brake pads

[2fas4u]

hey everyone, how do u measure how much pad you have left? where is the starting point? how much should you have before replacing? what brand you recommend for daily driving? cheers.

[AJz]

they will make an awful noise when they need replacing, believe me, you will understand what i mean when you hear it, lol

[Ae92typeX]

some calipers have a small view hole where you can see the thickness of the pad, some dont. It the pads are wearing even you can go down to the last mm without damage, but I wouldnt recomend going untill they make scraping noise as it will be time to machine the discs then. Most pads have a warning tab wich squeals when it is nearly worn. There are some cars on the market that if you let it wear right down the pad, or back of it, just falls off!- hapened to my mates mazda once.
generally I'd replace mine when there is about 2mm left.
If just normal day driving i'd put whatever your local car shop has on, but im aware that others here will have more spacific reccomendations on makes of pads.

[2fas4u]

cheers, it just seems that my stopping distance has shortened quite a bit, lasttime i checked it there's prob still a good 8mm left. might be my brakeline needs tightening, how do i tighten them? is it just a bolt behind the foot brake pedal on a SW20 MR2?

[Lloyd]

You sure you're checking the brake pad material and not the backing as well? And you shouldn't really have a brake line to tighten (until you're talking about the handbrake) as its a hydraulic system. You could bleed the brakes if you need to. Is the brake fluid reservoir low under the bonnet?

btw, isn't a shorter stopping distance good?

[2fas4u]

oops i meant increased, my bad