Hey, just caught some intense squeal and brake dragging so pulled the caliper and found this:



Pads have maybe 30% contact area left, rest is disintegrating...<br/>

The pads have been on a long time (>9 years) and maybe covered 15k miles, there is still a good few mm of wear left but they've fallen apart. I fitted these myself because the previous pads were not grippy enough (and they also had some pitting).

I cannot recall the brand, but would have bought OEM (Textar, Pagid etc).

Is there any reason for this disintegration?? Any recommendation on replacement makes? thx

They were probably cheap pads to begin with and age killed them. I run ebc yellow stuff pads and a set of there coated rotors. The only raw metal is where the pad runs and they still have no rust after close to a year of use.

I agree they were probably not expensive at the time, but I made sure to invest in a 'quality brand' because I was concerned about the prior wear. I now need to be more careful about which brands to select, but to be fair, the past 8 years have been fine so maybe not much to worry about...

Make sure your rotors are not warped and that the calipers are functioning properly too.

You had brake pads for 9 years and still wants to use the remaining mm. Just buy new pads. Age does kill things eventually. I've had Napa premium for a few years now but even those I changed up every couple of years depending on wear.

To me those look like semi-metallic pads that simply rusted away.

I'd get into the habit of checking my brakes a little more often!

I agree. When i changed my rotors i switched the style of pads to ceramic. Same with my rear disc pads

^This, metallic/semi-metallic pads can rust/corrode, and any pads can "delaminate" (when the adhesive holding the friction material to the metal bracket breaks down) over time. 9 years is a long time for brake pads even if they only have 15k miles on them, and a good set of new pads should only run you $30-40 (like everyone said check your rotors and calipers too).


I just threw a set of the Raybestos EHT (Enhanced Hybrid Technology) Semi-Metallic/Ceramic hybrid pads a couple months ago and they seem to work really well so far (only time will tell how durable they are). I believe they were around $35 on RockAuto.

I mean I'm not trying to sound like a dick but yea its that rust. I check mine every tire rotation. Check the slide pins etc

If they are that rusted the rotors may not even turn and new ones required, if fact I would install all new parts on the front brakes if it were mine.


For pads all I use are "Hawk" a bit higher that all the others but do a better job, but don't plan on them lasting a long time or any HP pad.