I have about the same issue. My fronts have not worn since I got them, stuck at 60,000km and my rear shows 30,000km left.

I insisted they check the sensors but on two occasions they told me the front has not worn to hit the sensor that would adjust it downwards. I was told when this happens it may jump from say 60,000km to say 40,000km

Mine is a 3.0

So BMW designed the brakes system to be rear wheel biased??? The rear rotors are smaller radius than the front. My only guess... the rears are used more for a daily type driving and the fronts are used more for hard braking.

My driving pattern is similar to you and have the same situation as you , X5mad. Mine is 2007, 3.0i. Now the total milage is 37000 KM, but the front pad says 90000KM and the rear pad says 60000KM.

Somebody says that may be the X5 puts more force on the rear than the front. However, we all know that the front wheels collect brake pad dust more than the rear ones which implies the front pad shold wear quicker.
Except BMW uses different compond or material for making the pads?
Or the front pads are actually much thicker than the rear pads?

No, they didn't. The brakes will always be front-biased. The fronts are used more than the rears under both light and hard application.

If the rears are actually wearing faster it is much more likely that it is due to the traction control intervening, since the power is rear-biased and the control is via brake application.

It is more likely, IMO, that the sensors are not as accurate as you are all portraying them to be. There are likely not more than a couple of progressive steps in a simple make/break contact sensor, it isn't like there is any real monitoring or feedback loop. Wait until they are worn out and then come to a conclusion.

Does the traction control threshold seems low on the e70?

correct! but it can be calculated via speed and stopping distance... assuming they are stock pads. But dont really know how they get the numbers.... Im with you.... measuring the front/rear pads is the true test.

No idea, don't have one. But it seems low on the 535, at 3000 rpm in second gear ;)

The rear brake pads wear out faster in most BMW cars

No they don't. I chewed through 4 or 5 sets of front pads and 1 or 2 (I forget) sets of rear pads on the M3 and that was w/autocross and driver's schools.

And this was not b/c of the autocross and driver's schools. I swapped out pads.

My 4.8 says 32000 mls for rear and 30000 mls for front.


On my previous 4.8is, the fronts wore out first.

Does it really matter? As long as I'm not replacing pads yearly, I don't care. And until the warranty runs out I really don't care.