brake pad indicator light , would you wait for it to come on ??

[neil]

So Jetta is coming up to 200000 km and Im still on the original front brakes , rear was done at 140000 after mechanic said
should do them , however Im now thinking they could have gone much further as the same mechanic said to me at last service to just wait for the indicator light to come on and get it done then.

So anyone see a safety issue of running around with pads that must be close to the indicator light coming on.

[Diesel_vert]

If the front brake pads have covered nearly 200 000 km without triggering the wear warning sensor, then you can expect to replace them at around 240 000 km - assuming they are the original pads, there are no changes to the pad wear rate, all four front pads are wearing evenly and there is no fault with the sensor itself (they are not infallible).

On that note, I would advise a visual inspection of the front brake pads. If the warning sensor has not been triggered, expect at least 4 mm of pad friction material.

The wear limit is 2 mm.

[theresanothersteve]

I don't trust electronic devices, but they're a good backup.

Visual inspection is the go.

I'd be worried that after that many ks the sensors might be faulty...

[Umai Naa!!]

Visually inspect both the pads and the discs.

Pad sensor is only on one pad at the left front. Seen many in the past that had trashed a set of pads (and disc) on one side of the car, but not worn enough to cut through the sensor wire in the pad on the other side.

General rule is if the pad material is thinner than the backing material, replace. If there's a lip on the discs, replace those as well. They should not be machined. By the time you knock the lip off, and true the surfaces, they're going to be on the minimum thickness anyway.

[Rebuild]

On my T5, pad indicators are front left and rear right only.
I'd also advise a visual check,whenever the dash light comes on
IIRC, I had the light come on, checked pads and still had 3-4mm left.

I did have probs with the pad guides being bent/twisted causing uneven pad wear, so watch for this also