Hello Everyone! New to the forums. I got a 2001 GT with 150K miles. I am beginning to do maintenance and upgrades and this weekend I changed out the brakes and rotors with the powerstop kit from AM. Well anyways I got to the rear brakes and found that not all of the rotor was being used(rear passenger). When I removed the brake pad at least 85-90% of it was used and the other 10-15% wasn't even touched. Removing the caliper i found it said "Made in Korea." So i figured previous owner had a wreck and had to replace the whole thing or was screwed at a shop. I installed the new rotor and pads and it still looks like only 85-90% will be used. I went to the rear driver side and it looked like it was fully being used. But I also found the rotor was about 1/4" bigger and the caliper looked factory. I installed the new rotor and pads and the exact same fit as the passenger rear was happening. about 85-90% of the pad was on the rotor. Is this normal? Could I have installed it wrong? I haven't changed brakes several years, maybe since HS but this just seemed weird to me. I will post pics if anyone needs to see what I am talking about. Thanks in advance!
Rear Brake Wear?
- Thread starter rickhdz36
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squeak93
15 Year Member
Something doesn't sound right. It should wear the pad evenly across the surface.
Have you checked to see if anything is bent or mis-aligned? Look at the bracket and measure from the rotor face to the bracket to see if even on both sides of the bracket.
Have you checked to see if anything is bent or mis-aligned? Look at the bracket and measure from the rotor face to the bracket to see if even on both sides of the bracket.
Common problem for one or both caliper pins to seize up and cause uneven wear to the pad/rotor. Same thing happened to my '98 and actually burned an entire brake pad down to the metal backing plate.
To fix, remove caliper, pads, and glide pins, lubricate areas the pins pass through, replace the rubber dust caps, replace pins (if pitted/corroded), and replace pads and rotors. Should be good then. One other note, the calipers can't be pressed in they need to be twisted in with a caliper tool you can rent from O'Reilly.
To fix, remove caliper, pads, and glide pins, lubricate areas the pins pass through, replace the rubber dust caps, replace pins (if pitted/corroded), and replace pads and rotors. Should be good then. One other note, the calipers can't be pressed in they need to be twisted in with a caliper tool you can rent from O'Reilly.
The rotor itself is clearly undersized or the caliper is mounted too high. My advice, measure the new rotors. Rears on a 2001 are 11.65" in diameter. If the rotors you have are that size then I'd question if the caliper is bolted in place properly. You said you tried moving it around... Did you look at whether you could move the caliper bracket behind the rotor?
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2001GT rear rotors are 10.5". The Cobra got the 11.65" rotors.
Looks like someone swapped a Cobra rear disk brake setup onto your car at some point in the past. That is why the caliper is spaced so far from the rotor. The extra offset is due to the axle brackets which are installed after removing the axle shafts. You need to purchase a 94-04 Cobra rear rotor for that side in your pic to reach the full offset of the caliper.
Problem #2 is that is a GT rear caliper. It's physically different from the cobra caliper in that it has a thinner slot for the rotor, and lacks a support bridge. You'll also notice the different brackets have no difference in offset. You could use the cobra one on the gt brake system without issues. You just can't use the GT one on a cobra rotor because the cobra rotor is wider.
Notice here the bracket connects in the front on the Cobra. In order to run the cobra rotors, you need this bracket. Rockauto.com sells these.
A-1 Cardone 141042 $19.
Check the other side and see if you have the correct bracket there as well. It is possible to take a grinder and widen the slot, but with brakes, I wouldn't take the chance considering the right part is under $20
That actual caliper that contains the pistons and presses the pads in, is the same between GT and cobra.
Also, cobra pads are thinner, so those pads may not work if purchased for a GT. Some brands only sell the cobra sized pads though
Looks like someone swapped a Cobra rear disk brake setup onto your car at some point in the past. That is why the caliper is spaced so far from the rotor. The extra offset is due to the axle brackets which are installed after removing the axle shafts. You need to purchase a 94-04 Cobra rear rotor for that side in your pic to reach the full offset of the caliper.
Problem #2 is that is a GT rear caliper. It's physically different from the cobra caliper in that it has a thinner slot for the rotor, and lacks a support bridge. You'll also notice the different brackets have no difference in offset. You could use the cobra one on the gt brake system without issues. You just can't use the GT one on a cobra rotor because the cobra rotor is wider.
Notice here the bracket connects in the front on the Cobra. In order to run the cobra rotors, you need this bracket. Rockauto.com sells these.
A-1 Cardone 141042 $19.
Check the other side and see if you have the correct bracket there as well. It is possible to take a grinder and widen the slot, but with brakes, I wouldn't take the chance considering the right part is under $20
That actual caliper that contains the pistons and presses the pads in, is the same between GT and cobra.
Also, cobra pads are thinner, so those pads may not work if purchased for a GT. Some brands only sell the cobra sized pads though
Holy Cow! Makes a lot of sense. I figured my car had a rear end crash or something just because everything looks different. Either the previous owner "Upgraded it" or a shop did. The driver side did have a larger rotor. It was 11+" compared to the passenger side, i had thought someone mistakenly placed a front rotor in the back. Thanks! I was losing my mind trying to figure out why it sat so high when everything looked stock.
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