Cracked front brake pads!

[SargeW]

This was contained in an earlier post, but it's pretty important so I wanted to give it a post of it's own. While getting a M3 service done at Freightliner Gaffney a few weeks ago, the tech discovered that both of my front brake pads were cracked around the rivets. They could tell by the way they looked that were not heated up and abused. In fact the tech noted that with 21,000 miles on the coach that the pads still looked like new. (Copious use of an exhaust brake)

So they replaced the pads under warranty. They had called the pad manufacturer, but had not got an approval fast enough, so they went ahead and replaced them anyway (great customer service).

The guess is that the pads were either riveted too tight when they were manufactured, or possibly the holes for the rivets were not big enough in the pads when they were made and the machined that riveted them put too much pressure on them when they were attached to the backing plate.

Either way, be sure to have your brake pads checked when you do, or have your regular maintenance done. It is something you would not see looking at the pads from the back side of the wheel. The drum has to come off.

Be safe out there, Sarge

[SargeW]

This was contained in an earlier post, but it's pretty important so I wanted to give it a post of it's own. While getting a M3 service done at Freightliner Gaffney a few weeks ago, the tech discovered that both of my front brake pads were cracked around the rivets. They could tell by the way they looked that were not heated up and abused. In fact the tech noted that with 21,000 miles on the coach that the pads still looked like new. (Copious use of an exhaust brake)

So they replaced the pads under warranty. They had called the pad manufacturer, but had not got an approval fast enough, so they went ahead and replaced them anyway (great customer service).

The guess is that the pads were either riveted too tight when they were manufactured, or possibly the holes for the rivets were not big enough in the pads when they were made and the machined that riveted them put too much pressure on them when they were attached to the backing plate.

Either way, be sure to have your brake pads checked when you do, or have your regular maintenance done. It is something you would not see looking at the pads from the back side of the wheel. The drum has to come off.

Be safe out there, Sarge