I took my 2017 discovery to the dealer for 30k check-up and was told that the rear brake needs a replacement urgently. At that time, no brake sensor was on, and I told the dealer that I will bring it in when the light is on. The service advisor told me that as if it would be really late when the sensor light is on. I tried to find the information about the brake pad warning without success. I really appreciate it if anyone can tell me how much (10, 20, or 30%) of pad life left when the warning is on. Whenever I start the car, the warning sign pops up and I am not sure whether I should not drive the car immediately.

Also, I am trying to find a reliable mechanics in Rockville, Maryland region. VA is ok as well. I really thank all the experts' recommendations in advance.


2017 Discovery HSE Si6
30k so far.

 

Confused, you say there is no light. Then you say whenever you start the car it's on. If there is a brake pad warning light, its time to replace the pads.

 

Sorry. At the time of the service, there was no light. But then within a week post service, the light came on.

 

So basically they were correct and the pads could have been replaced when it was in. Take it back in for new pads.

 

The dealer said they would change both pads and rotors. Does the rotor need to be replaced every time pad replaced?
Many thanks

 

Depends the condition of the rotor, but typically not. Usually rotors get changed every other pad change. Sometimes you can get three pad sets to one rotor. The condition to look for is a lip on the rotors outside edge indicating the pad has worn into the rotor surface which ir normal. If there is a very small lip or none at all there is no need to change them. If there is a good lip then the new pads may not seat correctly causing uneven wear to the rotor surface. You can check this yourself.

 

Great! That is really helpful. I am already learning so much in this forum.

 

From what I have read it seems LR likes to replace the rotors every time they replace the pads. I have never done this on other vehicles, but this seems to be common with the LR dealers. Perhaps due to the number issues with warped rotors in the past.

 

Please see my post: Rear Brake Pad Info started on 10/31/19.
There is a pdf file you can open. On the last page it shows rotor thickness requirements and pad thickness and when the sensor activates.
It states the sensor activates at 75 percent of pad wear. To me, that means you hit the metal backing plate in another 10K miles if you used 75 percent in 30K miles.
That would mean, do it soon but don't stress out about it this week.
It also means you will need to replace that sensor because once it rubs the rotor it needs to be replaced.

I am also in the category of just replacing the pads and not the rotors. So what if the rotors aren't perfect? If they aren't pulsating, they should be fine unless you have worn them down to less than the minimum thickness, which I doubt.

I'm not sure why some people get only 30K out of a set of pads. I do drive my D5 gently, but I easily got well over 60K on my heavier LR3 and every other vehicle I've owned. I do notice that it was easier to put the LR3 into sport mode and let it downshift a gear on long downhill runs than it is on my D5. With the LR3 you just tapped the shifter to the left and it would go down a gear. With the D5 I can do this with the paddle shifters but I don't do it as often because you have to remember to take it out of the manual mode after you do this.

 

As long as the pad is wearing evenly which isn’t always the case you should be ok for a bit.

For me if the light is on it’s a change immediately so I don’t have buy rotors. I do however like to have them turned or at a minimum put a good scuff on the rotor surface