If you don’t mind, would you step over here for a moment of your time, please.
LMAO off at being insulted by the friend of a Honda service manager! At least it wasn’t a BMW manager!
Had my Subaru Impreza serviced today. 90,000 km and the front / back pad thickness remaining score is something like 75/85%. My typical driving is about 50/50 freeway and suburbs, including ascending and descending a freaking steep mountain pass daily. But, I am a train driver by profession, and we’re pretty keen on using momentum, managing kinetic energy, etc. I mostly cover roads I know well, which helps with anticipation, and I’m in the minority of drivers (with our Cecil, I believe) who like to downshift and use the engine for braking, and maintaining a controlled rate of decent down hills.
As we used to say at work, brakes are for people who don’t know where they’re going. 
On my car (Citroen C4 VTS) after hard road and track use I managed to wear down the front brake pads in just 6500 miles. Maybe I could squeeze another 2-3k miles but better safe than sorry. The original brake pads were Ate. I changed them with Ferodo pads, I think they were DS2500, supposed to be more suitable for hard use. I have done about 15000 miles with these and they are still good, but these pads wear the rotor faster and are more noisy. Well, I guess something has to wear down, it is either the pads or the rotor. Next time I am going to use Ate pads again.
And tires, I’ve lost count of how many tires I’ve changed. They start to lose grip gradually after about 5-6K miles and at about 10K miles they are totally worthless. Yes, they might look good and have plenty of tread left on them but they slip too much.
Sorry, what is the hydraulic pump you talk about? 
Dog80 ABS systems use a hydraulic pump, or hydraulic modulator to move brake fluid under pressure during ABS activation.
While I am unfamiliar with the details of the particular system on your C4, I am fairly certain that your system has a pump as every other ABS system I have ever seen does, with the notable exception of the RWAL systems fitted to American pickup trucks for a few years.
I’ve a question since we’re on brake wear. My wife’s Outback with 55k needed both front and rear brakes, or so we were told. When I asked about this the service manager said that in cars with disk brakes all around all four will wear out evenly. Now I’d never hear this to be the case before, but I haven’t done much with car brakes in years. Is this really true? I always understood that rear brakes will for the most part last much longer then the front. I did have the car at two different shops, but that doesn’t mean they both couldn’t have been trying to get more money out of me.
Thanks! 
And another brake related question: They say that to properly bleed the brakes on cars equipped with ESP, the car has to be connected to the diagnostic because there are some valves that have to be opened. Any truth to that?
Quite possibly true. I am completely unfamiliar with the C4 system, since they don’t sell them on this side of the pond.
I know for a fact that you have to hook up and use a diagnostic computer to activate/reset some functions when doing a pad replacement/bleeding on some hybrids.
Evenly? Not generally, but that does not mean that you didn’t wear out that way. It is possible that Subaru designed their system that way, but I have no idea.
I guess it’s going to vary a lot. The brakes on my 1998 5-speed Ford Contour lasted over 100,000 miles, and the rears needed replacement before the fronts!
My 2007 Toyota Camry just needed new rear brake pads at 20,000 miles. I know it’s another car model than what the OP was asking about, but the mechanic was telling me that on these new Japanese cars with the latest safety systems, the rear pads wear out faster than they used to.
Ed
I got 110,000 miles out of the OEM pads on my previous car- a 2002 Hyundai Elantra (ABS, discs at front, drums rear).
I was astonished every time I took it in for a service and was told that the pads were fine (and I took it to two dealers plus a variety of Tire Kingdom-type places, and a couple of independent shops).
On modern cars, the first set of factory pads typically last 40-100K miles in my experience, though there are some exceptions on both sides of that range. Replacement pads typically last 15-50K miles, with variations due to pad quality, vehicle design, and type of use. More often, but not always, the first set of front pads wear faster than the rears.
The first set of rear pads needing replacement at 20K is noticeably below the average, but…
~There’s no authority that states how long they “should” last
~It would be difficult, maybe impossible, to present valid evidence that would eliminate the potentially wide variation due to type of use
~Brake pads are an “expected to wear” item that is not covered by the factory warranty
So while it may well be true that this design is different from that of other/previous models in such a way that the rear pads don’t last as long as in those other/previous models, I don’t see where the manufacturer has an obligation to rectify it or provide compensation. Barring a class action lawsuit that I think would be very hard to win (and which could have negative unintended consequences if it were won), you’re pretty much at the mercy of discretionary goodwill from the manufacturer. I would think the best approach would be to say you’ve had other Hondas and have been happy with them, but are severly disappointed with this situation.
IIRC, the ECU is made by Magneti-Marelli, the lighting system (adaptive HID) by Lucas and airbag deployment, ABS and ESP by Bosch.
Was that an automatic or manual transmission? I figure mine pads may have lasted so long because I tend to downshift or just take my foot off the gas to decelerate.
Automatic. I use engine braking a lot, though, at least as much as possible with an slushbox.
I don’t think anyone has asked this yet:
What does your owner’s manual have to say about it? There should be some kind of maintenance schedule provided somewhere in your Accord’s literature. 20-25k on a set of pads might be totally normal depending on your vehicle and the type of pads used. There’s a lot of variability in how long something like that is designed to last to begin with, and then additional variability in how long they actually last depending on driving patterns, etc. For instance, automatic traction control utilizes the braking system, so if your local climate involves a lot of driving in slippery weather, that could cause your brake pads to wear a bit more.
I have never seen expected life for brake pads in an owner’s manual but I will see if it is in this one. The manual tells you when to check things and if they are worn replace them.
We have almost no snow/ice here in NC and I drive normally, I don’t need to make a lot of fast stops. The area is flat , not the mountains. My work commute does not have a lot of traffic on it most days.
My wife drives in stop and go traffic-her front pads last about 25,000 miles. I drive highways 90%-I typically get over 80,000 miles.
Speaking of brakes, what is the stry with German cars? Every VW, BMW, M-B is see has front wheels filthy with brake dust. Are their brake pads softer?
I can’t speak for the other brands, but I know for sure that Mercedes uses almost exclusively Ate brakes which are on the soft side.
But IMO it is the same on every car. I operate a car wash and every single one will have lots of brake dust gathering on the front wheels. It doesn’t show much on cars with steel wheels and hubcaps because they have small openings and keep the dust inside.
Maybe german cars are more likely to have alloy wheels which have large gaps and spread the dust all over the place.