Brake pad life

[Nutmeg]

Question for those that have had to change out your brake pads. How many miles were on your chassis when you did so? Trying to plan out future maintenance points. Thanks

[TitanMike]

Brake pad life can be all over the board depending on where and how you drive.

If you tend to get caught in heavy traffic and have to use the brakes a lot or drive a lot in the mountains and have to use them a lot when going downhill, those scenarios can wear them out pretty quick.

If you drive in the wide open spaces on the Interstates and rarely have to use the brakes, miles add up with little brake wear.

On the "how you drive" part if you tend to keep close to vehicles ahead you probably use your brakes more than those who leave lots of room merely having to lift the throttle when traffic slows. Also helps to slow when you see the traffic light well ahead of you turn read. Might be green by the time you get to it and no brakes required.

As for planning maintenance intervals, brakes pad thickness can be measured when tires are rotated and actual wear can be plotted by recording measurements at each rotation. This will give you a "wear curve" that will let you predict accurately when to replace. When the pad thickness reaches the same thickness as the metal backing, time to replace.

[bubbles]

[QUOTE=TitanMike;
As for planning maintenance intervals, brakes pad thickness can be measured when tires are rotated and actual wear can be plotted by recording measurements at each rotation. This will give you a "wear curve" that will let you predict accurately when to replace. When the pad thickness reaches the same thickness as the metal backing, time to replace.[/QUOTE]

Rotating Georgetown tires???

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by bubbles

Rotating Georgetown tires???

What does the chassis manufacturer's manual recommend (if it's Freightliner they show the recommended rotations pattern).

Michelin recommends every 6,000 to 8,000 miles ------ even on vehicles with a "dually" configuration.

https://www.michelinman.com/tireRotation.html


Whether or not people do it is another thing. Those that do usually:

Get more miles on their tires;

Detect tire problems long before they fail on the highway;

Have the opportunity to inspect their brakes.

Those who recommend against usually view rotation as a bother or too expensive if they don't do it themselves.

Tires are one of those things that usually work best and last longer if you maintain them. Funny how that works.

As for the "What do truckers do" argument, different world. Commercial trucks only make money when they're on the road. The general feeling is that they will run their tires until one fails or wears out and then they replace it, getting back to making money. Also, "Driver Tires" are often a different tread than Steer Tires so rotation is in this case a waste.

[bubbles]

I simply meant that tire replacement on a class a motorhome is not tread wear based but time based regardless the mileage. If there's an issue with any of the tires the issue should be resolved not spread to other tires. It's been my experience that the tires on my class a's look super when I have had them changed. That change has been at 5 and/or 7 year increments and has varied from 70 t0 40 thousand miles without ever a rotation. Sidewall cracking was the variable, not tread wear depth which sometimes looked unused. I just think nothing is gained from rotating tires on a class a motorhome used as the way we do. Whatever one thinks, including me, is just one individuals opinion and we all know that everyone has one and what it's worth. Incidentally, one of my 50's classic car owners manual said to change the oil at every 200 miles.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by bubbles

I simply meant that tire replacement on a class a motorhome is not tread wear based but time based regardless the mileage. If there's an issue with any of the tires the issue should be resolved not spread to other tires. It's been my experience that the tires on my class a's look super when I have had them changed. That change has been at 5 and/or 7 year increments and has varied from 70 t0 40 thousand miles without ever a rotation. Sidewall cracking was the variable, not tread wear depth which sometimes looked unused. I just think nothing is gained from rotating tires on a class a motorhome used as the way we do. Whatever one thinks, including me, is just one individuals opinion and we all know that everyone has one and what it's worth. Incidentally, one of my 50's classic car owners manual said to change the oil at every 200 miles.

Even if one does not rotate, it's a good idea to remove the wheels and check brakes (front and rear) at regular intervals. Whether or not the tires are replaced in the same position is up to the owner. Vehicles that are on the move often have fewer issues than vehicles that spend a lot of time just sitting.

One thing to consider, if a vehicle sits for long periods of time, chances are that it sits with the same side to the sun every time. Rotating tires can move them to the opposite side and possibly reduce the "weather checking" triggers new tire purchase.

[cfo111]

my 2007 Georgetown has 60,070 mile brakes have over 50 % life left it will be some time before I replace mine.

[JohnnyMeteor]

Cfo111......Thank you.

[AquaMan]

I was de-winterizing a (now ex-friend) friend's MH last year and noticed his rear brakes were eating into his rotors. He had approximately 16k miles on it, but I know he was hard on it. Never did mention it to him, as we quit talking shortly there after. I have 27k on mine and they look fine.

[cfo111]

Originally Posted by AquaMan

I was de-winterizing a (now ex-friend) friend's MH last year and noticed his rear brakes were eating into his rotors. He had approximately 16k miles on it, but I know he was hard on it. Never did mention it to him, as we quit talking shortly there after. I have 27k on mine and they look fine.

wow rear brakes usually last longer then front sounds like something is frozen up but for safety sake maybe send you ex friend a letter unsigned to under state it without your name you may feel better if some happens down the road just saying.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by cfo111

wow rear brakes usually last longer then front sounds like something is frozen up but for safety sake maybe send you ex friend a letter unsigned to under state it without your name you may feel better if some happens down the road just saying.

It was mentioned that this person was "hard on his brakes".

I call it "Left Foot Syndrome". For some reason there are a lot of people out there that have never driven a standard transmission equipped vehicle and use their left foot to brake. Even worse, there are those that control the vehicle speed (usually around town) by just varying the pressure alternately on accelerator pedal and brake pedal with feet on both at the same time. Want to go fast, just relax the brake foot somewhat and push more on the accelerator. To slow, reverse the process.

FWIW, if pressure on the brake pedal is not fully released it can cause a residual pressure to remain in the brake system, holding pads against rotors which can cause all kinds of problems.

I think most people that have driven "standard shift" will pretty much use their right foot only, moving back and forth to accelerator or brake.

Those that use the Left Foot Brake method usually have their brake lights on all the time unless they're on the Interstate running on cruise control.