Is Brake score an indicator of pad usage?

[Larry Riley Jr]

Hopefully not a dumb question here, but does the braking score give you a clue as to how much you are actually using the friction brakes? For example, if you get a score of 100%, does that mean you didn't use the friction brakes at all? Thanks in advance for any replies!

[corncobs]

There no dumb questions only dumb answers.

 

Yes I would say a good braking score indicates less usage of the friction brakes but you always use the frictition brakes even at 100% brake score.

 

Everything below 5 MPH the regen operation is less effective and the friction brakes are used to stop the car but you can imagine @ 5 MPH there is not a lot to slow down anymore.

Edited August 20, 2013 by corncobs

[jeff_h]

If you go easy on the brakes in an effort to achieve a good braking score, under normal conditions you should get a lot of miles without needing to change them. Below are the pads from my 2010 FFH when I did change them at 140,000 miles, they still had half (or more?) of the pad material remaining, but I put the new set on anyway as the car was going to my wife's friend. I normally take a look at each rotor as I'm washing the car and make sure each one still appears to be smooth and wearing normally. Then when I pull the wheels to rotate the tires I can take a flashlight and get an indication as to how much wear has occurred.

 

 

[Larry Riley Jr]

There no dumb questions only dumb answers.

 

Yes I would say a good braking score indicates less usage of the friction brakes but you always use the frictition brakes even at 100% brake score.

 

Everything below 5 MPH the regen operation is less effective and the friction brakes are used to stop the car but you can imagine @ 5 MPH there is not a lot to slow down anymore.

 

If you go easy on the brakes in an effort to achieve a good braking score, under normal conditions you should get a lot of miles without needing to change them. Below are the pads from my 2010 FFH when I did change them at 140,000 miles, they still had half (or more?) of the pad material remaining, but I put the new set on anyway as the car was going to my wife's friend. I normally take a look at each rotor as I'm washing the car and make sure each one still appears to be smooth and wearing normally. Then when I pull the wheels to rotate the tires I can take a flashlight and get an indication as to how much wear has occurred.

 

 

Thank you both for taking the time to reply!

[MaineFusion]

Wow! With careful driving we could literally get the point where we might not ever need to change the brake pads even if we kept the car for nearly ten years.

[jeff_h]

Wow! With careful driving we could literally get the point where we might not ever need to change the brake pads even if we kept the car for nearly ten years.

 

Possibly, but still need to take looks at the rotors and make sure they are wearing nice and smoothly and listen for strange sounds, etc.

 

A few years ago we took my wife's Escape Hybrid to get inspected (had 55-60k miles at the time), they called and said the rear brakes needed to be replaced. I figured these hucksters were just trying to make some money off of me, so I said I wanted the car back to check it myself - they said well we will have to mark the inspection as failed and put that pink tag on the window (in VA that's a failure notice, goes where the normal inspection sticker goes), I said fine I don't care (darn crooks). Got home and pulled one rear wheel and sure enough (crow is served) those pads were toast (wife has opposite driving style as mine, as I've noted elsewhere)... went and got a replacement set and took about 45 minutes and put them on, called the shop back and asked if they would reinspect the next day, and then all was fine.

 

So whereas the rear pads (and front if driven in a nice and smooth manner) can last quite a long time, still worth pulling a wheel now and then to check, or asking your favorite dealer/shop to check it when the tires are rotated, etc.