I've got just under 23k miles on my car now. I have been doing all my own maintanance (really just oil, air filter, and tire rotations thus far). I figure now that I'm getting up there in the miles I should take a closer look at the brakes. The rear pads are very easy to see, and they have plenty of meat left on them. The front are a bit harder to judge due to the brace around the caliper. I was wondering what the easiest way to check them out was. I'm not yet hearing the wear indicators, and they don't look like they are getting dangerously worn, but I'd like get a better idea of how much life they have left.

Just wondering if anyone has a good way to do this without removing the caliper from the rotor.

I'm most likely going to bring it in for the 30k service, just to have the dealer give everything a once over in case I miss anything during my casual inspection when I change the oil and rotate the tires.

Thanks,
Dave