458 Brake pad wear

Looks like you have plenty of pad left.
Are those steel or ceramic, your callipers need some love brother, lots of break dust on them


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You have plenty, wouldn't worry about it. 2mm is when to start getting concerned
(your pad looks to be the same thickness as the backing plate, ~5-6mm)

 

No real need to measure exactly. A visual ratio of the pad to the backing plate will suffice. A ruler or caliper can measure from edge of pad against disc to start of backing plate if you want a number.

You need to remove the wheel and use a wheel brush (natural bristle) and car wash soap with hot water. Caliper should be cared for like any other painted surface. Check out videos online for cleaning calipers.

 

I wouldn’t remove the wheels by myself for cleaning unless you know what you are doing
Ceramic rotors can crack if you hit them with the wheel while trying to mount the wheel back and that’s a really really expensive replacement

Go to a professional and have it cleaned and ceramic coated, if you don’t want to go this route, just power wash it and try to clean as much as you can with wheel cleaner and brushes


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The pads generate a tremendous amount of debris. Mine is almost like sand grit. And it’s all over the rims and rear after a joy ride.

Last visit to the shop I had him measure brake life and was shocked to discover for the type of driving I do, that they were fine.
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3 mm is minimum with Brembo pads. This is also where it will normally trip the indicator.

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Just use a pair of wheel hangers. It's easy.

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Lots of material remaining on the brake pad. Use Sonax to simultaneously clean both the wheels and calipers.

 

Another vote for wheel hangars. They are long pins that are tapered to a point on one end, and threaded to match your lug bolts on the other end.
You remove two lug bolts and screw in the wheel hangars. Then remove the other lug bolts.
Your wheel will be hanging on the wheel hangars. Simply pull the wheel and tire towards you and it will slide off and away from the expensive rotor.

 

This sounds awesome
I’ll check into those


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I use these. https://www.hillengineering.co.uk/wh02
You can get them at Ricambi if you're in the states.

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Stock 458 pads have 10mm of material on them when new. So just stick a little ruler or caliper down there and measure and you can figure out how much has been worn.

As others have said, those pads look brand new, given their thickness in the photo.

Ray

 

During my last yearly service (year 8, milage approximately 6000), the dealer tech who has taken care of my 2013 spider since day 1 checked my pad life/use. Apparently I have 99% left.
Net, unless you are tracking your car, you will likely out live your brakes.
Best

 

Soap and water. Stay away from acid cleaners. Also do not spray tire shine on the tires…spray in rage or sponger and then wipe on. You do not want to get that stuff on ceramic rotors.

 

Take the tire off to clean the rim and be sure to use the threaded pins to prevent damage to the rotors. Once the tire/rim is off, I use Griot’s wheel cleaners. It’s also easy to give the tire a thorough look-see for damage, or uneven wear patterns, or apply tire shine products.

For the ceramic rotors and the splash/rock shield, I only use de-ionised water with a pressure washer (turned way down). The muck comes right off and there is no residue. The pressure of the water coming out of the tip of the PW is not much more than a small fireman’s style of tip on a garden hose.

Using this approach, I never have brake squeaks and there are no residual water spots on the ceramic rotor or brake components. If I’m not removing the wheels, I put shields over the tires to prevent any of the foam cannon cleaners, or shine enhancers from getting on the brake pads or the ceramic rotors.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy and no squeaks or danger of cleaning/tire shine products from compromising the brake pads, or the ceramic rotor surfaces. I also use only deionised water when washing my 458, as well as rinsing.

No drying and no water spots. Residual drops of water are removed by the air conditioning in the car park (kept at 74degrees F), or a fun spirited drive…

Cheers!

 

3mm on the outer pads often means the inner pad is thinner, so beware. I just changed mine with the outer pads at just under 3mm, but the inner was more like 2mm and shows that it was down to the rivets. Note how the pad material is about the same thickness as the backing plate. No rotor damage evident but let this be a guide.
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That's strange that "rivets" are exposed so early. It's also strange that they didn't damage the rotor!
Is it possible that they are part of the brake pad thickness sensors? if so, did you get a brake pad warning?
This concerns me because I wouldn't have thought that they were too thin based on the photos.

 

I have this tool for checking the thickness of the pads. Not really necessary, but a nice little gadget..I like gadgets, lol
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OJG327E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

No, the thickness sensors are little plastic coated pads inserted into cutouts in the backing plates, and electrically connected. They sense when the plastic wears through to the metal underneath. The rivets look to be brass or other soft metal, probably so as to minimize damage to the rotors. I received no warning light. If you wait for the light, you may have some rotor damage. It seems a bit wasteful, but I suggest changing the pads at 3mm left before they can damage the very expensive carbon ceramic rotors (although prices seem to have come down a bit; Ricambi has them for about $6k a pair-I thought they had been retailing for much more than that).


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Right? That’s what I thought, too.

https://www.ricambiamerica.com/st-k-1011-front-ccm-458.html


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That's actually not that bad. But as you said, it's obviously better to change the pads at 3 or 4mm.