I own a V40 2000 and lately I brought it to the dealer because of a grinding noise on the rear when braking. They said I used up my pads and it was going metal to metal on both the rear rotors. At 13000 miles? I own a van and this did not happen to me until 23000 miles. Warranty only covered for the rotors but I had to pay a whopping $140.00 for both rear pads at 13000 miles. Does this mean I change pads every year? Did anybody else have this problem?

I just replaced the rear pads myself on my 2000 S40 at 13,000 miles. I would not have even looked at the pads at this milage had it not been mentioned on newsgroups such as these. I'm sure a lot of people are going to have damaged rotors and I think this should be a recall issue. I find it interesting that some dealers are paying for pad replacement under warranty while others are not. When I called my dealer (Bridgewater Volvo, NJ) they would not cover the cost of pad replacement and wanted $140 to replace the rear pads. I picked up some aftermarket pads for $20 and a $40 tool to spin back the caliper piston from Northern Tools.com. Fairly simple job that took me an hour to do. I did not notice any drag from the e-brake being too tight. I am happy with the car but I don't think I would have bought it had I known about this brake problem and the manufacturer not taking any responsibility for it.

Hey Michael,

Would you happen to have a part number on that tool?

Carlos

Disc Parking Brake Caliper Tool Kit Item # 154870-A637 from northerntool.com.I don't have a part number for the pads since I tossed out the box. I picked up the pads from a local car parts store, they were made by Roulunds and and I noticed one of the vehicle models listed on the box was a Mitsubishi Carisma.

Cool man thanks

Carlos

My rear brakes went metal to metal quickly at 19,000 miles and it was not

covered under warranty and I had to pay $375 for rear pads and rotors.

Most cars can go 40,000 to 70,000 on a set of pads. I find this an

expensive car in maintaining brakes at the rate of 3 to 5 times of other

cars!!!

At least you got to 19,000 miles. My S-40 has metal to metal damage at 14,700 miles, and because I have gone over the 12K mark, Volvo is giving me the same story about them not being covered under the warranty. I have taken on Volvo North America over this issue and hope that every S-40 owner does the same. So far, I had discussions with 7 different Volvo people, and they all agree this is a design issue on the S-40 with traction control. I have never in 30 years had a car wear out the rear disk pads in 12-15K miles, which is what the Volvo people tell me is "normal" for the S-40.

I've also sent a note to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Board asking them to look into this as a safety issue.

With Volvo NA I am trying to force them to do a couple of things:

1. I want the Owners Manual changed to add interim inspection steps. In my case, the manual calls for inspections at 7,500 and 15,000 miles. I didn't make it to the 15K mark, though I did go over 12K, so I am in a catch 22 situation. I'm not supposed to check the pads until 15K, yet they are completely gone before then.

2. I want them to add the cost of pad replacement to the "annual operating cost" figures since the consumer is required to replace the pads annually.

3. I want Volvo to clearly inform Buyers of the fact they will need to change their pads annually.

We've been told by VCNA people that the cause of S/V40 premature rear brake pad wear is due to the e-brake cable being adjusted too tight. The cure is then to give it more slack. That being the case, it should be warranty as it came too tight from day #1.

John O wrote:

> We've been told by VCNA people that the cause of S/V40 premature rear

> brake pad wear is due to the e-brake cable being adjusted too tight.

Is it safe to assume that this should be covered under warrenty?

John,

Interesting... My car came with the emergency brake with too much slack. And due to the bumby roads here the emergency brake lever would make noises because of this slack. I then requested my dealer to adjust ("tighten") my emergency brake so the lever would be firm and not make any noises jumping up and down. Time to check my rear pads!

Thanks!

///Martinez

Toots-

The X40 series cars are wearing the rear pads at a faster rate than you would normally expect- I have seen metal-to-metal contact at the milage you have and even earlier. One factor seems to be that these cars use the pads as part of the parking brake mechanism, where the other cars use separate shoes inside the rear rotor. The 'noise maker' described in the other post is only mounted on the inboard pad- sometimes it is the outer that wears out before the 'early warning system' gives you any indication. The only advise I can offer at this time is to inspect the pads at every (7500 mile) service and replace them if there is any doubt about making it to the next service. Volvo has been informed about the situation, but the fixes for these kind of issues may be a long time coming, if at all.

Dave the Volvo Tech

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

Your right Dave. Just got back from the dealer. Strange that English speaking people use that word for describing a place of business.

Anyway, my 2000 S40 needed rear pads at 8300 miles. No charge under warranty. No Tech Bulletin BUT $3.51 for windshield washer fluid is beyond belief. I'll fill it up myself next time.

I should have had the 7500 mile service instead of the 5000.

Next time I'll put on my glasses.

You are lucky the dealer picked up the rotors for you, they ARE NOT covered under warranty when the pad backing plate cuts into the rotor. Depending on the labor rate in your area The price for your rear pads sounds about right. There is a wear indicator on the rear pads that makes a racket when in contact with the rotor, you might want to keep that in mind and not ignore the noise in the future. Was your car serviced by the dealer at 7500 miles?