000 miles on a set and rotors on his Subaru. Auto store with the life time warranty would give him new ones after aboul8 or 9 replacements. it was a special left hand drive that they said was made to deliver mail

That sounds like a stuck caliper, which was a potential issue on the Subaru's I worked on.

[Brian Elfert]

I have 96,000 miles on my car. I had to replace the rear pads for the first time around 86,000 miles because one of the rear calipers locked up. It turned out the pads had been wearing very uneven on that wheel. I could have gotten more miles out of the pads if not for the uneven wear and the caliper locking up. I replaced the rotors too because they were pretty bad and they are so thin to start with now you can't do anything with them. I suspect the front brakes are due for work for the first time pretty soon. I like to accelerate gently and coast up to red lights.

A buddy of mine has to replace his wife's brakes about every ten thousand miles. She treats the accelerator as an on/off switch and waits until the last second to slam on the brakes.

[Andrew Joiner]

My wife just had a brake job done because the mechanic said "You'll need it in about 10 to 20 k miles". She has 70,000 miles on her car.
I'm a lot more frugal than her so I don't want to get it done if I don't need it.

Is it safe to wait till I hear some screeching from the wear strips?

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

[Edward Weber]

You can wait until it starts to squeal, if that's your preference. At 90k you're going to need the rotors resurfaced anyway for the new pads.
Please keep in mind, that brakes are not something to put off too far or go cheap on. They are the main safety system in your car.

[Rob Luter]

All of them. Seriously though, between 60k and 80k on the last few vehicles. When I was a kid it was every 20k. Of course when I was a kid a car with 80k miles was in the scrapyard (rust belt resident).

[Mike Soaper]

You can wait until it starts to squeal, if that's your preference. At 90k you're going to need the rotors resurfaced anyway for the new pads.
Please keep in mind, that brakes are not something to put off too far or go cheap on. They are the main safety system in your car.

Yup, the woah'n is more important than the go'n.

I realize some folks have limited resources, but I really don't understand those who use the cheepest ($12?) "economy" no name pads off of the internet to stop a 1-2 ton vehicle at 55mph

[Earl McLain]

A friend of mine would get about 9000 miles on a set and rotors on his Subaru. Auto store with the life time warranty would give him new ones after aboul8 or 9 replacements. it was a special left hand drive that they said was made to deliver mail


That sounds like a stuck caliper, which was a potential issue on the Subaru's I worked on.

Sounds more like a rural mail carrier making 500+ stop/day 5 days a week. Just ran into the lady who was our carrier for the past 15 or so years--she just transferred to a different rural route that gets issued a USPS vehicle. She said the cost to drive her own was well over the reimbursments she got for doing so, hence the change in routes that she otherwise didn't want to make. She was awesome--and was great delivering flat rate boxes full of wood!!

[mike stenson]

Sounds more like a rural mail carrier making 500+ stop/day 5 days a week. Just ran into the lady who was our carrier for the past 15 or so years--she just transferred to a different rural route that gets issued a USPS vehicle. She said the cost to drive her own was well over the reimbursments she got for doing so, hence the change in routes that she otherwise didn't want to make. She was awesome--and was great delivering flat rate boxes full of wood!!

My wife wasn't a rural carrier, nor was a friend of ours. Both had that issue on 2010ish Subarus. I remain unimpressed with them in general.

[Brian Elfert]

You can wait until it starts to squeal, if that's your preference. At 90k you're going to need the rotors resurfaced anyway for the new pads.
Please keep in mind, that brakes are not something to put off too far or go cheap on. They are the main safety system in your car.

The rotors are so thin from new on my car that there is no resurfacing them. I doubt they are over 1/2" thick. They don't have the vents between the two sides like a lot of rotors. They are just a flat disk with a bump out in the center to go over the hub.

I spent a pretty penny on brake parts for just the rear brakes on my car. I spent around $500 (with shipping and tax) on pads, rotors, and calipers. I did the work myself with some help from a neighbor.

[Paul F Franklin]

Curious how many of you flush and replace brake fluid per recommended maintenance interval (often every 30k miles)?

[Jim Becker]

Curious how many of you flush and replace brake fluid per recommended maintenance interval (often every 30k miles)?
It's on my vehicle's published maintenance schedule at 30K intervals and yes, I get it performed. Brake fluid does tend to absorb moisture, so that change interval helps deal with it. For folks who drive much lower miles per year, this one is probably a good idea to do at the "time" interval rather than the miles interval on the published schedule. It's not a real expensive service, either, for all of us that do not "wrench".

[Alan Lightstone]

Just replaced them on my wife's E43AMG Mercedes after 21K miles. Crazy low mileage. Cost $3K. In every Lexus or Tesla I ever owned they lasted the life of the car for me (~100K miles).

[Michael Schuch]

I always do my own brakes. A brake job is one of the most overly inflated service price wise for what you get. If you can change a tire you have done 50% of a brake job.

[Kent A Bathurst]

"How many miles do you get out of your car brakes?"

That's like how long is a string? Back in the day, my BMW E39 had a stick, sport suspension, and performance tires good for summer weather only.

One season per set of 4 tires. 2 yrs per set of brakes. No idea how many miles that was. I never looked at the odometer, and I never looked at the speedometer - the tach and implied torque curve were all that mattered.

I loved throwing that car around the back roads.

[Lee DeRaud]

I always do my own brakes. A brake job is one of the most overly inflated service price wise for what you get. If you can change a tire you have done 50% of a brake job.
That does depend on the car. My Corvette (C5...I suspect the C6s had the same design) had a caliper bolt that was almost inaccessible unless the car was on a lift, and was spec'd for 115-120ftlb of torque. Total PITA.

