same problem for me. i had the exact same thing and i just went ahead and resurfaced my rotors and got new pads for the back just to be safe.

 

My rears wore out faster too. I'm told it's very common and probably a result of VDC braking the rears for traction control. Probably happens more in northern climates where we get a lot of snow. And the pads are a lot smaller than on the front.

 

ditto my rears wore out faster too

 

this is an old thread, but i was doing a search to see if worn rear pads were normal while still having lots of pad life left on the fronts. i think the consensus is that it is normal. i just replaced the rear pads on my mom's g35 and found it very odd that the rear pads were completely worn down while the fronts still have 50-60% left. i thought she went around driving with the e-brake on, but she swore that wasn't the case. just a heads-up for the next guy.

 

wow the amount of inaccurate information being tossed around in this thread is amazing.

ALL CARS have the majority of braking done by the front brake system. this is why all front brakes (calipers, number of pistons, rotor diameter and thickness, swept (pad) area, etc) have bigger components than the rear brakes. when a car brakes (assuming it's not going in reverse), some of the sprung weight transfers to the front suspension. with more weight over the front axle, there is more traction available to the tires which therefore permits more braking torque to be applied.

apparently in G35s, its not uncommon for the rear pads to wear faster. this doesn't have anything to do with rear bias, parking brake, etc. it's simply because the rear pads are smaller, possibly thinner. has anyone measured the thickness of new stock pads front and rear?

the ebrake uses a drum system that does not engage the rear calipers.

the traction control (TCS) does not apply brake to any wheels; when it senses slip, it simply closes the throttle body. it works as part of the vehicle dynamic control (VDC), which uses an Active Brake Limited Slip (ABLS) system to send braking power to individual wheels to control slip, yaw, rotation, etc...

 

You sure about that? The few times I had the VDC on and actually used it, it felt like the car was doing more then just cutting power.

 

Are you 100% positive on this? I know that many manufacturers use this technique (specifically, GM; my Trans Am used this sort of TCS).

In my experience, though, the VDC feels as though it's applying braking force to a specific wheel when it loses traction. I slid ever so slightly when I took an onramp too fast in the rain one day. The front passenger tire came loose, and the VDC immediately grabbed and slowed that wheel down to prevent it from breaking traction entirely.

 

generally, traction control systems use the ABS sensors to sense variations in rotational speed among the 4 wheels and when it thinks the drive wheels are slipping/spinning, will cut throttle to bring them back to where they're supposed to be, recognizing if the vehicle is going straight or turning (when the inside wheels should be turning slower than the outside).

this system exists in the G35 as part of the more sophisticated VDC system to control throttle and an ABLS system to control (brake) individual wheels (see manual page 5-25 for detailed descriptions of TCS, ABLS, and VDC). i have updated my original post to clarify/add these details.

 

In a straight stop, yes generally the front brakes do most of the work. But with VDC on, it will use different brakes to keep the control of the vehicle. Depending on your driving, you brakes can wear differently from what you'd normally expect. I've heard of rear brakes overheating simply from VDC stepping in so often.