Brakes should last way longer than 36,000 miles for most people with reasonably good driving habits.

What part of Missouri are you from? Are a lot of those miles on steep roads? That sort of driving will wear brakes out faster than normal. Drivers who consistently ride the brakes, or gun it when the light turns green only to make a hard stop in a block or two, or follow so closely that they're always having to hit the brakes, will wear them out much sooner than drivers who don't do those things.

 

We live in mid-Michigan so flat roads close to home, although we travel a lot.
Both the wife and I are aggressive drivers.
Our 2011 3.6 Gen 4 had 90K miles before its first brake job.
The 2017 3.6 Gen 5 that replaced it had 52K when we were rear ended/totaled. Brakes were fine.
Our 2019 3.6 Touring only has 10K on the odo so nothing to report.

 

On past cars before my Outback, I used to get about 60,000 miles on the original brakes.

My 2010 Outback still has 7 mm of the spec'ed 11 mm brake pad thickness left after almost 97,000 miles on the original factory brake pads / rotors. The service manager commented about that to me after my recent State Safety Inspection during which they measured the pad thickness. (He said that was much higher mileage / lower wear than he usually sees. He did say he had one customer a few years ago who got 160,000 miles on the original brakes.)

A lot of the wear is due to driving habits but can also be affected by parking conditions. If left outside in all weather (especially warm very humid days) and not driven each day, a slight layer of oxidation can build up on the rotors. This is then scraped / ground off the first few times of braking when you start driving. That can add to the brake wear rate.

My car lived for nine years in a dry garage when not being used. I think that contributed as much to my light brake pad wear as my driving habits.


John

 

If you are asking when, it varies like some fellow member said it depend how you drive, but if you can take one of your front wheel and check your pad you can guesstimate when you need to change, my principle on changing pad is when I see the pad is thinner than the metal backing it's time to replace the pad. Some folks are waiting till they hear the metal sensor grinding the rotor which is bad in my opinion.

 

Non towing Legacy identical brakes to my OB gets 80-90,000. My towing and typically loaded OB does 60,000 like clock work.

 

My 2016 OB Ltd at 74K miles needed rear brake pads replaced and the rotors turned down. Front brakes still good and original at this point. I do mostly long trips on highways and some light off-road and soft-roading. Pretty much on par with past cars I have owned where brakes needed at 70K-80K.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

There are too many variables. In my current use, I destroy brakes. Vermont road salt. Parked outdoors. The car sits undriven many days and does two long drives per week. Gravel gets in the brake pads. Some mountain driving where the brakes get used. 50,000 miles and the rotors are trash. Even with new rotors, I hear grinding from the rust the first couple of times I use the brakes after the car has been sitting for a couple of days.

I used to have a 100 mile per day mostly highway commute and the car was garaged. Manual transmission so lots of engine braking. The rotors never oxidized and I didn’t use the brakes much with all the highway driving. I got 110,000 miles out of the front brakes.

 

The 1 thing that is funny about outbacks is the rears go before the fronts. That is the opposite of most cars. There is a simple explanation that many probably don't know. If you are driving in situations where the traction control has to kick in alot you are wearing out your rear brakes. It is usually a rear wheel that is going to break traction 1st and the brakes are applied to stop the wheel spin.

 

From what I've read here, 60k is starting to look pretty typical for the rears. My rear pads were right to the squealer at 60k, but the fronts could easily have gone another 10-20k. The rotors were all worn very evenly at that time, so there was definitely no need to do anything with them (from what I've read here, resurfacing rotors is not recommended), so I just did all the pads at 60k using the OE pad kits. 71k now and they're just as smooth and quiet as new.



I don't know if this applies to Gen 4 (which appears to be what you're driving), but according to my manual, the Gen 5 EBD system "maximizes the effectiveness of the brakes by allowing the rear brakes to supply a greater proportion of the braking force" depending on load and speed. I wonder if that may be a greater contributor than the TC system.

 

Im at 94k and I ordered all the parts because I feel its coming soon, my sister in law got 100k on hers before needed to be done. I think the dealer charges 300 an axle to do them, i bought all the parts for under 300 for both axles.

 

2017 2.4 premium here, my Rears lasted 39k and my fronts were down to 1mm at 49k. Had them replaced at those times. A lot of SoCal stop and go driving is hard on the brakes. My local dealer wanted $260 for new pads and machining the rotors.

 

Brake pad replacement has a lot to do with where you drive and how you drive :roadtrip:, city stop & go ,highway or hills
although some people on the highway hit the brake pedal so often its like their Tap dancing on the floor board . :jump:
Disc are easy to check each time the tires are rotated.
I have my tires rotated each oil change , helps to keep the wear even on all 4 .:2cents:

 

Will depend on where and how one drives. I do a lot of stop and go, sitting in traffic, etc. and just had them done this past weekend at just over 50k miles. Front and back, with new rotors, cost me $650. Did not have it done at the dealer.

