How to Tell if Brakes are Worn Out

[sneaky98gt]

How would I go about doing this? My left rear brake makes lots of noise at any speed, especially slow speed. It's a scraping noise, and the rotor is worn rather unevenly around the outside 3/8 inch or so. The other 3 brakes are certainly not quiet, but look to be in better shape.

Any way to tell for sure if pads/rotors need to be replaced? The car does have almost 100,000 miles on them, and I'm pretty sure they've never been replaced. I'm just trying to figure out for sure if I need to replace/upgrade them.

Thanks.

-Will

 

[joshjwc9]

Do this driveway check on the rears. Take the wheels off, and unbolt the calipers. Then try to compress the slide pins on each side. If they do not move, go spend the $15 at the parts store to get a new bracket, pins and boots because water gets in there and seizes them. Also another thing to do is jack the car in the air and try to spin each tire. If you feel resistance you know there are pads dragging on the rotor.

One thing to do, is to upgrade your fronts to Cobra Spec. The pistons are smaller, but the pad coverage is greater increasing the clamping force. Look in the classifieds or at Buyfordracing, although their pads and SS lines that come with the kit suck. The Goodridge SS lines didnt fit my car and the front pads dust more than my stock calipers and autozone duralast golds.

Or you can go all out like I am in the next couple weeks, getting Slotted rotors, SS lines from MM, and Hawk HP+ plus front and Evo rear pads.