Just wondering if your brakes will give you signs that the pads are worn. I have owned my current car for 2 years and have never had the brakes checked. This is b/c I have never had any problems with them, no squeakes, noises, nothing.

They seem to brake great. However, coukd the pads be worn and I not know it? See I want to try and hold off for a few months so I can maybe get larger front brakes and convert my rear drums to discs, but dont want to run on worn pads.

Thanks

 

Why don't you just jack the car up and take the wheel off. From there you should be able to see if you have pad left or if you are almost down to nothing. And if you can't see, just remove the caliper and look at the pads. It's not like it's hard to do.

But if your pads were worn down you should hear squealing from the little clip on the pad that hits the rotor when the pad wears down far enough.

 

on my car... i started getting hella mad scrapping and grinding noises when i "broke". sounded HORRIBLE if you get that noise i guarantee you you will know it is worn

anyways.... needless to say.... there was NO pad left at all.... just the metal backpart. dont let your pads wear out like mine =]

 

Yeah, if your pads are worn down, they make a terrible annoying noise all the time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lazynok &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">on my car... i started getting hella mad scrapping and grinding noises when i "broke". sounded HORRIBLE if you get that noise i guarantee you you will know it is worn

anyways.... needless to say.... there was NO pad left at all.... just the metal backpart. dont let your pads wear out like mine =]</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did it damage any other parts?

 

The only other part I see being affected by driving on worn brake pads is scoring the rotor surface. The is a metal clip that touches the rotor surface when the pads get low enough. If you drive around like that for too long then that clip will start to score a groove around the rotor surface. Then you would need to replace the rotors as well unless the scoring isn't real deep and it can be resurfaced. If you don't hear a grinding, metal to metal, sound then your pads should be fine for now. But once you hear that sound, and you'll know it when you hear it, then your pads will need to be replaced soon.

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

On my truck, I never heard any noise, thats because the clip that is supposed to warn you when they're getting low by squealing broke off. My first warning size was a grinding sound, which scored and warped the rotor beyond repair, so I had to get a new rotor (to add some extra fun, nissan decided to put the hub on the outside of the rotor, so you need a slide hammer to get to the rotor.

 

brakes?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TouringAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The only other part I see being affected by driving on worn brake pads is scoring the rotor surface. The is a metal clip that touches the rotor surface when the pads get low enough. If you drive around like that for too long then that clip will start to score a groove around the rotor surface. Then you would need to replace the rotors as well unless the scoring isn't real deep and it can be resurfaced. If you don't hear a grinding, metal to metal, sound then your pads should be fine for now. But once you hear that sound, and you'll know it when you hear it, then your pads will need to be replaced soon.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Cool thanks, yea I will wait a while then before I take them in.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jolt-tsp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">On my truck, I never heard any noise, thats because the clip that is supposed to warn you when they're getting low by squealing broke off. My first warning size was a grinding sound, which scored and warped the rotor beyond repair, so I had to get a new rotor (to add some extra fun, nissan decided to put the hub on the outside of the rotor, so you need a slide hammer to get to the rotor.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yikes, I hope thats not what happened......how long would you say it had been since you last changed them?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jay_civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">brakes?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, the things that get your car to stop

 

The truck was a 2001, I bought it in 2004, I think the pads were the originals. I'd say at least 40k miles.

 

Well if they're drums, the only way you can check is to pull off the housings and take a look at the actual shoes. If they're disks, you can pull off the wheel and take a quick look at the pads. Ive had both OEM and aftermarket pads, and the only thing is with aftermarket pads you have to watch them a lot more, as some of them don't have the wear indicators that OEM pads do.

 

well just take off your wheel and grab a flashlight and look and see how much pad you have left, there should be a squelch pad on the brake pad but they can get bent back and then they don't work, so do some manual labor and look

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jolt-tsp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">(to add some extra fun, nissan decided to put the hub on the outside of the rotor, so you need a slide hammer to get to the rotor.</TD></TR></TABLE>

haha, yeah. I hated that on my 95 Accord, it was a total PITA to change the front rotors.