 

With lots of city driving I had my rear brakes changed and rotors turned at ~55K. Fronts are still good...look to last until ~75K or so

 

Replaced mine at about 75k, the rears were almost completely worn to the metal tab which warns you the pads are low and the rotors were pretty well grooved. The front rotors were ok but I replaced the pads and rotors at the same time, pads had about 25% life left or so at the time.

I do a lot of mixed driving but mostly highway with plenty of stop and go traffic.

Next time around I'm planning to do an STI front brake conversion.

 

Frankly, it has lot to do with the road topology and locality of majority of your drives. Hilly area obviously require more braking as well as non-freeway driving with lots of stop and gos (signs and signals).

From my perspective 30K~40K is not all that unusual. I have replaced brakes at those milage as well as bit further along. Someone mentioned 90K but I have never experience such distance for pad replacement.

While driving style has an impact for brake life, its not necessarily the major factor (though it can be). If you ride your brakes (some people rest their foot on the pedal) or break really early and let it drag, it will wear more. If you brake late and hard all the time, depending on the thermal characteristics of the pads, it may wear more than usual, but most ceramic pads are meant to brake at a higher temperature and actually work better if used slightly harder.

Its easy to change pads so other than a hassle to have to change it, not a big deal....

 

...Its easy to change pads so other than a hassle to have to change it, not a big deal....

Just be sure to do your homework. These brakes may present some additional challenges for the uninitiated (including those who haven't encountered this type of EPB):

https://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/138-gen-5-2015-2019/501775-brakes-diy.html

 

Just had the 50,00 km (not miles) done. Part of the "B" service is the brake inspection/cleaning. All is good with rear brakes showing more wear than fronts which I found odd.

 

I have 103k on my '13 Outback and am on my third set (original plus 2 changes). I changed them the first time around 50k which was a few k too long. The second change occurred in the mid 90s. Though I had a few k left on the brakes, I was preparing for a cross country move pulling a trailer and opted to err on the earlier side instead of the latter side. With that said, 45k, but, start monitoring them sooner.

 

No time frame for brakes. My 2011 Outback 3.6R has 92K and original brakes on all 4 wheels. This car has had severe use in back country and has 3 inch lift, heavy duty sway bar and end links. Running BF Goodrich all terrain.

My 2015 2.5 has 52K miles and has rear brakes replaced, Front brakes are 40%. It is on its 2cnd battery (Subaru batteries are crap. Mine failed in Rubicon Wilderness are near Lake Tahoe. It is on its 2cnd windshield, First spontaneously cracked a month ago when i turned on defrosters and wipers. Windshield with Eyesight is $900. google California Subaru class action legal action in US federal 9th fed court Dist. THousands of windshieds have failed. NOTE:AFTER SOA DENIAL dealer provided windshield as goodwill and I paid for calibration.

All you can do is drive it and check brakes when rotating tires at every 6K OIL CHANGE.

 

Agreed 44220. I have a 2017 Outback with a 235's on it with no lift and eco 1.5 hitch with a OneUp bike rack for my enduro bikes and travel all over whenever I can. I replaced the rear brakes at 59k with 3mm left. Today I went to get a oil change and front brakes done but didn't need the front brakes said my girl at the dealer...5mm left so soon I will before the fall trips begin!

 

Exactly 50171 miles for fronts.
62550 miles for rears.

 

Interesting. Most Gen 5 Outback owners report that the rears wear faster than the fronts, which is different than most cars and SUVs.

 

19' 3.6R - was told @ last service (35k miles): front pads @ 8mm, rear pads @ 5mm. Will probably need rear pads at the next service or the 1 after..

 

I had a front pad get buggered up after 13K rear were half worn at 157K on my car do I did all 4 brakes and I will not have to worry about it for quite some time.

on my 03 Legacy I did front and rear brakes at 60K and then again at 140K
on my 14 Legacy I did the front at 60K and the rear at 40K and 86K respectively
on my outback I did the front brakes at 145K and then again at 158K due to above mentioned problem. did rear at the same time. It is now wearing power stop slotted and drilled rotors with carbon fiber pads with a fresh brake bleed. Stopping power was great before and now it is fantastic.

1998 honda accord V6 did not do brakes at all and the car had 105K when sold
1994 honda accord did front brakes at 140K along with rears. brakes were never touched again and car sold at 209K
2002 acura CL-S rear brakes at 50K front at 90K. never did them again. Car sold at 148K

want your brakes to last? coast down as much as you can before gently applying them. sudden hard fast stops are murder on your pads.

 

My 2015 went 90K before it needed brakes.

 

I've never touched the brakes on my 17. Nor anything else. Just oil and filter changes. Soon to do a comprehensive maintenance regimen and see how far she will go. Pretty much still like newish.

 

I'd love to see how your rear pads look at 150k.

 

164K on original brakes.

Rear started making noise. 3 of 4 have meat left. L inner wore first.

(tape is just to hold rotor during pad install)

Very happy to go 164k and replace. Fronts still have many miles remaining. My 17 Outback has been trouble free and makes me want to get an Ascent or OB Wilderness.

I maxed out intentionally because at these miles new rotors make sense. Just wanted to see how far she would go.