You don't have to be a car enthusiast to know you should change your brake pads long before you hear that all-too-familiar metal-on-metal grind. That's the sound of potentially costing yourself quite a bit more money than a simple pad swap. Improper brake maintenance can lead to disastrous results ranging from destroying your rotors well ahead of them needing to be replaced all the way to over-extending the pistons in your brake calipers, necessitating the replacement of the entire caliper.
Not only can this add a hefty chunk of change, turning your maintenance into a repair, but it also takes far more time to remedy. Barring outside variables like a rock wedged between your brake pad and the brake rotor or the pad breaking free from the backplate, your car's brakes can last an extremely long time. So, how often do you really need to replace them? Ultimately, that depends on what car you've got and what type of brake pads it has. Let's dive in.