When my 308 T9 went in for service at 38k miles earlier this year, it still had 7mm front & 6mm rear pad life left - not bad for the factory fitted originals.

The originals should easily see out my ownership of the vehicle.

There is a common misconception that braking efficiency is proportional to pad thickness, a misunderstanding that some mechanics are pleased to promote.

Not previously heard that one.

When promoting this misconception, do they come up with any explanation/rationale for it?

There is clearly no reason to change your pads, nor (presumably) the discs - nor IMHO the brake fluid. But as it seems your brakes have not been worked very hard, it may be worth having the pads out and fettling the calipers to remove dirt and dust.

That would certainly benefit the rear brakes if they are disc, but I would guess they may be drums, which may not need attention at your age and mileage. If rear drums were serviced, then the fluid may as well be changed too.

In the UK I only changed brake fluid as a side effect of other work, and AFAIK I got away with it.

Here in Taiwan I had a scary boiling brake fluid brake failure which made me a believer, and I've seen systems on two old cars perhaps never changed in the vehicle lifetime and apparently using cocoa as a working fluid.

Its very humid here, but its fairly humid in the UK.

Brake fluid is cheap Brake master cylinders are expensive, as is crashing.

Edited by edlithgow on 08/07/2021 at 04:35

I brake sensibly, anticipating a stop

I wonder if you could do that driving in Central London, I`m just outside and cannot do that as everyone is in a hurry, unless they drive a Prius ;) or very little traffic around like last year