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Phishr
Novice
Nov 17, 2007, 10:32 PM
Post #1 of 8
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Uneven brake pad wear
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I own a 1993 Oldsmobile Bravada. I have less then 8,000 miles on my front brakes pads since I replaced them. The outside brake pads have minimal wear, while the inside brake pads wear is very uneven. The front of the pads are twice as thick as the rear of the pads. The rear of the pads are where the low wear sensors are and they're already touching the rotors. I bought the brake pads from Kragen and got the medium grade. I also installed brand new rotors. What is causing the tapered wear on my inside brake pads?
Thanks in advance for the help!
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Nov 18, 2007, 2:35 AM
Post #2 of 8
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Re: Uneven brake pad wear
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Just curious - what did the old brakes look like? Same thing? Does this do this to both sides? I would normally blame this on a frozen caliper if pronounced on one side. The pads may just not fit properly or could be a hardware problem. The grade of brake parts should never mean they can't perform and wear out early or irregularly.
This could get more complicated if it did this to both sides,
T
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Phishr
Novice
Nov 18, 2007, 10:04 AM
Post #3 of 8
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Re: Uneven brake pad wear
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The previous brake pads wore completely down to the point they were eating into the inside and outside of the rotors on both sides. The pad lining on all 4 pads was completely gone. There was nothing about them that made me think there might be some sort of problem. I did check my records and the last pair of pads lasted a bit over 10,000 miles.
The problem on my current pads is happening on both sides. The wear is identical. I'm wondering if I did something wrong when I installed them. It is a fairly heavy vehicle and I occasionally tow a dirt bike trailer. Would the added weight of the trailer cause this kind of brake wear?
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Nov 18, 2007, 6:25 PM
Post #4 of 8
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Re: Uneven brake pad wear
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It's the heavy wear on the leading edge that has me thinking on this one?? I have known some cars to just eat brakes up fast and one happened to be a 93 Cavalier which may have similar brake design. I knew that Cavalier from near new till way over 200,000 miles and nice owner came in regularly after I did the third front brake job on this car with then maybe 45k on it and she was a bit ticked about them wearing out so fast twice on warranty! With that car I threw everything out - Rotors, calipers, best pads, flex hoses and she would come in every 7,500 miles for a grease, oil, filter, tire rotation when I always would look at brakes and the suckers were half gone - again!!
We just scheduled oil service with new brakes overy other time around for the next 150+K till she got another car. Nice even but fast wear out?? In fairness she was a bit hard on the brakes and this model was the convertible which weighs lots more than the regular car and I'll just chaulk that up to under sized brakes for the car.
The uneven wear makes me think the calipers can cock some with worn pins or the rubber they slide thru allowing this to happen. See if you can rock the caliper much just with your hands and look and it should show where they are not staying in line - caliper prob or the pins??
Do these wheels spin freely or can you feel some brake drag?
T
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Phishr
Novice
Nov 19, 2007, 8:26 PM
Post #5 of 8
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Re: Uneven brake pad wear
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I checked the calipers and they were not loose at all. The tires seem to spin fairly easily with no uneven drag. I pulled the pads and rotors off tonight and the pads are gooved and cracked. The rotors have minor scorching. I was told that when you install new rotors, they should be turned first because they don't always run true....which I didn't do. Also, I didn't lubricate the caliper pins when I installed them last time, which is another thing I have learned you need to do. Could these be the causes of my problems?
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Nov 20, 2007, 12:21 AM
Post #6 of 8
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Re: Uneven brake pad wear
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High quality rotors do not need to be turned and the ones I buy say right on the package if you do any warranty is over.
The cracks in the pads suggests high heat and perhaps those pads can't take it or they are worked too hard. If you don't lube up caliper pins they just don't stay free but that usually shows up as uneven wear or problems on just one side of the vehicle first.
It stinks but I'd start all over with nice new stuff and bleed out all the brakes and get new fluid in there. It's not good to just push back caliper pistons returning the fluid back to the reservoir either,
T
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Phishr
Novice
Nov 22, 2007, 10:25 PM
Post #7 of 8
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Re: Uneven brake pad wear
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I got the rotors turned and installed premium brake pads. Once I got the pads seated they seemed to work fairly well. I lubricated everything fairly well and will check the brakes after 5,000 miles. Hopefully it was just a lack of lubrication on the calipers. Next front brake change I will plan on bleeding the brakes. Thanks for all of the help!
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leftuncheckd
Anonymous Poster
Dec 5, 2007, 5:31 PM
Post #8 of 8
(4471 views)
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Re: Uneven brake pad wear
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Found this on the back pages. Kragen and Checker were hooked up. Now they're all Advance APs.
They must be selling cheap brake pads, made cheap.
I stopped trusting checker on anything electric along time ago. Won't trust them anymore on brake products either now, since I've had experience with uneven brake wear with their pads too. Advance APs too. I used to like Advance but I guess Zone is the way to go now.
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