So I went to have my car serviced and the guy told me that the my front brakes have 3mm brake pads, which is bad I figured.I‘m just curious on whether or not a 3mm brake pad has already made significant damage to the rotors, calipers, etc.?I‘m trying to see if I need to change just the brake pads or the whole system/part of the brake system.Thanks
The pads being worn down doesn't affect the brake system. It just means pads will need to be replaced soon. The rotors are worn by normal use, no matter if the pads are new or 90% worn. Depending on the vehicle and how it's driven you may need to replace the rotors after 2 or 3 sets of pads. Now when the pads are completely worn, THEN you score the rotors if you keep driving. But as things are now, plan in doing the brakes next service, or sooner if they start to rumble The pads are usually designed to get noisy when they are 99% worn out. If they needed replacing now, the mechanic would have said only 1mm left, need to replace those. Instead he says, 3mm left, need to replace those soon.
The caliper will be unaffected. But you should measure the rotor thickness as there is minimum figure after which replacement is required. If the thickness is even close to the minimum it pays to fit new rotors when fitting new pads.
He probably just meant your pads are low Meaning to changed the pads. Nothing else should be affected by low break pads aside from your discs. Discs are a rare thing to change but worth looking at
