Rear brakes shot @ 50,000 miles

[Randy H.]

Just had a rotate and balance and the rear brakes are shot at 50k, digging into the rotors. I am still a bit confused about this because I would expect the front brakes to wear down before the rear. The shop tech told me the Maverick is different than most vehicles.
Anyone have the same experience or input on this oddity?

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[Hoagus]

What’s your overall mpg?

 

[CD_SM]

I assume you have a hybrid?
On a hybrid much (ideally most) of the braking is done by the regenerative system, recharging the battery. But the regen only works on the front brakes, so it makes some sense that the rears would wear faster.
If you have an EB though I am stumped.

 

[Joe Strummer]

Do you mean calipers, rotors and pads?

 

[Clarkdonbran]

Damn. The service guy said my brakes look brand new at 30k miles.

 

[TwoTone]

Just had a rotate and balance and the rear brakes are shot at 50k, digging into the rotors. I am still a bit confused about this because I would expect the front brakes to wear down before the rear. The shop tech told me the Maverick is different than most vehicles.
Anyone have the same experience or input on this oddity?

That isn't true anymore on a lot of modern vehicles. The rear brakes are doing more work to prevent the front from diving, but unfortunately the pads and rotors haven't really gotten bigger to compensate.

 

[V-blue Mav]

I assume you have a hybrid?
On a hybrid much (ideally most) of the braking is done by the regenerative system, recharging the battery. But the regen only works on the front brakes, so it makes some sense that the rears would wear faster.
If you have an EB though I am stumped.

I don't think your analysis is correct. I'm a bit confused by your post. Please explain how the front brakes perform electric regeneration.

 

[LC48]

Seems weird. Would be interesting to know what is going on with this, my EB still had 6.5mm pad thickness on the rears @ 50k, both rotors show no measurable wear yet.

 

[RyanS93]

Historically yes the front brakes would wear out first however with modern vehicles my experience has been the rear brakes wear out first. My hypothesis is that the rear brakes are being used more and combined with stability, traction control, etc. My experience with Japanese vehicles is they tend to eat through rear brakes in about 30k miles so this does not surprise me. My Maverick with about 25k on the clock does show wear on the rear brakes but I suspect I’ll probably be able to get the same kind of longevity you did (they look about halfway).

 

[inline_five]

My wife has a 2010 Prius hybrid and I did all four corners a few months ago as it hit 140,000 miles.

Rotors were within new spec and pads front and rear had almost exactly 50% life on them. I wasted $160 on rotors and pads.

I‘d be highly skeptical your pads are done unless a) you drive very aggressively or b) mechanical failure of the caliper.

Have you heard the typical high pitched wear strip contacting your rotors? That happens when 1-2mm of the pad is left.

 

[Zed79]

Rear brakes always should touch first. 50k on brakes in heavy city driving would not be uncommon. if you ride your brakes a lot foot lightly on the pedal 2 footed drivers rear brakes take the hit from that. If the wear is only one side not even on both sides there are other problems

 

[CD_SM]

I don't think your analysis is correct. I'm a bit confused by your post. Please explain how the front brakes perform electric regeneration.

It's actually that the regeneration performs the braking, not the other way around. Basically when you turn the electric motor backwards it becomes a generator and makes electricity. The more electricity you make, the harder it is to spin the motor, so the truck uses it as braking and to charge the HV battery. Regenerative braking is why your truck gets better mileage around town (where you brake a lot) than on the highway.
(That also explains the sound your truck makes as you slow down.)

 

[skinnyboy]

Just had a rotate and balance and the rear brakes are shot at 50k, digging into the rotors. I am still a bit confused about this because I would expect the front brakes to wear down before the rear. The shop tech told me the Maverick is different than most vehicles.
Anyone have the same experience or input on this oddity?

Is it possible that the rear rotors were rusted out in the middle from not being used much, and not worn out? Mine are in the process at 40k, lots of pad but rotors need to be turned. Only braking much harder than I normally would will get the pads to start scuffing off the rusted areas.

Cheers.

 

[Darnon]

It's actually that the regeneration performs the braking, not the other way around. Basically when you turn the electric motor backwards it becomes a generator and makes electricity. The more electricity you make, the harder it is to spin the motor, so the truck uses it as braking and to charge the HV battery. Regenerative braking is why your truck gets better mileage around town (where you brake a lot) than on the highway.
(That also explains the sound your truck makes as you slow down.)

The motor doesn't need to change direction to switch from being propulsive to generating power. It's just a matter of whether the motor controller is providing current or not.

But, yes, since regenerative braking is done through the drivetrain and it's a FWD vehicle then that braking force is only applied on the front wheels. So the brake balance may be tuned to be slightly rear-biased, especially when crossing to utilizing the friction brakes, to offset the assist of the regen in the front.

 

[catinthebathtub]

if you do the brakes yourself post how it went.
i bought forscan just for this purpose and was not able to make it work.
(service mode-electric parking brake-retract rear calipers)

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