disk brake question

[keepingthe240]

I have a 240. Last week, i had to jam on my brakes to avoid rearending a car. Last weekend,my rear brakes started to make a grinding noise. Come to find out,my rear d/s pad is metal/metal with the rotor. Here is where i'm getting nervous, my '94 sentra was running metal/metal on the front rotor and it got so bad....the pedal went to the floor going to drop it off at the brake shop. Why did the pedal go to the floor??? If the rear rotor is bad,will it still stop the car if i have to e/brake it??? THE PARTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE ARRIVING MONDAY and i have to drive 36 miles on the highway per day. How can i safely get around???

[DAEDALUS]

Holy crap don't drive the car! Take the bus. The designers expect you to change the pads when the friction material is 2mm thick. This is quite a few miles, and allows you plenty of time to get the pad replaced before you actually hit metal.When you press the pedal it compresses the fluid in the lines, and this fluid pushes agains pistons in the brakes, which then push the pads against the rotors. The pistons can only travel so far before they pop out of the calipers! If they break seal, all the fluid behind them will leak out in a matter of seconds...you will lose pressure immediately. Do NOT risk having this happen.