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Off and on over the last year I've seen reports of very early brake wear such as having to replace the front pads as early as 9k miles, so it was with no small amount of trepidation
that I planned on checking mine next time I did a tire rotation.
Well, my van has just a little bit less than 16k on it and I pulled the wheels today, and much to my amazement the pads look virtually new! I didn't bother to look at the inside pads but the outer ones were just fine.
All of this leads to the question, "Why?". I don't drive at all conservatively. I'm always "pushing it" and with the extra weight of the Ody and the high gearing it seems like I'm always having to use more brakes than I'd like. So, I expected to see a fair amount of wear.
The only thing I can think of that may make the difference is that I use the parking brake virtually all of the time. This is an old habit recommended by our Toyota mechanics who told us that the self-adjusters on the rear drum brakes were just not efficient enough to keep up with the wear, but would adjust just fine if the parking brake was used.
So here's the question: Do you who've had early wear use your parking brake? Some? Never? Always? Do those of you who are getting longer life from your pads use it? It would be interesting to see if this has any correlation with the early wear.
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Chuck
Click here for Ody pics, mods and fixes on FotoTime.

Well, my van has just a little bit less than 16k on it and I pulled the wheels today, and much to my amazement the pads look virtually new! I didn't bother to look at the inside pads but the outer ones were just fine.
All of this leads to the question, "Why?". I don't drive at all conservatively. I'm always "pushing it" and with the extra weight of the Ody and the high gearing it seems like I'm always having to use more brakes than I'd like. So, I expected to see a fair amount of wear.
The only thing I can think of that may make the difference is that I use the parking brake virtually all of the time. This is an old habit recommended by our Toyota mechanics who told us that the self-adjusters on the rear drum brakes were just not efficient enough to keep up with the wear, but would adjust just fine if the parking brake was used.
So here's the question: Do you who've had early wear use your parking brake? Some? Never? Always? Do those of you who are getting longer life from your pads use it? It would be interesting to see if this has any correlation with the early wear.
------------------
Chuck
Click here for Ody pics, mods and fixes on FotoTime.