[George Yetka]

Many current generation vehicles are using "stickier" pads which often require replacement much sooner than folks are used to. That's the case with what I drive. (They also require a more careful break-in period to avoid uneven deposits on the rotors which makes it seem like there is a "warp", but there is not. When I sold the MY12 Grand Cherokee Overland Summit in 2019, it had 113K miles on it. The front brakes were original. The rears would likely have made it that far, too, but a broken caliper bolt at about 88K miles require replacement of the rears. I generally get good brake life as I don't actually use them as much as some folks do...I coast up to lights and rarely do any hard braking. So unlike some folks who have had repeated issues with the "sticky" brakes on the Ascent I drive these days, mine keep going. The MY19 had 36K on when I traded it last year and the brakes were just fine. I'm expecting the same with the MY23, again, because of how I drive.

Hers definitely warp. To the point they are uncuttable

[Tom M King]

200k for me on the dually.
20k on my wife’s car.

Either one a 20 minute job for me.

[Doug Garson]

Different horses for different courses.
And maybe slightly different driving styles? :cool:

[Lee DeRaud]

And maybe slightly different driving styles? :cool:

Also I'm guessing that the people with 6-digit pad life are doing a lot of freeway rather than stop-and-go.

[Larry Edgerton]

"How many miles do you get out of your car brakes?"

That's like how long is a string? Back in the day, my BMW E39 had a stick, sport suspension, and performance tires good for summer weather only.

One season per set of 4 tires. 2 yrs per set of brakes. No idea how many miles that was. I never looked at the odometer, and I never looked at the speedometer - the tach and implied torque curve were all that mattered.

I loved throwing that car around the back roads.

Same for me with my sports cars, go through them pretty fast. But my work trucks, they last forever. I am so used to carting things around in the back that I don't want to move that I brake and turn softly. I change them out at about 70k, but they still have a lot left.

[Larry Edgerton]

That does depend on the car. My Corvette (C5...I suspect the C6s had the same design) had a caliper bolt that was almost inaccessible unless the car was on a lift, and was spec'd for 115-120ftlb of torque. Total PITA.

Agreed, PITA! Also, a lot of the cars in the last few years need to be flashed after a break job.

[Jerome Stanek]

This depends on where you drive. If you drive all the time in a city your brakes are not going to last as long as if you drive cross country. I could get over 100,000 on my truck when I was working and that is pulling a trailer. But I was putting on 500 mile a week but driving 400 miles on the interstates and may be 100 once I got to the job site.

[Curt Harms]

Many moons ago I had a car recalled to replace a rear brake cylinder. After dropping the car off I got a call from the service department saying while we had the car on the lift we checked your brakes and they need replacing, I was a bit surprised about that and told them not to, even though they were persistent the brakes needed replacement.

After a few weeks I heard a front brake wear tang screeching as if the brakes did need replacing, upon investigating there was to me plenty of pad material remaining but the brake wear tang had some shiny marks on it just like needle nose pliers would make if they were used to bend the tang towards the rotor

Mike, I'm sure those shiny marks were the result of something besides a dishonest shop:rolleyes:. There used to be a shop(s) that only did inspections. They'd note if anything needed to be repaired/replaced then you'd take your vehicle to your usual shop. They didn't last long, there just wasn't enough money in doing only inspections.

I ran into a 'situation' with a shop for a couple issues with my Ford Ranger. One seems fairly common, the cabin fan runs continuously on low setting and higher speeds are selectable. The speeds are controlled by a resistor on which the lowest speed tends to fail because it's always energized. Their estimate on that was reasonable. The second issue is that the driver's door lock seems jammed. I had previously removed enough of the inside door panel to be able to access the rod that operates the door locking mechanism and it moved freely pointing to the lock itself as being the problem. This shop's estimate included replacing the electric door locking mechanism for around $275. That didn't sound right to me so got on Youtube and found that replacing the door lock is trivial though I'd end up having to use a separate key for the new lock. I think I'll talk to a lock shop to see if there's a practical way to rekey the new lock.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Wife's car, not many. Same with tires. My truck and van, 2-3 hundred thousand miles. On my old Honda Civic, I had a couple tires that went over 100K miles.

[Larry Edgerton]

Makes a lot of difference where you live. For me its 10 miles to town with two stops. City driving will not be that way.

[Brian Elfert]

Wife's car, not many. Same with tires. My truck and van, 2-3 hundred thousand miles. On my old Honda Civic, I had a couple tires that went over 100K miles.

What kind of tires are you running that go 200,000 to 300,000. Semi truck tires can go longer than most car tires, but even they only last around 100,000 miles.

I try to be gentle on my vehicle, but I don't get anywhere close to 100,000 miles out of a set of tires. I will likely get over 100,000 miles on my front brakes though. My rear brakes had to be replaced at 85,000 miles only because a caliper locked up.

[roger wiegand]

120 to 150K miles on the ICE cars, 30-40K miles in my F350 that gets driven fully loaded-- 24,500 lbs, often in hilly country. I've touched the brakes maybe three times in the first year of owning the Tesla, I expect the brakes to be the last thing to go on that car.

[John Lifer]

Have a friend who drives really REALLY conservative. He's gotten over 150K on original brakes on a couple of vehicles. But it depends upon your terrain.

[Paul F Franklin]

Have a friend who drives really REALLY conservative. He's gotten over 150K on original brakes on a couple of vehicles. But it depends upon your terrain.

Pretty sure I've been behind him a few times :rolleyes: