Patpur, I think most people are switching pads early is to avoid the black dust that the stock pads create. I changed mine at about 27k and haven't looked back - I should have done it on day one, I'm just a cheap *******. The stock pads I took off had at least another ten k left. I went with the Rotex Gold's @ about a hundred bucks if I remember right, I did it myself, and didn't machine the rotors. They're Awesome.