I just had my car serviced (22,200 miles) at the dealer. The mechanic told me the pads were down and I should think about getting them replaced by my next visit. I bring it in every 3750 miles on average. He didn't say anything about the rotors so I'm assuming they are fine.

Anyway, I live in mid-rise apartment and my car sits in a parking lot (I keep it covered). I put maybe 5K miles a year on it which is why the mileage is so low after 4 years. I've never worked on disc brakes and wonder if I should just let the dealer replace the pads or try to do it myself.

According to the status report, the rear brakes are low while the front brakes are still good. I've read on here that this is not unusual. I assume all the pads would be replaced at the same time.

Also, my car is roughly 50 months old and the report says my battery is marginal. Can I simply replace the battery or is there something special I need to do for that? I have read that disconnecting the battery messes with the ECU and some have had problems with warm idle while others report the car relearns after a few days of driving.

 

Pad replacement is relatively easy. I believe there are a couple of threads in the DIY forum on how to do it. It doesn't require any really special tools other than something like a big C-clamp to compress the piston back into the caliper. You might want to consider a brake bleed at the same time.

It's usually a good idea to replace all pads at the same time, especially if you change brands or type.

Battery replacment is straight forward. No need to worry about it resetting the ECU - you'll never notice it. Just be careful about leaving the windows down or doors open because once you disconnect the battery, the auto-ddrop on the window no longer works.

 

I would NOT replace brake pads unless I looked at them.

Same with the battery. If it starts the car leave it alone.

 

Good point about the windows when disconnecting the battery...thanks.

During the big snow storm we had this year, my car sat for almost a month and I needed a jump when I could finally take it out. So I was not surprised when the battery test reported marginal. I had actually walked over to the service guy to tell him about having to jump start it last winter and he was already doing the test.

I spoke with the service manager to ask what the average life for an OEM battery was and he said 2.5 years which I thought was sort of short. But mine is over 4 years so I'm not complaining. He also said contrary to popular belief, it's hot summers and not cold winters that are the hardest on a battery.

About the brakes...isn't there something you need to do to "seat" the pads? I thought I read a post where someone did their own work and ended up with problems. I'll have to check the discussions some more. If replacing pads is easy, I may just get some high quality pads and do it myself.

Forgot to mention, the service guy said my pads were at 4/32" and they usually replace them before they get to 3/32".

Davidv, what do you mean about looking at them? Do you think the dealer would try to get them replaced prematurely? I deal with Herb Gordon Nissan and they have been good to me so far.

 

don't worry about the battery, like someone else said if it doesn't start the car that's when you should look into replacing it.

as far as the brakes go, if your pretty knowledgeable then id look up one of the DIY threads the forums and attempt it, maybe have a friend to assist. if you don't feel comfortable take it to a reputable mechanic and have them take a look and see if the pads really do need to be changed. I changed the pads, rotors, upgraded to ss lines, and motul fluid right around 30k miles on my 2006 just FYI