How to tell if my brake pads need replacing?

[Salty seadog]

Morning all, as the title says really, I have a cross country bike with tektra draco hydro disc brakes which has done probably just shy of 2000 miles almost all of it on road over about 2 1/2 years. This is my first set of disc brakes so it's all new to me. I dont ride agressively (normaly) so they dont take a hammering .

What are the signs that the pads need replacing.
&
Is there a simple test I can do to find out.

cheers,

ssd

 

[Kestevan]

MK1 Eyeball.
Slip the pads out of the holder (should be a simple screw holding the pad and a spring).

The pad is basically a metal plate with a braking surface bonded on one side. If the thickness of the brake material is < about 1mm replace with new pad. There are various types of pad materials, some will last much longer than others. I tend to use sintered rather than organic pads, as I find I can easily wear out a set of organics in one decent ride.

Only thing to watch for is that you don't get grease/oil etc on the pad surface when you replace.

 

[Salty seadog]

I hope it's as simple as you make it sound as this is the first set of disc brakes I've had.

 

[lpretro1]

Rue of thumb we use in the workshop is 3mm including backing plate - it's too difficult to try and just measure the pad thickness..

 

[ColinJ]

Rue of thumb we use in the workshop is 3mm including backing plate - it's too difficult to try and just measure the pad thickness..

I do the Kestevan test - I look at the pad and see if it looks worn out. If there is only a mm or so left (and you can guesstimate that thickness fairly easily), it gets replaced.