Chewing through rear brakes

aperusse · Dec 20, 2017

I'm just curious if the (lack of) longevity of my rear brakes (2010 XC70 T6 - 17" summer, 16" winter tires) is normal. The car is driven mostly in the city, say maybe a 75/25 city/highway ratio.

All servicing is done at my Volvo dealer (using Volvo parts, obviously).

53,000 kms (33,000 miles)
- Rear brakes replaced (rotors and pads)

85,000 kms (53,000 miles)
- Front AND rear brakes replaced (rotors and pads). (New rear brakes AGAIN after only 32,000 kms / 20,000 miles?)

120,000 kms (75,000 miles)
- Rear brakes replaced (rotors and pads). (And YET AGAIN new rear brakes after only 35,000 kms / 22,000 miles? Yikes!)
- Front pads still have 8mm left.

For a mostly city-driven car, is this normal or unusual? And why is it only the rear brakes that wear out so fast?

If this isn't an expected brake lifetime given the driving conditions, what are some possible reasons for excessive wear?

CrossingCountries · Dec 20, 2017

I would think the piston is sticking in the caliper and keeping pressure on the pad all the time.

Stock Volvo brake pads last quite a long time.

Try cleaning the piston by pumping it out with pads off but not to the point wear it pops out. Make sure the small boots are not torn and clean the pins good.

T501 · Dec 20, 2017

The dealer is probably up selling you on brakes prematurely.

bigtimemcalpine · Dec 21, 2017

this version of XC/V70 tend to wear through the rear pads pretty quickly. I do a lot more highway driving than you do but I also go through rear pads relatively quickly. Waaay more quickly than the fronts for sure. I would not worry about it. Especially with all the city stop and go stuff.

GMAX · Dec 21, 2017

I have 84K miles on my V70 and have never changed any brake pads.

CrossingCountries · Dec 21, 2017

GMAX said:
I have 84K miles on my V70 and have never changed any brake pads.

Yeah we understand but try to help and find the cause...its very strange.

Schmoyoho · Dec 21, 2017

What stands out to me is that you're on your FOURTH set of rotors? That's insane! How much pad material is left on the rears at this point? Are the pads worn evenly, inner vs outer and left vs right? And who the hell has been advising you to swap rotors faster than most people go through tires?

V70 Brad · Dec 22, 2017

I have a 2009 Xc70 T6 with 210,000 miles. Put 180,000 of these on myself. Have been going through rear pads every 15-30,000 miles. Have only replaced front pads ONCE in that time period. Seems to be a common thing from what I see. My local dealer states this is something they see with electronic parking brake equipped cars.

aperusse · Dec 22, 2017

Thanks for all the replies - greatly appreciated.

It's somewhat reassuring to see that some others seem to experience similar rear brake wear.

It was also suggested to me by a friend (who I consider to be very knowledgeable) that with most of the weight in the front, the front brakes get more of the load during braking, especially in everyday "soft" braking. This can tend to leave the rear pads from engaging tightly enough against the rear rotors. The result is more rust accumulation on the rear rotors which has the side-effect of shredding the pads. It was recommended that I should, from time to time, perform a safe but hard braking manoeuvre to help keep the rear rotors clean.

Curiously, in apparent contradiction, this article suggests that ABS "electronic brake proportioning" in late model cars contributes to rear brake wear. https://www.knowyourparts.com/technical-resources/hubs-bearings/the-basics-of-brakes-and-bearings/. This may be true, though my impression is that ABS rarely engages on my car, or at least I very rarely feel the tell-tale "pumping" vibration through the brake pedal.

Anyway, I just thought I would include these possible suggestions I came by in my research.

Once again, many thanks for everyone who chimed in. :thumbup:

Toma Nova · Dec 23, 2017

T501 said:
The dealer is probably up selling you on brakes prematurely.

97k miles on our XC70 and I've done one rear pad and one rear pad/rotor change. 50/50 mix of highway and city. Akebono ceramic pads and Zimmermann rotors (OE quality or better).

If you rely on a dealer for maintenance, then you rely on trusting their advice.

Tom

GMAX · Dec 24, 2017

CrossingCountries said:
Yeah we understand but try to help and find the cause...its very strange.

