Maintenance Questions/Issues...

[pasadena_commut]

I'm glad that someone mentioned that the brakes wear fast, I was wondering if I had some weird things going on with mine.

I've only had mine 8000 miles but in that time the rear pads have worn down to the point where they must be replaced "soon", while the fronts have worn very little. I don't recall the rear brakes being more worn than the fronts. Is there a balance valve or something similar on the P5 that might cause the rears to wear faster than the fronts?

Of course the uneven front/back wear could mean nothing since I have no idea what type of pads the previous owner had on the car, and the fronts and backs might be different.

 

[bucksatan]

I'm well into my second set, probably time for the third to go on in a few weeks. Compared to my last car, which had its first change at roughly the same age and km as this will have its second. So they are wearing about twice as fast.

 

[mogi]

Wow, a thread that didn't mention the EGR valve as the reason for the carbon buildup! Hurray!

 

[bazooka joe]

Wow, a thread that didn't mention the EGR valve as the reason for the carbon buildup! Hurray!

until now!!

 

[Sveivo]

I'm at 72K with original brakes still, working fine.

 

[RatLabGuy]

I'm at 72K with original brakes still, working fine.

ummm.... yeah....
I don't know what you guys are doing to your brakes - i bought mine @ 27,5k and had the tires changed @28k.... it was clear the wheels had never come off and the pads looked great.

To the OP - you didn't mention why the first few tires had to be replaced or which ones and how many at a time, but it obviously wasn't all at once. Keep in mind that once you have some that are thicker than others (from being replaced), everything is out of balance from there and they will all get worn faster. To maintain good slow even wear, they really all 4 need to be the same, or at a minimum paired on the front and back.
What brand of tire? Ar ethey all the same? The OE tires are notoriously soft (and crappy) and wear very fast. You will get better mileage out of almost any other tire, and my bet is if you had 'em replaced at the dealer they're using the OE ones.
As mentioned - avoid the dealer for maintanance. They are a good resource for repairs and vehicl-specific stuff, but hnestly for maintanance anybody can do it and it wo't be 1.5x the labor rate.

 

[TheMAN]

the air filter gets dirty because it's doing it's job! what? you prefer to have a clean air filter and have everything get sucked into the engine? if you live in the country or in an area with lots of construction, your filter WILL get dirty fast

air filters do NOT follow a set schedule of when they need replacement, they are dependant on driving conditions!

the carbon build up is happening because of bad gas, period... these engines DO run better with premium gas despite all the s*** people here are saying about "that's what's recommended in the manual"... nonsense! I've notice a real difference in gas mileage and performance with premium, and with 68k on my car, there's no abnormal carbon build up... EGR is still original and no issues (knocks on wood)... the carbon problem gets worse if you don't change your plugs regularly at 30k... these are NOT platinum plugs, they DO wear out faster... if you want to be lazy about the plugs, then get platinums

the 30k service on our cars are a joke, you could've done it yourself

no idea why your brakes and tires are wearing fast... maybe it's the way you drive... brakes DO wear out fast if you always slam on the brakes at the light instead of easing onto them.... regularly checking the tire pressures will also ensure proper wear... my ORIGINAL brake pads lasted me 67k!