How long does disc brake pads last?

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Juanmoretime
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by Juanmoretime

5500 miles or 8600 km on Sram Force flat mount calipers and still going strong. FWIW, its very flat and rural where I live so stopping is not something I have to do much.

froze
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Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:47 am

by froze

On my old school rim brake pads I would get about 10,000 miles on a road bike, but with disk I might get 2,500 miles, still not sure but it seems to be tracking that way. It's the cost factor I don't like, a set of rim pads were cheap at around $8 for Kool Stop Salmon pads which worked great in the rain too. Disk brake pads are about twice the amount of rim brake pads. Then you have the rotor that wears out, some say they last about 2 years on a road bike, the average cost seems to be right around $30. In the long haul disk brakes are more expensive than rim brakes to maintain.

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TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

froze wrote:
Sun May 29, 2022 5:11 am
On my old school rim brake pads I would get about 10,000 miles on a road bike, but with disk I might get 2,500 miles, still not sure but it seems to be tracking that way. It's the cost factor I don't like, a set of rim pads were cheap at around $8 for Kool Stop Salmon pads which worked great in the rain too. Disk brake pads are about twice the amount of rim brake pads. Then you have the rotor that wears out, some say they last about 2 years on a road bike, the average cost seems to be right around $30. In the long haul disk brakes are more expensive than rim brakes to maintain.

I've never worn out a rotor and my current SwissStop Disc E pads have over 5000mi on them and still have plenty of life. I've climbed / and descended >90000m this year. Would you say you are a "cautious" descender?

froze
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Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:47 am

by froze

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Sun May 29, 2022 7:49 am
froze wrote:
Sun May 29, 2022 5:11 am



I've never worn out a rotor and my current SwissStop Disc E pads have over 5000mi on them and still have plenty of life. I've climbed / and descended >90000m this year. Would you say you are a "cautious" descender?
The wear factors I quoted are all over the internet, r, ain and dirt effects the wear dramatically, I read lots of reports of disk pads only lasting 250 miles, not the average of course, but the internet shows a range for pads to be between 500 to 1,250, now of course you can get metallic pads that can last longer but they wear out the rotors faster. Rotors have a range of life expectancy of 2 to 5 years, probably depending on the pad material used.

According to another forum a guy riding on hills was only getting 700 miles on BOTH the pads and the rotor, and other people that responded to his post said that was normal for his type of riding; however, another poster said he gets 15,000 miles out of a rotor, but on the internet that high mileage is an exception just as the low mileage of 700 miles seems to be the exception for rotors. I'm sure different brands of brakes will all last different amounts of time, as would any aftermarket pads or rotors a person will buy, but if you average the pads of 500 to 1250 miles you get 875 miles as a baseline average of life expectancy of disk pad. 2 to 5 years for rotors isn't a lot considering the average 40-year-old rides only a 1,000 miles a year according to the internet, so that seems to hold up to the average mileage of rotor at around 3,500 miles before replacement.

Some of that high wear that some riders get is probably due to improperly adjusted brakes that are probably dragging too much.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

The rotors on my Madone probably have something like 15000mi on them and aren’t even close to wearing out. I use both semi-metallic and resin pads and while I rarely set out in the rain, I often ride on wet roads.

But then again, I know how to ride a bicycle.
Last edited by TobinHatesYou on Mon May 30, 2022 11:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

froze
Posts: 430
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:47 am

by froze

I haven't had my disk brake long enough to find out how long they'll last, either the pads nor the rotors. I have TRP stuff, and supposedly the rotors are 1mm thicker than the next thickest rotor by any manufacture according the bike shop where I got the bike from; and the front rotors are 180mm while the back is 160mm, so it makes sense to me that the front rotor with more surface area "should" last longer, and combine that with the extra 1mm thickness "should" also make them last longer...but, time will tell if that's true or not.

I still have to buy another set of pads to carry with me when I go touring.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

froze wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 4:21 pm
I haven't had my disk brake long enough to find out how long they'll last, either the pads nor the rotors. I have TRP stuff, and supposedly the rotors are 1mm thicker than the next thickest rotor by any manufacture according the bike shop where I got the bike from; and the front rotors are 180mm while the back is 160mm, so it makes sense to me that the front rotor with more surface area "should" last longer, and combine that with the extra 1mm thickness "should" also make them last longer...but, time will tell if that's true or not.

I still have to buy another set of pads to carry with me when I go touring.

