Rear brake pad wear

[jonny123456]

What thickness are (Toyota) brake pads when fitted?  Some people are telling me it should be 12mm, others 8mm.

I had new brake disks and pads fitted to the rear of my Avensis tourer 12 months ago - Toyota parts at an independent garage .  

The car was in the Toyota garage yesterday, and they reported the rear pads were now at 6mm.  Is this type of wear normal for new pads/disks that have done 16,000 miles mainly on the motorway - I don't consider myself a heavy braker, drive at 60, and try to leave a fair gap. 

The strange thing is, I've had the car for the last 55,000 miles and I've never even had to change the fronts (though they are down to 3mm now and soon to be changed)

I'm not claiming any foul play, but is it strange the rears seem to be wearing quicker than the fronts?

Is wear down to 6mm usual over 16,000 miles of driving?

 

[Parts-King]

They are half worn, usually 12 mm new........not needed yet  That is assuming you had quality pads fitted in the first place, cheap alternatives often have less pad, thats why they are cheap!

 

[Heidfirst]

do you manually release the EPB or let it auto-release?

[jonny123456]

The pads were supposed to be Toyota ones (they say Toyota on them) so 'should' be quality.  In that case, is 6mm of wear over 12 months/16,000 miles a lot?

Secondly, should I be able to view the pads without taking the wheels off,  to confirm they are in fact down to 6mm?

As for the EPB, it's an automatic, so has no auto-release.  

 

[AJones]

If they were mine I'd say that's wearing very fast and I'd be jacking it up and spinning the wheels to see if there's any dragging or binding, I'd also check the brakes when parking up after driving to see whether they're getting abnormally hot.

I had a rear brake on my T25 which did that but it was really intermittent - be fine most of the time, but then on  one or two occasions it would stick a bit and you'd notice the wheel noticeable hotter than the others when you parked up.