uneven wear on brake pads

[Tom7227]

My daughter's car was making some scraping noises so we put in some new front pads last night. The left inner was down to the metal and the left outer was maybe 1/8 inch left. Both the inner and the outer on the right side were in good shape, well over 1/8 inch. Why would there be uneven wear? She can't afford anything right now so I am hoping that the new pads will be enough.

Thanks for your time.

Tom

[CAMAN]

Are all the calipers working properly and the pads greased and not sticking? is the rotor warped?

How many miles are on the old set?

[Mike_Top]

I recently found out that my brake drums have been completely not working the last few years. My front rotors have warped and calipers worn down...I found a leak in brake fluid and replaced brake lines, and filled 'er up with brake fluid and as i was bleeding the brakes, heard the rear brake drums finally clench down. I'm not a brake expert, but maybe there's a fluid leak somewhere? I paid about $30 for the parts and did it myself in 2 hours...hopefully that might help.

[Tom7227]

Are all the calipers working properly and the pads greased and not sticking? is the rotor warped? How many miles are on the old set?

There was about 30,000 miles on the old set and we replaced the rotors when we did that work. I don't know how to tell if the calipers are working properly but I suspect that the one on the right is a possiblity. Ang hasn't said anything about the car pulling left when she brakes and I would expect that.

BTW she spent about $55 on the new pads and it took maybe 45 minutes to put them in counting from when it pulled into the garage and back out. A good floor jack, jack stands and an impact wrench makes things go fast.

[SkunkedAgain]

I can't tell you the cause, but I had an Acura years ago with the same issue. I replaced the left rear pads twice in the 4 years that I owned that car. All of the other pads were still in great shape with 60,000 miles on them.

[Jeremy airjer W]

what kind of car?

Where the old pads hard to get out of the caliper bracket?

[Tom7227]

01 Grank Prix

[Jeremy airjer W]

01 grand prix, does that have the aluminum caliper with the specic inner and outer pads? If so was the inner mixed up with the outer. They look exactly the same except for the tang that sticks up in the middle of the pad backing plate. One is higher than the other and the need to be in the correct position in order to keep from binding.

[Tom7227]

Very careful about getting the inner and the outers where they belong. Ang even checked the instructions, a rarity in this family. I think it's a caliper issue on the side that didn't wear much. Is a sticking caliper a repair or R&R? Wouldn't there be a pull with moderate to heavy braking if one wasn't work properly?

[CAMAN]

IMO it sounds like the pad that wore away is sticking and rubbing against the rotor.

[Tom7227]

IMO it sounds like the pad that wore away is sticking and rubbing against the rotor.

Guess that makes sense but now it has me even more concerned about what the solution is. I've never done any work on calipers so I don't know if it's a repair or R&R.

[Macgyver55]

There is more than one thing that can cause uneven brake pad wear.

You can have a caliper stick, where the piston is seizing and wont "relax" from the rotor when the brake pedal is released. This would require either replacement or rebuilding of the caliper.

Or you can have a caliper that is not "floating" freely on its sliding mechanism and wont allow the caliper to relax even when the brake pedal is released. Slide pins should be removed, cleaned and lubricated with the proper grease to provide free movement.

Or, you can have brake pads themselves that are sticking in their anchor and wont relax even if the caliper is properly releasing the piston and the sides are free. The clips need to be removed and rust cleaned out from underneath them and replaced (new) to allow proper clearance for brake pads to move.

All of these things MUST be freely working to insure proper operation, and long brake life.

Any one of them alone can cause premature brake wear and rotor warpage.