Tom-

You must live somewhere fairly flat. In the Denver area, rear brakes on the '98-mid '99 AWD cars average 15k. I've seen cars go metal-to-metal in less than 10k! In mid '99 they went to a different caliper-similar to the S80. With the 'old' caliper, you wear two sets of rear pads to one set of fronts. With the 'new' caliper, you wear two sets of fronts to one set of rears, just like all the FWD Volvos- except X40s- they wear two rear to one front. The only Volvo brakes with a noise-maker is the rear of an X40- and it is only on the inboard pad. Replacing the pads should run around $125 per axle. If you get into the rotor, multiply by 3 or 4. Volvo RECOMMENDS that rotors be replaced in pairs. (ever buy only one shoe?)

Dave the Volvo Tech

'99 V70R AWD, '93 854 GLT, '82 242 DL

I have seen Brake pad wear for the XC rear pads fall between 15K and 30K. The problem is that the 15K catches the customer by surprise (usually the pad backing plate scraping the rotor). There is no wear indicators on any FWD Volvos except for the S/V 40. The difference in wear time is mainly caused by the difference in each drivers driving habits and type of driving (Hwy or Metro). Volvo uses the Metric system for brake wear. The Pocket data handbook says that when the rear pads are at 2mm replace, and when the front pads are at 3mm, replace. All owners can keep an eye on pad wear by looking through the spokes of the wheel and eyeballing the pad as it sits against the rotor. A basic reference guide would be to compare the pad backing plate (about 5mm) to the remaining pad. With the 7500 mile service interval(for 1999 on), the dealer I work at will recommend replacing pads before the 2mm recommended by volvo, to help ensure you will make it to the next scheduled service without scraping your rotors. I look at the milage on the car and the amount of pad left and make a recommendation based on that.

They do not have wear indicators. Front brakes pads seem to

get about 30 to 35K for most people who post here. An XC is a

bit heavier so maybe they wear faster (but driving conditions make

a lot of diffeence -- I drive 70 miles a day and barley touch the

brakes since 67 miles of it is freeway so my pads should last longer).

Due to the tapered shape of the OEM brake pads for the front brakes, as the pads wear down, they begin to produce excess heat. This leads to brake fade that comes in quicker and is more pronounced.

So assuming you are running the OEM parts for the brakes, you will begin to notice increased brake fade as the pads wear.

If you want something more concrete, you can actually inspect the pad thickness yourself. The minimum pad lining thicknesses are as followed:

Front brakes

Minimum Pad Lining Thickness: .118 inches

Rear Brakes

Minimum Pad Lining Thickness: .787 inches

To check them, you can get a pretty good idea of the thickness simply by getting the wheels off and taking a look at them. I found that it helps to use a scribe (I think that's what it's called, it's basically two arms with a hinge allowing movement along one axis) to get the thickness, and then put the scribe up against a ruler with a high level of precision.

More then anything, you will notice a lowering in brake effectiveness and increased brake squeal before you get catastrophic failure.

Though it is not recommended by anymeans, you could technically still stop after wearing through the pad lining. But since it would be basically steel against steel, it wouldn't be very effective, but would still be enough to stop under most situations.

I had a friend who's Lumina did such a thing, and about the only thing that went wrong was the need to replce the rotors as well.