Needed to install new pads on the front of my wife's 2007 S40. Got to the parts store and his question was what size wheels. I guessed 15". Bought the pads. Got home.....oops, 16" wheels. Went back immediately and swapped them out for 16" pads, but they had wires hanging from them. Went ahead and pulled one set...didn't match 16" and no wire on the old ones. Third time, went to parts house. Turned out it was 15" brakes on 16" wheels. How common is this? What model had the sensor wires on them? Took longer to get parts than it did to change the pads.

 

It isn't really dependent on your wheel size. It is the rotor size. Most parts stores don't have this right. There are 3 sizes (320mm, 305mm {sometimes listed as 300mm} and 286mm) for the fronts. I have only seen the 320mm and 305mm. The 320mm were used on the T5 AWD 6-speed manual and I believe they all had 17" wheels. These are fairly rare. Here are some links to help you figure out what size you have. Note the different calipers.

http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthr...p?65244#636399
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthr...tors-What-size
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?100884

Stan

 

Thanks, Stan. Seems like a lot of confusion out there. But what I gleaned from it was the S40/T5/AWD/6sp is the only one with the larger brakes. All others will have the smaller brakes. Do you know what the wire does? Is it a wear sensor? Pad set for the front was $42 with tax and the larger ones were about $50 at Auto Zone. Not a big discrepancy for advanced technology on the larger ones.
Thanks again for the information. Still learning.

 

I just found out I bought the wrong size front rotors from Rockauto.com. They make no distinction between which size goes on the AWD or FWD models for the T5. I looked for front rotors for a T5 and ordered. I got 320mm not the 305mm I need. The pads are wrong, too.

Anyways, thanks for info AutoNaut.