Of course, you will get all kinds of opinion.... so I will give you mine. The spec is there for safety reasons.... both for material integrity but also for things like heat dissipation (causes fade). some manufacturers / car makers have a spec for "machining to" and "discard"... with the "machine to" allowing for a "safety margin". So there is a possibility that you have some "margin"... probably not for machining but when you finally replace everything (ie. new pads). Finally, I guess "if a tree falls in the forest would anyone hear".... if you didn't go thru the inspection (for what ever reason), would you have still driven your vehcile XXXX more miles... probably until you noticed that the pad were worn / feeler squealling or things like brake fade was happening. I hope you aren't looking for someone to make the decision for you or to ultimately blame.... follow your "normal operating principles"... safety, money, practicalness, etc.... you choose... hopefully it will be wisely which I am sure is your goal with this thread. Personally, I too am money "challenged" so I would probably wait.
PS. the spec in 96 (only have this cd manual) is .96 for 2 wheel and .81 for 4 wheel.
Finally, one more quote though... not sure who the originator was but here it is.... "I can tell you everything that you need to know to succeed, but ultimately you need to experience it yourself to understand".