Uneven front brake pad wear

[XedLos]

I took a look at the brake pads on my explorer and the front inner pad has more wear than the outside one. What can be casuing this? Im gonna have to replace them and i wanted to do it myself. I tried looking for a how to but i didnt find one. If any one knows of a thread with pics prefrably id appreciate it. Or just give me a quick rundown of waht to do. I really have never done this stuff myself so sorry if it seems like a dumb question.

 

[BrianDye]

Nah we all gotta start somewhere, theyre really easy if you have the patience, I did mine with no knowledge of what i was doing hahaha, but im thinking that maybe one of your calipers could be sticking a little, OR you have uneven rotors,

when you stop, does your pedal vibrate or shake, with your explorer?

 

[XedLos]

It doesnt shake at all. It feels normal.

 

[BrianDye]

Well your rotors seem fine then, im no brake genius but you can usually feel even the slightest bit if your rotors warped or anything, maybe the outter pads were just replaced, and the inners werent, do you have any pics?

 

[robertoa1a]

They kind of ride along two bolts. That system has to be free to do that for starters. There are two bolts holding the actual caliper housing to the spindle area. Then there are two more longer bolts that are intended for the break caliper to slide freely on, as it does its work. With that said there is another phenomena that can cause this problem. If you live in a sandy, muddy area such as in the south, the mud may be getting on the inside creating a sandpaper effect. There should be no looseness indicating a bad bearing as someone said.

If the brakes haven't been bled in a while then you will want to do that first. By nature air gets in the fluid somehow, and can change normal brake behavior. Old brake fluid can exourbe moisture, and its designed to do that, which can cause irregularities as well. That's why we bleed brakes regularly.

Have you inspected the rotors? They might tell you a story. At the end of the day brakes are fairly cheep and calipers are expensive. While you have the wheel off shake the calipers to check for looseness. Then see if it can move right to left as it would be needed in driving. You can get some idea about the warpage on the rotors at this time. They should spin relatively freely with very little drag on either side.

 

[Neil1750825]

I might suggest that you have a vacuum leak or at least weak vacuum. I believe vacuum is what releases the brakes and pulls them away from the rotor. It may be that the vacuum isn't strong enough to pull the pad all the way off the rotor and therefore you are left with dragging brakes. That would explain the one side wearing harder than the other. Just a thought.

 

[Heavymentill]

I might suggest that you have a vacuum leak or at least weak vacuum. I believe vacuum is what releases the brakes and pulls them away from the rotor. It may be that the vacuum isn't strong enough to pull the pad all the way off the rotor and therefore you are left with dragging brakes. That would explain the one side wearing harder than the other. Just a thought.

Not true.

 

[chance942]

right to left or in and out? does the caliper have a death grip on the rotor? like he said,it should turn rather freely.

 

[jlsparky7]

Slide pins need to be lubed. Brake how to vid in my sig.