I just did my 5th brake job on my '05 Civic LX 4 door with automatic. It just turned 67K miles. The front pads rarely last more than 10K miles whether they're OEM or aftermarket. I do some down hill driving leaving home, nothing extreme, for a few miles but I would think that would even out the brake use when going uphill. No other car or truck I've owned has had such a short brake life. Our MDX with just over 27K still has lots of brake life left.
Luckily the job is fairly easy but it's getting old. Is there something really wrong here or is this the norm?

 

are all 4 pads wearing out at the same time?

 

Check for dragging by driving several miles without using the brakes, then park and check if the wheels are getting hot.

Lightly pressing the brakes all the way down a mountain is bad for them. It is better to press medium hard to slow the car substantially, then release completely, and repeat as needed. Of course also drop to lower gears to use the engine to retard the car as much as possible. I don't know if the 05 has the downhill logic to do that automatically that later automatics do.

 

Thanks for the replies, I didn't know about them even though I'm subscribed.
Anyway they all wear about the same amount. There's no significant drag either. I guess I may be a light braker just to keep the car from getting away too fast as I have many curves on the way down. It does have downhill logic but it doesn't kick in unless the speeds are high enough, perhaps around 40 mph?
I'm apprehensive in using the transmission to slow it down as brakes are less expensive to service than servicing the transmission prematurely.

 

Any more ideas? I hate to think that this car has a ****ty brake system. Just about everything else about this car has been great.

 

Well another 10K has gone by and it's time to change the pads again. I replaced the rotors and pads with oem last time and they didn't last any longer.
I'm so disgusted with it that I'd get rid of it if it wasn't as reliable otherwise.
What am I to do?

 

I don't know about the 2005 but on older models it was possible to swap to a DX/LX over to EX brakes, which were larger.

Consider metallic pads. These are used on mail delivery trucks and school buses to survive frequent stopping. Beware that it is normal for them to squeak-- a lot.

There are also ceramic pads, but you have to be careful that you get the real deal and not just something exploiting the buzzword-- lots of pads are basically OEM material pads with a trace of ceramic and a high price.

A rotor should last through 2 or 3 sets of pads unless you're overheating and warping it.

 

The original rotors were replaced at 66K but they might still take one more turning.
I might have tried metallic pads but don't really remember.
I do know for sure that oem pads last just as long aftermarket ones on my car.

 

Turning the rotors is just removing useful metal. Pad slap, 3 or 4 moderately hard stops from 30 mph to make the pads match any minor grooves in the rotor, good to go.

 

i own an 05 and my pads last forever and i drive like an *******. seriously ive only changed my front pads one time since i got the car at 90,000 miles it now has 150,000 miles on stock oem rotors and Atozone weaver gold pads also i have no ABS so either theres something wrong with your brake system or theres something wrong with your driving. im guessing your driving.