FIAT Panda 4x4 (2005 - ) - (2005-) Disc pad wear limit

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Wed 2 Jan 2008 16:12
(2005-) Disc pad wear limit - doctorchris
When we used to be able to buy a Haynes manual for most of the common cars around, we could look up disc pad wear limits and easily decide when to replace them.
Nowadays it seems to be a matter of guesswork, not only for the DIY mechanic but also in the dealer's workshop. I have a New Panda 4x4 and the dealers have been suggesting pad replacement, based on a fairly arbitrary assessment of pad wear, at a number of recent visits. With a bit of squinting I can more or less assess how thick the remaining pads are.
Does anyone have a generic minimum pad thickness that I could work from? Don't worry, I know what I'm doing and the pads do still have sufficient friction material on them. Out of interest, I have found a figure for the minimum disc thickness and, at 25,000 miles, my discs are almost at that limit. Therefore, I will be replacing pads and discs together.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 02/01/2008 at 18:36

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Wed 2 Jan 2008 16:23
Disc pad wear limit - Number_Cruncher
>>Does anyone have a generic minimum pad thickness

For a customers car I used to recommend changing with some urgency at about 3mm, and 1.5mm is an MOT fail. For my own cars, I don't tend to let them get much below 5mm - pads are cheap, and quick to fit, so I don't spend too long measuring and fussing.

Number_Cruncher
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Wed 2 Jan 2008 16:36
Disc pad wear limit - Aprilia
1.5mm of friction material is the minimum thickness.
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Wed 2 Jan 2008 19:53
(2005-) Disc pad wear limit - mfarrow
It really depends how fast they wear out, and how many miles you drive.

Mine lose <=1mm per year.
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Thu 3 Jan 2008 13:05
(2005-) Disc pad wear limit - doctorchris
Thanks for the advice, if the pad thickness is less than 2-3 mm then I'll order new pads and discs and get them fitted pronto. Too cold today to look however.
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Fri 11 Jan 2008 11:13
(2005-) Disc pad wear limit - doctorchris
Replaced pads and discs this week. The inner faces of the discs were particularly corroded and one disc locating pin on each side sheared off. Probably a lot of this is my fault for actually using the car off road. Any how, feel much more confident about the refurbished brakes now. Next job is to assess the wear on the rear discs and pads.
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