Fellow Vanagon owners -

I have just had the brake pads replaced and rotors turned on our '90 Westy.
This only after 14,000 miles!  My mechanic was very surprised that the
brakes had worn down in such a short period.  The fact is he doesn't have a
lot of clients with vanagons and I think we are the only ones with a Westy.
After a call to a colleague in Portland who maintains more of these unique
vehicles our mechanic came back to me with the following explanation.

The Westy is a heavy vehicle.  Combine that with an automatic transmission
and the demand on the brakes is very high.  If you do a lot of around the
town driving or mountain driving that requires additional braking the brake
life will be decreased even further.  My colleague in Portland said that 20K
is about average pad life for his customers with standard transmission
Vanagons.  Less for Vanagons with automatic transmissions and he would
assume less for Westfalias with automatic transmissions.

I am trying to get a better feel for how many miles I can expect out of our
brakes so I would like to survey the list and compile some data on this
subject.  If I get sufficient response to the questions below I will post my
analysis at a later date.  If somebody has already done this and you are
aware of it, please let me know.

My questions for the list are:

Based on you repair history/records, how many miles do you get out of your
disc brake pads?

What type of vehicle do you own, Vanagon, Weekender, Westy?

What kind of transmission does your vehicle have, standard or automatic?

What percentage of your driving is in-town/city, highway cruising,
hills/mountains requiring frequent braking?

Do you or your mechanic use VW pads, or aftermarket pads?

Thanks,

Tom Moritz

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