So stop quoting nonsense and find out how long rotors/pads last in your usage case.

froze
Posts: 430
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:47 am

by froze

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 4:32 pm
froze wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 4:21 pm
I haven't had my disk brake long enough to find out how long they'll last, either the pads nor the rotors. I have TRP stuff, and supposedly the rotors are 1mm thicker than the next thickest rotor by any manufacture according the bike shop where I got the bike from; and the front rotors are 180mm while the back is 160mm, so it makes sense to me that the front rotor with more surface area "should" last longer, and combine that with the extra 1mm thickness "should" also make them last longer...but, time will tell if that's true or not.

I still have to buy another set of pads to carry with me when I go touring.

So stop quoting nonsense and find out how long rotors/pads last in your usage case.
I'm not quoting nonsense, all you have to do is google this stuff, here let me do the work for you because I know how the younger generation is:

https://bikefinest.com/when-should-i-re ... sc-rotors/
https://prodifycycling.com/bike-disc-brake-guide/
https://outdoorbarren.com/how-long-do-m ... pads-last/

That's just a small sampling, all the other sites are virtually the same in frequency of replacement.

blutto
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:09 pm

by blutto

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 4:11 pm
But then again, I know how to ride a bicycle.
.... there is a saying that for some odd reason sprang to mind ....."I have nothing to hide but me and my monkey".....file under just sayin' eh....

Cheers

TobinHatesYou
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Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

Just looked up my stats. 14000mi and around 740000ft elevation, front rotor at 1.66mm, rear rotor at 1.69mm. Mix of SwissStop Disc RS and E pads used. 15000mi out of a rotor is not exceptional. I should be able to get 20000mi and >1000000ft elevation out of mine.

Rotors started at 1.85mm and recommended replacement is at 1.55mm.
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froze
Posts: 430
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:47 am

by froze

blutto wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 10:53 pm
TobinHatesYou wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 4:11 pm
But then again, I know how to ride a bicycle.
.... there is a saying that for some odd reason sprang to mind ....."I have nothing to hide but me and my monkey".....file under just sayin' eh....

Cheers
It wasn't a saying it was lyrics from a Beatle song on the White album. Google it, its a weird read once Lennon tells what it means, sort of like his brain is too fried from drugs to speak correctly.

Anyway it came from the psychedelic days of rock, and the words were reworked words for the Maharishi or some such "guru", that screwed up the minds of the Beetles. Originally Lennon worte the song in protest against the other band members who disapproved of Yoko Ono relationship to Lennon. Later Lennon said it meant "that one cannot be absolutely oneself in public, because the fact that you're in public makes you ... (the word was blanked out in the interview) you have to have some kind of defense, or whatever it is."

blutto
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:09 pm

by blutto

froze wrote:
Tue May 31, 2022 12:18 am
blutto wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 10:53 pm
TobinHatesYou wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 4:11 pm
But then again, I know how to ride a bicycle.
.... there is a saying that for some odd reason sprang to mind ....."I have nothing to hide but me and my monkey".....file under just sayin' eh....

Cheers
It wasn't a saying it was lyrics from a Beatle song on the White album. Google it, its a weird read once Lennon tells what it means, sort of like his brain is too fried from drugs to speak correctly.

Anyway it came from the psychedelic days of rock, and the words were reworked words for the Maharishi or some such "guru", that screwed up the minds of the Beetles. Originally Lennon worte the song in protest against the other band members who disapproved of Yoko Ono relationship to Lennon. Later Lennon said it meant "that one cannot be absolutely oneself in public, because the fact that you're in public makes you ... (the word was blanked out in the interview) you have to have some kind of defense, or whatever it is."
....fyi....

...say·ing....a short, pithy expression that generally contains advice or wisdom.....a collection of short, pithy expressions identified with a particular person, especially a political or religious leader....

....so, to quote my dear mom, if it walk like duck, talk like duck, hmmm, must be duck....

Cheers

warthog101
Posts: 872
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 10:05 am

by warthog101

Image

My commute prior to discs.

I'll take discs please. They actually work when it's wet too.

Not at all concerned about pad and disc wear.

darrydonds
Posts: 192
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2020 1:04 am

by darrydonds

Longevity seems to be all over the place -- the difference between low and high mileage is more than one order of magnitude. That's pretty crazy to me.

I wonder how much riding style makes a difference, say between a rider who tends to brake late and hard and a rider who relies more on anticipation to coast and apply the brakes gradually.

Hexsense
Posts: 3270
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:41 am
Location: USA

by Hexsense

I know my terrain is flat when one of my main bike's pad last longer than the caliper!
3 years old pads still have plenty of life left. But Shimano caliper start to slow leak at the piston bore.

Maybe I don't really need disc brake on my pan flat terrain.

by Weenie


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Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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