I took the car into the dealer because of some brake squeaking (i have read the threads regarding the known problems) and they tell me i have 3mm left on the front pads and that i should replace them. i have read elsewhere on this forum that 1mm is where the light goes on and even at that point, it's fine. they also want to charge me 900 bucks.
is this bull****?
thanks in advance, fellow GSFers.

EDIT:
they called me back and told me they “researched it further” and found that if I wanted the “lower performance” pads, they would do it under warranty.

 

They are anticipating the future, that's why they recommend replacing them.
Because you will run out of pads somewhere between now and your next visit.

My advice? Change them.
If you are okay with aftermarket pads, go for it. They don't squeak and give off less dust. ( from experience )

 

I wouldn't. There's no compelling reason to change the pads on this platform before the wear indicator tells you to, and even that leaves 2mm of pad, which, if typical means you can go a really long way before you actually get to any concerns. The original thickness is 11mm. According to the factory service manual, 1mm is minimum. According to practical experience, you can run pads until the backing plate contacts the rotor and your car will stop cleanly and easily. It will just make a ton of noise when the pad material finally goes away. Or not if you're on track (AMHIK). If there is 3mm left, you still have 20% of the normal service life left. Given ~20k miles to wear out a set of pads to the 2mm mark, you still have 4k miles before you hit minimum, and you could easily stretch this to 5k miles or normal service interval.

Decide which is more important - time or money. You won't be without a car while your car is being serviced, so the time is the inconvenience of getting to and from the dealer, dealing with the SA, and assuming all was done well. Some people have a long trip to a dealer, some don't. Given what we have shared on this site when it comes to service, we can be sure dealerships see very few of these cars. Atlanta may be the exception here, but in general we've all had issues of some sort with dealership service people not understanding the unique needs of these cars. The overfilled oil problem immediately comes to mind.

Last but not least - if you choose to run your pads down to the backing plates, you'll be replacing pads and rotors at the same time. From my experience, this will be the case on the rear regardless - OEM pads and rotors were both worn to limits when the pad wear indicator burned through. So again, pick your poison - run it until the light comes on or run it until it shrieks in agony. The only way it makes a difference in the front is if you're on your first set of front pads. You can, and should pad swap the first set. After that, expect to replace the front rotors at about double the mileage you have now.

 

thanks. what i was getting at wasn't whether i should replace brakes, but whether they were railroading me into paying for brakes in lieu of actually offering what's available, which apparently is these replacement pads of an "inferior" type, installed for free. fortunately they eventually offered it. true to descriptions elsewhere, these pads have less "bite" but i haven't pushed on them hard. i try not to do that too much

thanks again for everyone's input.