2017 S90 T6 Mom with currently 30K miles.
Visually looking at the pads, they are not even halfway worn.
Can’t believe that a brake job would need to be done at 12K miles.
Seems weird…
I think the shop lied.
If a car was sitting on the lot for a long time (as most S90 did) it is very possible. I just had front rotors replaced on my XC90 loaner with 5,500 miles, which I did not drive until a week after signing the lease. It was almost a year old.
I recently had the front rotors replaced when my new XC90 had 750 miles on it. December 2018 build so it sat for 5 months on the lot (6 miles on the odometer at the time I leased it). Up to around 1100 miles now and everything seems fine. Other than that, love the car.
Did you have to pay for them?
That’s pretty ridiculous however. Was it done under warranty?
Yea — covered under warranty. I realized after picking up the car that they hadn’t done the most recent software update, so I had made an appointment to bring it in for that (and to reset the maintenance clock since it started running @ the build date).
A couple days before I went in for the update, I noticed the steering wheel juddering when I was braking. Told them about it when I went to the dealer. Master tech apparently drove it for a minute, confirmed what I was saying, and replaced the rotors no questions asked.
The thing that confused me is that they said it could have been caused by the rotors being very hot and then being rapidly cooled by rain. This kinda sounds like nonsense, but it would be problematic during summer in South Florida where it is blazing hot and rains almost every day. I’m hoping it was just a defective set of rotors and that I am good from here on out.
Are you kidding me? 
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That’s my concern. Nice to have the loaner discount but don’t really want to pay the extra maintenance.
For those of you whose brakes are in need of repair, do you’d have the auto brake thing on?
Wondering if that has anything to do with it? Does that only use the rear or front brakes to hold the car?
In any case I would keep calling and complaining to dealer and corporate. A big benefit of leasing should be not having to worry about things like this
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The thing that confused me is that they said it could have been caused by the rotors being very hot and then being rapidly cooled by rain. This kinda sounds like nonsense, but it would be problematic during summer in South Florida where it is blazing hot and rains almost every day.
Yes, it’s possible to warp metal using extreme temperatures. When I lived in South Florida, I remember always having warped brakes. Turns out I was spraying cold water on hot rotors while cleaning the wheels every few days. Driving hot rotors into cold puddles of water may be inevitable when it’s raining.
This seems like something that engineers could foresee. I mean if you’re tracking it and then straight to an ice bath sure, but normal hot weather and rain shouldn’t lead to warped rotors in my opinion. But what do I know.
Chiming in here, late to the party.
I’m on a 2018 Volvo S90 T5 (what an amazing car!) but at 16K miles my front pads are 1mm thick and need immediate replacement.
I’ve leased many types of cars in the past, for both 2 or 3 years at a time and I’ve never had to do anything to them other than scheduled maintenance and recalls. I have never replaced brake pads since I started leasing cars, which is kind of the point of leasing. You don’t have to worry about that stuff.
Well, here I am at 16K miles needing new front pads and the dealer wants $400. This is just for front pads; no resurfacing, no new rotors, no rear pads. This means that during the life of this lease I am looking at changing both front and rear at least once for $800, and maybe even twice for a whopping $1600. That is over $500 a year for brake pads alone.
I don’t drive aggressively and do mostly freeway traffic to/from work on carpool lanes.
I’m disappointed in this and am talking to Volvo USA about it, hoping they can pick up the tab. 16K miles seems completely unreasonable for this and had I known that these would wear out like they do, I don’t think I would have picked this car to lease. We’ll see what they say, but this is a defining moment. Their handling of this situation makes or breaks my relationship with the brand.
Surprised it’s the front you need. Most seem to need rears first, presumably because the adaptive cruise control only brakes with the rear wheels.
The dealer said the same thing. I have 6 mm left in the rear. They will have to get replaced by May-ish.
I know some people had luck getting their fronts covered under warranty when they were wearing quickly and non stop squeaking
Why not buy good pads off Amazon and have a local tire shop change the pads for half the cost?
I just had the same issue
My S90 had 20k miles and it needed both front and back. A private place could have done it for $550 but I decided to just pull ahead into a new volvo. But I agree that it is ridiculous that the car needs new brakes with such low mileage.
Same here. 2018 S90 with 20K miles and front brake pads need immediate replacement. Dealer quoted a whopping $700 for just the front breakpads. I wish I can also do the pull ahead but mine is not until May!
Honestly, time. It is much more efficient for me to pay this at the dealer and try to get Volvo to reimburse me. If they don’t, next time that is what I will do, especially now that I know that they wear so fast.
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