Brake Pads - when to replace?

[MadMark911]

So my 991 Carrera S is 4.5 years old and only done 12,500 miles. The brake feel is good, there are no warning lights on and the discs are in good condition with little wear, but the dust off the pads is significant even under relatively moderate use.

Yesterday I gave them some proper punishment on my private racetrack - including a very hard stop after the main straight. When they grumbled noisily and promptly filled all of the drilled holes with brake dust. Which gave me an odd feeling that they had gone "soft" (and were breaking up) ..... I

So my question is whether brake pads degrade with time as well as heat cycles and frictional use? I've never had pads this old on a car, so I'm wondering if the pads start to break up when they get older? Anyone else experienced this?

[moonigan]

My car still has the same pads on it that shipped with the car when it was new 8 years ago. I ordered some new ones to go on after a recent service as I was convinced they would need changing only to be told there was another couple of years at my current mileage (5K PA) left on the ones I have.

Wait for the light to come on and then get them done then.

[rabbitstew]

A lot depends on how you drive the car, but on my 997 turbo I find the brake pads (all round) last me about 35,000 miles. You can easily inspect the outer pads through the wheels and see how much meat is left on them.

[Slippydiff]

As a general rule of thumb, you can't go wrong with this :

Upper bad. Lower good.



If in doubt, ALWAYS refer to your :

[speedyman]

Your discs may be bad (rust) on the inner faces only which you can't see easily. I changed mine recently and was suprised how bad they were.