Brake Pad Wear

[daisu]

Hey,

The brakes started grinding the other day. Took the rears off this afternoon (didn't get to the fronts yet), I'm not expecting perfectly even pad wear but the inner pad on the drivers side was completely worn to the backing whereas the other 3 pads were about 50% or so and still had a fair bit until they would've reached the squeal indicators.

This seems a bit excessive that one pad would wear away completely before the others get to the squeal indicator.

The car is an '03 model coupe 350GT with the brembo calipers. Has anyone else seen pad wear like this?

I'm planning to just clean the sliding pins a bit, put some high temp grease on there and keep an eye on it.

[Kam-80]

That's pretty unusual, when was the last time you bled your lines? The only thing I can think of is maybe there's some air in one line, which is causing less pressure to the pad. I get marginally more wear on the pads on the left hand side of the car, but that's because the track I usually go to has a number of trail-braked right handers. Even then the wear difference is less than a few mm.

[fcruz3r]

sometimes the pistons on the calipers develop rust due to moisture in the brake fluid, if the corrosion is bad it may cause the pistons to seize and wear the pads out faster. get your brakes serviced and make sure the pistons arn't stuck...otherwise you may need new calipers or possibly change the pistons and seals.

[scotty nm35]

I had a similar issue with mine, the sliding pins were actually bent, causing the outside pad to never touch. I straightened the pin up in a vice and have had no issues since. It may pay to remove the calliper and check.

Edit: I thought the Brembo's were twin piston in which case one of the pistons is seized.

[daisu]

Hmmm, I thought seized piston may have been the case at first, but then I was able to push the pistons back into the caliper (to fit the new pads) using only a screwdriver.

Brake fluid, I haven't changed it yet, bought the car 6 months ago and it doesn't see any track work, but I guess now is a good time to do it. What's the order again? left rear, right rear, left front, right front?

[Kam-80]

Yep order is correct, start with the side that is furthest from the master cylinder and work your way in.

[fcruz3r]

if you havent changed brake pads since the car rolled off the ship..then it might just be a dodgy repair shop in japan who replaced pads with used ones...i've seen imports before with different brand brake pads left and right.

just bleed and replace fluids and monitor ur brakes to make sure they arnt sticking....u can usually know if one side wheel is significantly hotter than the other...or gives the distinctive burnt brake pad smell

[daisu]

Good point. Wouldn't surprise me if they had done that here in brisbane actually, the dealership I bought it off wasn't exactly what you would call reputable.