Brake Inspection

[05x5]

I have 15k miles on my brake pads and rotors and 20k miles since I had the brake fluid replaced. I am running Axis pads with OEM rotors. The car does not feel right breaking. It seems like it takes more distance than usual to get the car to stop.

Is there a way I can check the brakes myself to see if they are in spec?
I tried searching the forum for some help on how to go about checking but I couldn’t find anything. Thank you for your help.

[JCL]

You can take the wheels off and check pad thickness, but if it was too thin you would have noise, not just longer stopping distances.

Pads can get glazed, so you can check for that. If a caliper wasn't working, you would have a pulling to one side or the other. There isn't much else to check compared to specification.

You could take it to a long hill and make several hard stops from 40 or 50 mph. After doing that, don't park the car or sit with the brake applied, just drive moderately while the brakes cool down. See if it makes any difference.

Finally, you can just change out pads and rotors.

[jek889]

Check your bake fluid too. Did you replace with the proper type? Maybe there is air in the system. That would cause a spongy brake pedal feel as the fluid heats up. Bleed the brakes and look for bubbles in the lines.

[05x5]

The brake fluid was installed at the dealer so I assume it was done correctly.

How can I check the pad thickness? How long should the brakes last normally? 15k miles seems like a short time.

[JCL]

The dealers use a simple tool (without taking the wheel off) to measure approximate pad thickness. I would pull a wheel and inspect them myself.

Brakes don't wear out based on miles, they wear out based on use. City stop and go will wear them out in far fewer miles than highway driving.

That said, I changed out my X5 front brakes around 40,000 km (25,000 miles), with a mix of city and highway driving.

If your brake pads were worn out, the first indication would be the 'check brake pads' light on the dash.