I've driven 70 miles without front brake pads before - they literally wore so thin that they crumbled and flaked off the backing plate on the final block before I got to my destination. Braking on the trip home (all the auto parts stores were closed already, I waited until slack-traffic at 2:30AM, and knew the route well enough that if nothing got in my way, I could actually pull it off) was provided almost exclusively by the handbrake and aggressive downshifting/mashing of the overdrive button (in an automatic), in a futile attempt to preserve what remained of my front rotors. Unfortunately the LAST hill was too much for my handbrake and I had to mash the pedal, fatally gashing the rotors. Not a stunt I'm willing to repeat.
Additional, seperate story: The interstate near here is being repaved under the most idiotic use of economic stimulus funding I've seen yet (they just repaved that section 4 months ago and aren't even using a different contractor this time - so much for wealth distribution). I set out in the late evening and see the signs that they have the left lane closed 2 miles ahead. Drivers are already starting to queue up in the jammed right lane - I'm the only person with the sense to stay in the left lane until I can AT LEAST see the end of it. That is, until some jackass in an Audi decides that he's going to leap out into the left lane in front of me (I'm doing 65 - he's doing near as makes no difference, 0) and pace the cars in the right lane until the left lane ends just to prevent my passing.
Frankly, if I'd been driving the company car (a police package Charger SRT complete with lights, siren, and PA loudspeaker) I would've laid it all on him and given him a good yell over the PA, damn the laws.
And on a related note, another story involving said company car:
The car is an escort/security car that we run along with our trucks when we're carrying high-security items. It was worth every penny in how much it impresses our clients - it's done up to look exactly like an unmarked police car, with the exception that the lights are orange and the whole thing is a rather menacing black instead of the normal, cheap white. We also have more practical uses for it - it has an extensive electronics package that makes it into a mobile office, and we use it for mundane tasks like closing down roads and alleyways for loading operations. We have to follow the exact same rules as construction and utility workers when we do that - notify the authorities, get permission if it's a through street, cones, flashy lights, detour signs, the works. Not a problem. One day we've got the truck parked in an alley, blocking the whole mess, so we had to shut things down. Dropped cones at the end of it and sat the car, with the lights on, behind the cones. Turns out that at the same time, a regular utility company needed to work on a pole in the alley. They pulled up with their truck, we had a bit of a chat, laughed a little, and let them in. Traffic on the main road is getting heavy and some wanker wants to take a shortcut down the alley. He pulls up and starts yelling at us. He wants through, because we just let the utility truck through. Nevermind that the alley (just barely wide enough to fit the truck down) is now blocked by: Cones, our car, a parked utility truck with its bucket lift up not 20 feet behind the car, and a dozen yards past that, a parked semi truck with its own set of obnoxious orange flashing lights, plus a forklift or two making its way in and out of the building.
Naturally, we refuse. He then calls the cops, says the "FBI has illegally shut down a road" and we're now waiting for them to get there. The first thing the officer says when he gets there is "Did you tell him you're FBI?" "No. I have the whole thing on tape if you want to watch it. He wants through here because we let that utility truck in." By now, this guy could have gotten wherever the hell he was going 30 fucking times already. The cop cites him for parking illegally (he'd stopped in front of a hydrant to get out and complain) and goes back to his car. The jackass backs his car up into a real parking space and continues to sit and wait. Eventually (easily two hours after he'd arrived), we're done, but the utility guys aren't. We pack up the truck and start gathering our cones. The guy starts his car in eager anticipation - and for every cone I pick up, one of the utility guys puts one down. We slide the car out a hole and the utility guys plug it up with more cones. We leave, loop around the block and pick up the truck at the other end of the alley (where we DO "illegally shut down a road" for a few minutes by blocking it up making an epic turn - we actually had to adjust where the rear axles were on the trailer to get around that corner - and then readjust them once we were around for weight and balance) and go on our way.... Leaving that guy still sitting there waiting for the utility job to finish to take his beloved shortcut.