I drive a truck and my wife drives a minivan. I replace my front brake pads about every 40K miles, and my wife’s about every 15 K to 20K miles. I’ve always attributed this to her habits of “riding the brake pedal” and braking too late when stopping.
Anyway, I was drinking beer with a couple buddies last weekend and the discussion turned to automobile maintenance. I grudgingly mentioned the fact that I have to replace my wife’s brake pads on a too-often basis, and to my surprise each had the same problem! One guy said he has to replace the pads on his wife’s Saturn every year, and the other said his wife’s minivan burns up brake pads faster than gasoline.
So this got me thinking… for whatever reason, do women have a tendency to be harder on brakes? If so, I wonder why?
I don’t think my wife does. However, I knew a couple of women where I used to work that casually mentioned that they drove with both feet (automatic transmissions). I explained to them that was not the way you are supposed to operate the gas and brake pedals. They both said they knew but they just liked doing it that way better. I imagine that they go through brake pads at a faster rate than normal.
Brake life (or lack thereof) can be laid to a couple of factors:
Driver
Location
Driver I used to work on Jaguars. We had one customer who we will call Dr. Numbnuts. Dr. Numbnuts would wear out the brake pads on his Jag in 1/2 to 1/3 of the time of every other customer we had. (7,500 miles instead of 15K or 22,500) What was worse was he would piss and moan and get Jaguar to buy the pads under warrenty. One day Dr. Numbnuts was dropping off his car for service. The factory rep for our other car line was arriving at that time also. The factory rep notices Dr. N driving out and says “Does Dr. Numbnuts still wear out a set of brake pads every service?” The jaws of all the Jag technicians, service writers, and service manager all hit the floor at the same time. We then ask how does he know Dr. N? Turns out he used to work for BMW, and Dr. Numbnuts used to own a BMW. Every service his brakes would be worn out, and he would piss and moan and get BMW to buy them for him. The kicker here was that afternoon I was leaving for a test drive as Dr. Numbnuts was picking up his car. I followed him. He would leave a stoplight at full throttle and drive 60 mph on the city street until he was almost on top of the next red light. Then he would land on the brakes full. When the light turned green, lather, rinse repeat. After watching this guy drive the only thing that surprises me is that he managed to get 7,500 miles out of those brakes.
Location My first Volvo dealer was in the San Fernando Valley. Most people got 15,000-20,000 out of a set of front pads. Then I moved to a dealer in West Los Angeles. More stoplights, and heavier traffic. Average brake life dropped to 10,000-15,000 for a set of pads. Then I moved to a dealer out in Santa Clarita. Suburbia. Stop lights 1-2 miles apart. Brake life went to 20,000-25,000 miles. Same cars, same pads, different locations.
Trust me, sex has nothing to do with brake life. Idiots come in both sexes.
Yep, location and how one drives has more impact than gender. If the wife’s minivan is the typical Mom’s taxi, constantly driving short stop and go distances to school, and drum lessons, and the pharmacy and boy scout meetings, that’s much more stopping per 20 miles than Dad’s 20 mile commute to work that’s part freeway, no? Yes, I’m generalizing, but as stereotypical as it is, the cliche’s there for a reason.
I’m a woman who grew up driving manuals, has an aversion to tailgating and I now drive a gas-hog, my brakepads last a bit longer than average. I think the type of driving and location you do have far more impact than gender.
I do know that my ex bf has the worst luck with brakes – at least once and usually twice a year – because he’s so damn hard on them, slamming on them when he’s going too fast. He doesn’t seem to know how to gradually stop. I, on the other hand, drive a manual quite happily and rarely need my brakes checked.
Not gender related, but I’ve noticed many people driving around with their brake lights on. I’m pretty sure they’re driving autmatic transmissions with one foot resting on the brake pedal. I always want to point out that they’ll wear their brakes more rapidly by driving that way.
(I also see a lot of trucks with their tailgates down, and wish I could point them to Cecil’s column about that.)
Really, it’s the driver who wears the brakes. I am a rather aggressive driver; but my brakes last a long time. Why? Because I know when to be aggressive, and when to back off. I try to plan ahead so that I don’t have to use my brakes. OTH, my BIL tends to maintain his speed and then brake heavily. He did mention recently that he needed to get new brakes. I should point out that most of my driving has been in the heavy traffic of the L.A. area. There’s lots of stop-and-go and ‘slow-and-go’ traffic in L.A., but you can still plan ahead and minimise the use of your brakes.
My experience driving stick is that I’m much easier on the brakes in that they don’t need to be used as much. Need to drop 5 MPH? No problem, just let off the gas and let physics do the work. Need to go down a steep grade? No problem, just shift into a lower gear and let the engine do the work. That sort of thing.
You are quite right - looking and planning ahead can make a big difference in brake life . Following another car or riding as a passenger, I’m often amazed at how imperceptive drivers are about conditions ahead.
I’m not married, but I’ve known plenty of guys who complain that their wives wear out brakes rapidly. Whether this is due to a difference between sexes or the tendency of husbands to complain I couldn’t say.
My girlfriend always drive with the brakes, on highway, normal roads. She says it’s a safer way to drive and prevent accidents. I am so confused by that. So, i gave her responsibility of her car, whatever brake problems happens it’s jer fault