Hello,

I have a 2005 V50 and my 3 year 35000 mile maintenance package just expired in February. I just today took the car in for the 38000 mile scheduled maintenance as the car was telling me it was time to go in. The car was just inspected in February and passed without issue. I just found out that the 38000 mile scheduled maintenance is a $430 charge. Not sure what they are all doing. The mumbled something about a break system flush or something or other.

I took the car in this morning and I just got a call from the Volvo dealership. They said that their tech had found that my rear break pads were completely worn and they need to be replaced immediately. Apparently the front breaks are fine. I know the car has a rear break bias but enough to cause the rear break pads to go so far ahead of the front break pads and at less then 40k miles? Something doesn't seem right to me. It's another $200 charge tacked on. If the break pads are so bad off how could they have not seen this at the inspection less then 2 months ago?

Then they proceed to tell me that my tires need to be replaced and that they could do all the work today for a little over $1500. Does it sound like I'm being taken for a ride here? It sure does to me. No way would I have them do the tires but they are telling me it's not safe to drive the car with the rear break pads like that so I told them to go ahead and replace them.

Anyone else had similar issues with rear break pads wearing so fast?

Thanks!

I have an '05 2.4i V50 with just over 50K miles on it. I just had the brakes inspected, and other than "glazing", they indicated that the pads were still in decent shape. I have never heard of rear brake pads going out before the front?

You should consider replacing the pads yourself..... it's really not as difficult as you may think;...... and you could do it for a fraction of the cost. (<$100 for back)

I have been relatively happy with my V50 up to this point, but the service at the Volvo dealership I have dealt with has been extremely questionable and ridiculously priced. I have been so disappointed in the service, that I would probably think twice about purchasing another Volvo..... even though I really like the car itself.

It is almost impossible to have the rear brake pads wear faster than the front in normal cars. The only way this can happen is to accidentally leave on the hand brake (or not fully release it) while driving (and ignore the dash warning light) or to frequently brake heavily while reversing at speed (which is highly unlikely). I suggest you query this with the dealer. Otherwise you would have to be braking frequently and heavily from speed and the front brake pads have already been replaced.

I asked the dealer about this. I asked if it was common on these cars to have this problem. I was told that in years prior to 2005 the S40's and V50's had a severe problem with the rear break pads wearing due to the rear break bias. I've been told that about 40-50% of the breaking power for the v50 and s40 is provided by the rear breaks. I was told that they had hoped that volvo would have fixed this in the 2005 version but apparently they had not.

I asked how my front breaks looked and I was told they have about 80% of their life left.

I am not a heavy breaker and I actually rarely use my emergency break.

Still sounds fishy to me but I was told that it would be dangerous to not have the breaks fixed so I let them do it. I'm sure I could have done it myself but I just don't have the time these days to tinker with cars like I used to.

I can confirm that at least the 2005 models are known to have the rear pads replaced before the front ones. And that is what I have confirmed with the dealer.

The thickness of the rear pads is 10 mms where the front ones are around 24 mms so 2.4 times thicker.

However, it looks like the car has been designed to rely heavily on the rear brakes. To be honest I prefer to change the rear pads more often instead of the front ones since it's cheaper :thumbsup:

After 75,000 kms there are still 9 mms left on the front pads but the rotors are vibrating so they have to go.

20,000 miles on my S40 and so far so good but to me it's obvious that the rear pads will go before the front when looking at the amount of brake dust generated from the rear brake. My rear wheels are always a lot, and I mean a lot dirtier than the front :grin:

Greg

Dealer recommended to have mine replaced on my 2006 at about $25kmi. I asked about the front and they still had plenty of life left. Sounds like an engineering issue to me... Let's see, more bias to the rear, thinner pads.. Hmmm. Not too much rocket science here.

Dealer cornered me into having them done that time. Next time around I'm doing it myself and save the $.