Brake light turning on, what is the average life span city driving?

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nickjr

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Hi Folks, glad to be a member here and thanks in advance to those who chime in the conversion. I am a little surprised with our 2017 discovery Sport, currently have our truck at the dealership after the Brake lights turning on for the first time. I saw the light appear at 11,900 Km to be exact, thats right under 12k Kilometres. I am scratching my head because the dealership just messaged me saying;

"The technician has finished the inspection on your vehicle and the brake pad light is on due to the rear brakes being at 2 mm which trips the sensor. The cost to replace the rear brakes would be $1007.19 plus tax (brake pads, discs, sensor and labor included)." This is in Canadian dollars

The car is a lease, not sure if that changes how they assess a vehicle since they will sell it once I return it after our term. Also we have an 8 month baby and the car since Dec. 2017, we both work at home and drive quite careful with the recent born. Mostly city driving, have always had the car in Eco mode and have never put in sport mode (to help give you an idea of how we drive).

Any suggestions? Advice? are we being taken for?

I will add that I requested a reason for this pre-mature maintenance and this is what I got as a reply...

"Judging from the mileage you do on your vehicle you are doing mostly city short distance drives which uses much more braking from the stop/go driving. Your vehicle is also equipped with torque vectoring brakes in the rear which causes the brakes to be applied when turning even if you are not pressing the brake pedal. I checked with the technician and my warranty administrator and there are no technical bulletins or service actions open for the brakes on your vehicle so unfortunately there is nothing I can do on my end since brakes are considered a wear and tear maintenance item."
 

joey

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Sadly this would be about correct for brakes on a modern Land Rover if you drive mostly in town driving. If you have driven is any snow at all it will also use the brakes to prevent wheel spin. Pads and sensor if you could do the work yourself would be less than $200. I wouldn't change the disks unless you felt vibration when braking, but the dealership will insist on doing both.
 

BeemerNut

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Is there a way of disabling that "vector braking crap"? Only 7,500 miles (us Yanks) your brakes are shot. BMW's used to have this low mileage record. I'm a rather aggressive driver 70% town rest highway involves getting caught in commute rat race driving once in a while. Talking almost panic braking from 75 mph down to 30 do to idiots cutting in front near miss lane changes then "brake checking you". I still get 20 to 25,000 K miles out of a set of pads.
Rotors uncut 80K miles (don't believe in that crap loosing iron mass) rotors dated back to 2002 I installed taking ownership of a 95 D1.
Man these new LR's are an expensive can of worms to maintain.

By all means as Joey mentioned, just change out the pads not the rotors which is a cash cow brake job for the stealerships. A 1/4 sheet palm sander with 80 grit sandpaper applied to the rotors rotated slowly by hand (idling in gear low range also works) for a fresh finish for new pads, replace wear sensors is all that's required. Must add clean and detail polish all contact areas the pad's steel backings contact at caliper locations then apply a "small touch only of https://www.walmart.com/ip/Permatex...4004523&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=e&wl1=o&wl2=c
ceramic lube allowing the pads to float freely in the calipers not dragging the brakes after the brakes are released. Your already fighting that vectoring pad wearing crap. How did we survive the past 100 years driving without having "vector braking"?
Over a grand is crazy, $200 is bad enough. Sure bet no detail work allowed by the stealerships just another fast and dirty brake job keeping below their hourly replacement labor charts the mechanics must work under or they hit the road.
Have you looked into an independent LR or a regular auto repair shop having good repair reports by happy customers if you can't do this type of simple maintenance yourself? Your wifey and wallet will thank you.....~~=o&o>......
 
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