Front break pads not wearing

[James mosteller]

2009 jeta , I am getting close to replacing rear break pads a second time and the front pads still look OK. Every car I have been involved with the front needs replacing before the back. Has anyone experienced this, or tell me why this could be happening. Thanks.

 

[Rx7145]

Completely normal. Volkswagens are biased towards the back while everything else is biased towards the front. The front brakes actually have quite a bit of pad and are probably oversized for the car. They wear very slowly.

 

[Seatman]

I think they use the rears mostly under gentle braking so the car doesn't nose dive or something then the front kick in if you brake hard. Feels a bit like that in my latest car.

 

[James mosteller]

Thanks, guys, I feel better about the Whole thing now.

 

[oilhammer]

You may want to take the front pads out, and clean/lube the slides and the pad perches, though. And look at the condition of the inner rotor surface.

While it is true that the rears wear faster normally on these (and many other) cars, it also means the fronts can and often do stick in place and not work as well as they should. So don't assume everything is fine with them. My cars' brakes wear so slowly that I always end up having to take them apart and do this LONG before they are actually ever worn out.