I just took my 2005 Honda Civic LX in for its 30k service at the dealership. I was told (after I was treated incredibly unfairly since I’m a girl – they tried to convince me I needed to clean my fuel injectors at the same cost that was just discounted when they found out they didn’t need to flush my transmission - since it’s a manual), but I digress… They told me my front brake pads were at 6mm each and my rear pads were at 3mm each - saying I would need to replace the latter in the next month or two. (The car is at around 30,600 miles) The service associate said it seemed odd that the rear wore down so fast given that I don’t have ABS, and some coworkers of mine said it seemed a little fishy that the rear wore down faster than the front. I understand that there are differences in makes/models and their respective brake bias, but I just want to see if this has been normal for anyone else? I live in Colorado and until recently didn’t drive my car much as I lived three miles from work - now I live 30, and the car drives mostly highway miles and not stop and go, unless I get stuck in rush hour (rarely). So, is it normal for my make and model for the rear brake pads to wear twice as fast as my front? How much should I expect to pay for replacement? The dealer quoted me $139+tax, and I have not yet talked to the independent mechanic. Sorry for the long post - Thanks!!!
So you just said NO to the injector flush.
Way to go as thats more appropriately called a “wallet flush”
Sold my 95 Taurus at 150K miles & never had an injector flush.
My 87 Ranger has 235K on it & not one injector flush.
Does your commute include a lot of steep downhill driving?
If it does do you downshift to a lower gear and let the engine do most of the braking as explained in your owners manual?
Theres a steep downhill section of road near my house & i’m always amazed to see most of the drivers in front of me riding their brakes all the way to the bottom of the hill.
I’m in 3rd gear & barely touching the brakes.
Condidering how the dealer wanted to rip you off for an unneeded injector flush, i’d get a second opinion on the brakes.
Nice job buying the car with a manual trans & no ABS.
This eliminates a lot of electronic garbage from the list of future problems.
Go to the independent and save some money. The dealer is loading you up with unnecessary “services.”
The rear pads on my Accord wore out before the front ones, because they are a lot thinner to start with, and I’ve heard of this on other cars as well.
It’s not really unusual any more.
Well considering the first two scams didn’t work, maybe they were hoping third time would be the charm. But we are dealing with brakes here and you don’t want to take chances here. Of course, they were counting on that. You should get them checked by another mechanic.
It seems that with 4 wheel disc brakes, the rears may wear out faster than the front. bit I believe they start out thinner to begin with. Now if you have drum brakes in the rear, the thickness of the shoes is only about 3mm when new.
Yeah, brakes can do some strange things.
Bought my wifes 95 Taurus brand new and traded it at 150K miles.
Never touched the front brakes.
Since the fronts were wearing like cast iron i figured the rears were in even better shape so did’nt look at the rears until 80K.
OOPS, the shoes were almost down to the rivets.
Go figure.
No real steep hills on my commute - basically pretty level. Only hill is right near my house, and I usually coast down it anywho (but then again, they don’t let me coast the whole way as the city broke the hill up with a bunch of stoplights).
Thanks for the compliment about my choice of car, but I had no idea that a manual with no ABS was better - I just knew it was cheaper (and more fun to drive a manual than an auto), and being right out of college at the time, I couldn’t afford the EX model (with ABS).