Not. At least in a diy’ers case, like yours. You know your older (presumably) car better than nearly any mechanic you’d take it to. You know how to be proactive about the maintenance, and to spot problems early on, from leaks, sounds etc. In your case the standard break pad wear indicator that issues a simple warning sound from the interference that occurs at wheel when the pad is worn out, that seems perfectly adequate for the job.
For the average car owner who either does no work on their cars at all, or maybe an occassional oil and filter change, having one of the more fancy types of brake pad indicator system , I can see why that might be better. Whether the type that reports the % of pad remaining, or the other which just illuminate a warning light when the pad has worn out, there are quite a few factors to consider.
- Initial cost
- Repair cost
- Reliability
If all three of those are a wash, no contest, the % type is best. But if the % type involves a compromise on one or more of those parameters , harder to say which is preferred. My guess the compromises with the % type would point to the dashboard warning type.