75Hardtop

Guys, brake technology has changed a lot in the last 25 years. You can't tell me that brakes have not got better - they have and by quite a bit. Trouble is, the Australian motoring public think that as they never had to machine discs on their 72 XA, they shouldn't have to now. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The carbon content of rotors has changed considerably compared to rotors of old, and as such provide better stopping across a range of temperatures and conditions. The downside is they wear out quicker. Brakes rely on friction, the more friction, the better braking and more wear. That, combined with the aggressive pad compounds that are available today and increased weight of cars due to more safety and luxury equipment (which we, as a market demand), generally mean that you will not get 80,000klms from your OEM brakes. If you do, well done.

That said, I don't believe for a second that 20k klms is acceptable wear for brake pads or rotors either but again it depends on the use and the user. The greater concern for me would be the outer seals melting due to increased temps from different pads. I really doubt that is the reason though as Performax pads operating range is up to ~450 degrees which is only slightly above that of normal pads which would be around ~380 degress. If the pads were hot enough to melt the seals, they probably would have disintegrated themselves, not to mention boiled the brake fluid and fused to the disc. Very strange.

I have a race car which we run standard seals and calipers (mazda) with pads rated up to ~800 degrees and slotted rotors. The seals have not melted yet (it isn't a falcon either though). I will use two sets of front rotors to one set of pads in a season. 10 years ago it was the other way around and this car only weight 880kgs.