Yesterday, while washing/rotating wheels/tires, I noted that my front brake pads are all but gone after only 45K miles. Is this normal for this car? I had 88K miles on the Maxima I traded in for the CL-S and it still had original pads, and just passed 76K miles on the M3 and it also still has the original pads. Rear pads look about like the way I think they should, but these fronts seem to have worn much quicker than any previous experience with any other cars. Thoughts/comments?

 

Brake wear is an individual thing. It depends on many factors.

 

that should be about average, but 45k with city driving will wear them out quicker than 45k of highway. so maybe your driving habits changed

 

nope, still daily highway cruiser. have always used downshifts for brakeing vice pedal. seems strange that this is the only car I've had where OEM's haven't lasted close to 100K miles before needing replacement due to wear.

 

these pads and rotors are undersized for this car......not suprised.....

 

even more confusing since I have had absolutely zero problems with warped rotors like the majority seem to report here. however, on the Maxima I went thru rotors like crazy and those pads were still going strong at 88K. and, with the consistently high mileage per tankful that I get, you can see that I'm not using my brakes all that much. odd

 

The stock brakes leave a LOT to be desired. I can't even count how many rotors I have had the dealer put on. Not a big suprise they only lasted that long.

Especially with the known brake over-heating problems the CLS has. One hard stop and your brakes are gone, you'll get brake fade.

 

underutilized?

 

45K for a car like this; small brakes, heavy car doesn't sound all that bad.

Pads are cheap. Hopefully your rotors are still in spec.

 

well, that's the question. I know 45k for an '03 is a bit much, but since not much difference between '03, '02, or '01 was trying to see if others with similar mileage had same issue. Again, no/NO problems at all with rotors, but compared to the mileage on previous cars and other car (coupled with my over 95% highway driving) seems that 45K is far toooooo early for this kind of wear - especially since backs have plenty of pad left on them. Will have to check into it on Friday when I take it in for the 45K service.

 

Downshifting is not intended for braking the car is used for the purpose of producing power/torque and acceleration such as passing or exiting a corner. The usage of the brake pedal for stopping will use up your brake pads as designed. Its much better to use your brake pads and have to change them than having no transmission down the road.