LOL, just to say, I am not sure how freuent this on the millions sold. You got the most likely cause in your first post in this thread. Until that is checked and remedied no further speculation can be helpful, IMO.

tfisher311 · Apr 25, 2018

We have a 2016 XC70 T5 that just went in for it's 40k service and will need new rear pads and rotors soon. The dealer explained that the rears wear heavily since all of the stability control (anti-skid, not just anti-lock) is handled by the rear brakes. A majority of our mileage is highway, but that's in the snow between MA and VT every weekend in the winter. I'm definitely not being up sold and confirmed the pads are thin and the rotors have a deep groove, outside ridge. I was surprised to see this wear so early but it is a big heavy car and keeping it straight in the snow certainly makes the rear brakes work.

BTW, the 40k mi service at the dealer was quoted at $880. I asked what that involved and it broke down to, oil and filter change, engine air filter, cabin air filter and brake fluid flush. I had them do the oil and brake fluid change which was still a few hundred dollars. The cost of parts and labor to change the engine and cabin air filters is insane.

CrossingCountries · Apr 25, 2018

This is too much money... did you agree on the pads rotors? Did you check the wear? Standard operating procedure for the steeler to change them at every maintenance interval.

XC70/D5/AWD/Polestar

Schmoyoho · Apr 25, 2018

I've put nearly 20k miles on my new pads. They were all evenly worn (fronts and rears, inside and outside pads) when I changed to summer tires a few days ago. Not too many miles, but on top of that I've been punishing my car, trying to get a good feel for how it behaves in different slippery winter conditions (as well as some drift attempts but it's not a lot of fun in these AWD cars anyway, also because DSTC can't be disabled). Therefore I wouldn't say DSTC or torque vectoring is a major contributer to excessive pad wear.

A member on a swedish forum provided a top tip a while ago, that the rear brakes have metal brackets where the pads rest. If the surface on which the metal bracket in turn is situated isn't properly cleaned, it may corrode and prevent the pad from moving freely thus causing excessive pad wear. Proper cleaning and perhaps also applying some antiseize between the metal clip and the caliper bracket to prevent rust was advisible too.

Something that may contribute to wear though but that I haven't verified is that these cars apparently use the rears during light braking, not the fronts, in order to prevent weight from shifting to the front. I also know that under some circumstances (coming off the throttle quickly, and I think the rain sensor might also have some similar function) the car might somehow move the pads closer to the discs but I don't know if it's enough to contribute to pad wear.

Lots of maybe's and perhapses to an old thread but perhaps someone could confirm my hear-say with theirs, or something like that.

stsmark · Apr 26, 2018

My 2014 T6 just had new pads at the 40k service also, they were down to 2mm. The rotors show wear but not bad. Both the service and brakes were free as mine is a Safe and Secure car.

tt82 · Apr 28, 2018

The common thinking in the UK is that if you use the auto-release of the EPB (called handbrake over here) after engaging it at a red light, then this contributes greatly to high rear brake pad wear. However I believe that on your side of the pond, the handbrake is used only when parked and not when stopped, unlike us.

regius · May 1, 2018

My new to me 2015.5 XC70 T6 AWD also comes with grooved rear rotors. This car had 29000 miles, now 30400 miles. According to the service record, pads were changed at like 20k maintenance, but the rear rotors were not, weird.
I don't have much faith in the stock rotors, so I just bought a pair of brembo rotor and will buy a set of Ake pads or something, from ipd for my next service at my independent trusted mechanic. (dealership charge way too much for service, insane, my own guy is very good).
Braking performance of my car could use improvement while I'm used to it now, but I want it to require less pressing and brake quicker.

dloftis@triad.rr.com · May 9, 2018

rear brakes replaced at 28k miles

I had the same thing on our 2016 XC90- rear brakes replaced (pads and rotors) at 28k miles at a cost of $850.
I thought this was extreme and had never experienced before with any previous vehicles.

Glad I am not the only one questioning this practice at the dealership.

Chewing through rear brakes

aperusse

CrossingCountries

T501

bigtimemcalpine

GMAX

CrossingCountries

Schmoyoho

V70 Brad

aperusse

Toma Nova

GMAX

tfisher311

CrossingCountries

Schmoyoho

stsmark

tt82

regius

dloftis@triad.rr.com

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities