My 2001 is still on its original pads and rotors at 61k miles. I'm thinking of getting my pads replaced and possibly doing drilled rotors ( for astetics) at the same time. I realise pad life is hugely determined by driving styles but what kind of lifespan can a typical driver expect to get out of a set of pads. And when should I consider rotor replacement. Right now I'm experiencing no problems with my brakes whatsoever replacement would be purely for preventative maintainance only. Plus I am due for a brake fluid change anyways.

 

I drive it like i stole it, and just had to put on new pads/rotors at about 79k miles


Watch out about drilled rotors, some brands start to crack under high temps

 

Brake pads and rotors replacement schedules don't usually go by length of time but by wear indicators. On the s2k it's pretty easy to tell visually how much brake pad material is left without even taking the wheels off. For the rotors, just measure the thickness and exam visually for any small hairline cracks you may have. Changing pads and rotors strictly on length of time or miles driven may be a waste of money.

 

I just bought my MY'00 used with 63k miles on it.. and the pads are starting to go down to the wear indicator, I'm just waiting to get my funds back up. (16.. two jobs.. trying to make payments) so I refinished the rotors in autoshop because they were squeaking like a biatch.

So my answer is probably pretty soon. At least feel the parallelism in the rotor. If it's real bumpy, then you should probably get them check out at least. I'm lucky enough to be able to do all of it for free, but from what I gather, around 60k miles is about normal. (my auto teacher used to own his own shop and said they start to look at breaks at around 30k miles).

 

At 63,400 miles the original pads appear to be at 50% or slightly more. This is a daily driver that gets autocrossed 2-3 times per month.

I find this amazing, never had a car with brakes lasting so long.