Mot Passed, But Something To Watch.

[Daveyonthemove]

Just had my 2nd MOT done at my local dealership.

Firstly I'd like to say a massive thanks to Listers Toyota of Cheltenham. Very friendly service, and car hoovered and would have been washed if the cold hadn't frozen everything. Can't fault them.

Now to the point... Rear Brakes!

My car has covered 33,305 at the time of the MOT, and I had no advisories except for rear brakes.

Pads have 3-4mm left, and discs have lipped.

I'm unsure why a FWD car would use the rear brakes so heavily, and why the fronts are in fine working order with plenty of life in them, but the explanation I got was... 'The rear brakes are thinner'.

I would expect that they would be thinner if they were expected to be used less, or they should be the same thickness as the fronts so they last longer?!?

I should also add that the car is not driven hard or fast anywhere. In fact I value fuel a lot lately due to the cost, so MPG is more important to me than getting there fast and my driving style involves gentle acceleration and light braking to maintain speed, so it's unlikely to be my driving style.

So, if your Auris (maybe others too) is around the 30k mark, keep an eye on those rear brakes and prepare to change them soon.

[cabcurtains]

Not the same car but...our Verso has had new discs and pads at 34k and 70k, and thats the Mrs driving! My old Passat was over 80k on the originals.

Its on Mintex all round now but we wont have it long enough to know if they last much longer (i hope they would from previous experience), the previous sets were the original Mr T parts.

[Daveyonthemove]

Both the front and rear brakes are original parts on mine, so I won't be replacing them with OEM stuff in the future.

Obviously cheese and chocolate is the compound of choice on cars these days :(

[Phil_1985]

I haven't had my Auris long enough to if the front or rear wear faster, but I do remember looking at the specifications of the pads and discs for the rears - in particular the thickness when new.

I can't remember exactly, but they are indeed thinner than the fronts - just like my 2004 Megane,

On my Megane, the rears lasted longer than the fronts up until about 90,000miles where the rear pads started to wear faster than the front. Always used greenstuff pads and discs too. weird!

[Daveyonthemove]

Thanks for the reply.

I need to find out the brake bias (65/35 I think??) and the difference in thickness if I can.

[Daveyonthemove]

Just found out the difference.

Front Disc Thickness: 26mm

Rear Disc Thickness: 10mm

So the front is 150% thicker! That's ridiculous!

So, the fronts should be expected to last to 75k, and the rears replaced a the same time roughly.

[Jarod]

This is DISC thickness, it has nothing to do with pads. Discs can wear 2-3mm and you need to change them. Fronts at 23mm, rears at 8mm

[Jamesbelfast]

In essence the font discs are materially no thinner as they have a vented gap down the middle. If you discount the gap then you may actually find they are narrower. Rear discs are more prone to getting wet from road spray kicked up from the from the front wheels plus due to less friction they will suffer more surface corrosion. I think it is well accepted that Toyota discs aren't designed for longevity.

The link below gives some good information regarding disc,pad and wear limits. I am showing this link purely for reference purposes.

http://www.apecbraki...hp?cat=friction

[Daveyonthemove]

Thanks James

[hardtop]

yep as mentioned, front disc's are vented which explains their thickness relative to the rear which are solids,

the rears dont work as hard as the fronts, which is why their not vented on small low performance cars

[Daveyonthemove]

This is the bit i'm struggling to understand. If they do less work, they should be of a thickness that should match the longevity of the fronts, and probably outlast them.

Every other car I have owned has had rear brakes that have outlasted the fronts by a long way.

To put it into perspective, my rear tyres are the ones fitted at the factory and look likely to outlast the rear brakes.