Brake Pad Wear Warning Related to Brake Warning Light?
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Newbie
Joined: Jan 2019
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2008 C300
Brake Pad Wear Warning Related to Brake Warning Light?
Hello, I'm getting the brake pad wear warning to check and then immediately the "Brake" red-warning light comes on. The manual says to stop driving and take to a shop right away on a "Brake" red-light warning. That does not make sense. Is the Brake Warning light coming on because of the brake pad wear warning? If so, it seems like I can continue driving until a convenient time to replace the pads. Everything seems fine with the brakes. Any advise is appreciated. This is on a 2016 GLC 300
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 11,398
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
Yes, it's on because of the tripped brake wear sensor. The warning in the owners manual is fair, because this is your last warning before it's going metal on metal. You can still drive the car for a bit, but you don't really know for how long, but should be enough time to make a service appointment and get them changed. Take it easy, though, with little pad material left they quickly overheat and start fading, so no emergency stops.
Super Member
Joined: Nov 2021
Posts: 893
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From: Hong Kong, China
2021 S450 4Matic
All figures are ballpark figures and you need to check the spec of your specific brake pads.
Say, new brake pad is 15mm thick.
Wear indicator is triggered when the thickness is down to 5 mm.
Minimum thickness for safety is 3 mm.
You can then calculate the number of miles driven to wear the thickness down from the new 15 mm to the current 5 mm.
You can also use time (in months) to do the estimate, I suppose.
Anyway, assume you usually drive hard and heavy on the brakes. So, say, 10000 miles in 1 year.
So, 10000 miles in 1 year for that 10mm wear.
For the thickness to further wear from 5mm down to 3mm, this 2mm might give you about 2000 miles to play with, or about 2 months.
This estimate assumes a linear wearing. But in reality, the wearing rate should be faster when the pad approaches the min safety thickness.
SO, I would rather err on the safe side and would change the pads within 1 month or shorter (say, 2 weeks).
Say, new brake pad is 15mm thick.
Wear indicator is triggered when the thickness is down to 5 mm.
Minimum thickness for safety is 3 mm.
You can then calculate the number of miles driven to wear the thickness down from the new 15 mm to the current 5 mm.
You can also use time (in months) to do the estimate, I suppose.
Anyway, assume you usually drive hard and heavy on the brakes. So, say, 10000 miles in 1 year.
So, 10000 miles in 1 year for that 10mm wear.
For the thickness to further wear from 5mm down to 3mm, this 2mm might give you about 2000 miles to play with, or about 2 months.
This estimate assumes a linear wearing. But in reality, the wearing rate should be faster when the pad approaches the min safety thickness.
SO, I would rather err on the safe side and would change the pads within 1 month or shorter (say, 2 weeks).
Last edited by bishop64; Feb 15, 2022 at 10:16 PM.
