Work out brake pad wear instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
Pad wear rate is thickness lost divided by distance, and remaining life is the material above the minimum divided by that rate. Only the friction material above the backing plate minimum is usable, so a 12 mm pad has about 9 mm of useful life.
Pad life
wear rate = (new - current) / km; remaining = (current - minimum) / wear rate
Weight transfers forward under braking, so the front axle does 60-80% of the work. Front pads typically last half as long as rears.
Enormously. Urban stop-start driving can wear pads three times faster than motorway use, and towing or hill descents faster still.