How far can/should you drive with brake pad warning light on

J

JohnDonovan

Member
 London
I'm working down in Plymouth but have to drive to Leicestershire tomorrow night and my brake pad warning light just came on.

Local dealer to here will charge me £270 but I reckon if I could make it to my usual independent it would be quite a bit cheaper.

How far should you drive on the warning light?
 
As long as your brakes don't make screaming and scratching sounds, you're OK, lol
I'm pretty sure you can still drive around for a while with them if it only just came on. You may notice braking takes longer tho.
 
Spooky. I've just made a similar posting as mine came on the other day, although my posting was more about why the service indicator still thinks the brakes are fine. Having spoken to the dealer, who indicated around £220 to me, it seems to be a case of "bring it in when you're in the area" as opposed to "bring it in right now". I've no idea how much tolerance it gives as it depends a lot on your driving style. That said, I shall have mine sorted sooner rather than later because I can't see the point of running it just to get another 1mm or so out of the pads. Also, as the pads wear there seems to be an increased risk, mainly from heat generation, to the other brake components. How great this risk is I've no idea...
 
strugglinauthor said:
Spooky. I've just made a similar posting as mine came on the other day, although my posting was more about why the service indicator still thinks the brakes are fine. Having spoken to the dealer, who indicated around £220 to me, it seems to be a case of "bring it in when you're in the area" as opposed to "bring it in right now". I've no idea how much tolerance it gives as it depends a lot on your driving style. That said, I shall have mine sorted sooner rather than later because I can't see the point of running it just to get another 1mm or so out of the pads. Also, as the pads wear there seems to be an increased risk, mainly from heat generation, to the other brake components. How great this risk is I've no idea...
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Yes, my service info is still saying 2000ish miles left on front pads but I then have the warning symbol up saying 'head to dealer, do not pass go, pay us £200+' :D
 
Had my rear pads done yesterday at an independent. Cost me £120, don't bother with dealers for wear and tear items. :thumbsup:
 
Yes, in the end I've booked into my usual Indy (BM Sport in Bexleyheath) and gonna just drive carefully up the road from Plymouth today. The warning light disappeared again last night so I'm less worried about driving from Plymouth now too.
 
I'm in the same boat. I have the service pack so have always used the dealer. Does anyone know of a good independent around Bolton, Lancashire I can get a quote from to see how it compares?
 
There's usually a fair bit of meat left on the pads when the light comes on. The only real danger is that if they wear down to the metal, they will destroy your discs. You'll be safe for a good while though!
 
In the end seems to have been a false alert from the sensor. The garage looked this morning and there's still a fair amount of life in the pads. Also the check control message that had popped up Friday afternoon had disappeared again Friday night when I drove home from work. It hasn't come on again since so I don't know what caused it to come on in the first place?!
 
So, had them checked on Monday and the Indy say that there's still decent life in the pads & the check control message had disappeared anyway so I thought that was all fine.

Then tonight the same bloody message pops up and displaying the red exclamation mark in a circle light on the dash constantly.

So do I go back to the garage again?! Or just assume its a dodgy sensor and carry on driving?
 
The warning comes on as a metal insert in the pad completes a circuit with the disc. They have a method that stops it flashing on and off as it makes initial contact, so is normal to come on then drop off for a day or so then back on. No such thing as false warnings on these - the pads are done for.

Depending on driving style and type of driving you have a few hundred miles to 1000, before you risk metal to metal damage.

Just plan to get it done and not rely on 'plenty of meat left' comment by the Indy and end up buying new disks


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Does it not break the circuit which triggers the light? Bypassing the little plastic sensor turns the light back off. But yes ... As above , there will still be a fair bit of meat but they're going to need to be done soon anyway so not worth chancing damaging your discs
 
-Tom- said:
Does it not break the circuit which triggers the light? Bypassing the little plastic sensor turns the light back off. But yes ... As above , there will still be a fair bit of meat but they're going to need to be done soon anyway so not worth chancing damaging your discs
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Tom - you could be right on the Z4, but I'm on hols so can't look it up. Theory is much the same that you reach a predetermined wear point and need to replace the pads.
 
Yep absolutely CJ, didn't mean to be pedantic just I fiddled with my sensor when mine flashed up and I needed to drive down the motorway home before they could be replaced (hate warning lights on, always distract me).

Happy holidaysss!!!!
 
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