2000 GT, Very uneven rear brake pad wear on passenger side

jayrw · Mar 20, 2009

I recently started hearing some squealing from the rear brakes and figured it was time to replace the pads.. Well both the driver side pads still had plenty of meat but on the passenger side the inner pad was worn *all* the way down to nothing but the outer pad was still had plenty of meat left, Any ideas what can cause this? Do I need a new caliper?

Thanks.

Here's a couple pics I took:

Inner pad:

Outer pad:

ackuric · Mar 20, 2009

if i had to guess, its due to the design of braking systems?

Only one brake pad gets pressure applied to the rotor, and thats the side with the pistons inside the caliper that cause this force.

In my experience the inner pad always wears more than the outer, although in your case it is quite extreme.

Braking occurs like this
| = brake pad
() = rotor

| () |<--- --->| () |

Q. So why would the inner pad wear faster?

A. Its engineered that way.

as far as wear from driver to passenger side. you should feel your car pull while braking if one of your calipers were to be malfunctional. The condition of your rotors could also have an effect on your pad wear.

Are those pads with a lifetime warranty?

mustang50v8 · Mar 20, 2009

ackuric said:
if i had to guess, its due to the design of braking systems?

Only one brake pad gets pressure applied to the rotor, and thats the side with the pistons inside the caliper that cause this force.

In my experience the inner pad always wears more than the outer, although in your case it is quite extreme.

Q. So why would the inner pad wear faster?

A. Its engineered that way.

as far as wear from driver to passenger side. you would feel your car pull if one of your calipers were to be malfunctional.

Are those pads with a lifetime warranty?

i agree that the inner does wear slightly faster than the outer, but its not supposed to be THAT bad. also i dont think he would really feel a pull to one side because it was a rear wheel, not a steering wheel.

i would guess you need to check the slides make sure they are greased up really well. if the slides aren't properly lubed they cant equalize the load and cause improper wear in the inner pad where the piston pushed on the pad.

H What 4.6 · Mar 20, 2009

like mustang50 said.... first thing to do is check that the sliders are greased up good and are moving free.

1992 2.3LX · Mar 20, 2009

H What 4.6 said:
like mustang50 said.... first thing to do is check that the sliders are greased up good and are moving free.

This would be my guess as well. Get yourself new dust boots for the slides. My wifes was ripped and the slide was almost seized not allowing the one side of the pad to release from contact with the rotor.

I cleaned the slides regreased them, put new dust boots on and haven't had the problem since.

GT Tommy · Mar 20, 2009

Uneven brake pad wear?

jayrw said:
I recently started hearing some squealing from the rear brakes and figured it was time to replace the pads.. Well both the driver side pads still had plenty of meat but on the passenger side the inner pad was worn *all* the way down to nothing but the outer pad was still had plenty of meat left, Any ideas what can cause this? Do I need a new caliper?

Thanks.

Here's a couple pics I took:

Inner pad:

Outer pad:

This is what happened to my son's 2003 GT Mustang. What happened was, we installed the pads wrong. If you look at the rear of brake pads, you will see two round metal dowel like things sticking out on each pad. One of the pads will have the two dowels spaced out at a shorter distance, the other pad will have dowels spaced out further. The two dowels that are spaced out futher apart need to be installed on the wheel cylinder side of the caliper. The reason is so they will clear the diameter of the wheel cylinders piston. If they don't clear the wheel cylinder piston, what will happen is when the piston gets extended out against the brake pad, the brake pad will tilt causing an uneven wear, and warp the brake rotors as well. This is exactly what happened to my son's brakes. So, if I were you, I would check to see if the brake pads are in the right locations. The two pads are not the same, at least my son's pads weren't the same. Anyway, this is what we found wrong with his brakes. You may have the same problem. Good luck and let us know what you find, Tommy

blksq10psi · Mar 20, 2009

funny you say that i just had the same thing last month, 3 were good 1 was flat, my pin was siezed in the caliper bracket, i got a new bracket and pins and all is good

jayrw · Mar 20, 2009

blksq10psi said:
funny you say that i just had the same thing last month, 3 were good 1 was flat, my pin was siezed in the caliper bracket, i got a new bracket and pins and all is good

This actually turned out to be my problem! 3 out of the 4 pins were seized so bad that we had to take both caliper brackets off (driver & passenger) and take them to a friends shop, The pins were bone dry even tho the rubber boots were still good, but he was able to get them freed up and re-greased etc.

I then cleaned up the sliders and put new pads in and everything is working fine now.

Before taking the rear tires off I noticed they wouldn't even spin freely at all even with force (yes handbrake was off & not in gear), The rear passenger brake had been stuck all this time which i'm sure was robbing some fuel mileage and power. But they spin fine now after fixing the pins.

Thanks for the replies!

GT Tommy · Mar 21, 2009

GT Mustang Front Brake Pads with uneven ware!

Here is what I was talking about. The picture below is the actual front set of brake pads for a 2003 GT Mustang. I think yours are the same. Look at the area's which I circled in red. Notice that for two of the pads, the metal rivets (for lack of a better word) are spaced out closer together than the other two pads. You need to make sure that when you install your pads, that you place the pads with the metal rivets further apart from each other, against the wheel cylinder piston. If you use the pads of which the rivets are spaced out closer together against the wheel cylinder piston, what will happen is when you apply the brakes, the pads will be pushing against the rotor at an angle, which will cause the pad to wear down unevenly. This is because the rivets will come in contact with the lower edges of the wheel cylinder piston. You have to make sure that you install the right pad against the wheel cylinder piston. The pad must sit flush against the wheel cylinder piston. When the wrong pad is used against the wheel cylinder piston, it will also cause the rotor to warp! This actually happened on my son's 2003 GT Mustang. I feel that many people who replace their own pads are not aware of this condition. I for one did not realize this until we had vibrations while applying the brakes and a warped rotor. Hope this helps. Good luck, Tommy.

fast97gt · Mar 22, 2009

GT Tommy said:
Here is what I was talking about. The picture below is the actual front set of brake pads for a 2003 GT Mustang. I think yours are the same. Look at the area's which I circled in red. Notice that for two of the pads, the metal rivets (for lack of a better word) are spaced out closer together than the other two pads. You need to make sure that when you install your pads, that you place the pads with the metal rivets further apart from each other, against the wheel cylinder piston. If you use the pads of which the rivets are spaced out closer together against the wheel cylinder piston, what will happen is when you apply the brakes, the pads will be pushing against the rotor at an angle, which will cause the pad to wear down unevenly. This is because the rivets will come in contact with the lower edges of the wheel cylinder piston. You have to make sure that you install the right pad against the wheel cylinder piston. The pad must sit flush against the wheel cylinder piston. When the wrong pad is used against the wheel cylinder piston, it will also cause the rotor to warp! This actually happened on my son's 2003 GT Mustang. I feel that many people who replace their own pads are not aware of this condition. I for one did not realize this until we had vibrations while applying the brakes and a warped rotor. Hope this helps. Good luck, Tommy.

umm hes talking about his rear brakes there, genius

GT Tommy · Mar 22, 2009

Uneven brake pad wear?

fast97gt said:
umm hes talking about his rear brakes there, genius

If it applies, fine! If not, something to think about. Good info anyway you look at it. Thank you, Tommy.

evolucion311 · Mar 22, 2009

Rebuild the caliper, I suggest.

If that doesn't work, replace it.

2000 GT, Very uneven rear brake pad wear on passenger side

jayrw

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ackuric

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mustang50v8

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H What 4.6

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1992 2.3LX

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GT Tommy

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blksq10psi

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jayrw

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