Different Front Brake Pad Usage
From : axel
Q: i bought my truck with 30000 miles on it about 6 years ago. now i have about 104000 miles on it. at 75000 miles about two years ago i had to have my front brakes done. unfortunatly the front brakes - dont remember exactly which site but i strongly believe it was the left site - suddenly started grinding on my way to work one day and i had them fixed the same day at a shop next to my work place - didnt really have another choice. i was told that the pads on one site - again i believe the left side - were completely gone but the other site obviously had to be done as well. they blamed it on the caliper not retracting on that site so that they were used more than the other site. so they also replaced the calipers and the rotors and new pads. as i had not checked the brakes myself and needed the car i had to believe them and i just had to pay. i assume that the brakes must have been done right before i bought the car so i got about 45000 miles out of the front. my rear brakes were adjusted only. now the grinding started again about 29000 miles later. i am about 5000 miles above the warranty of the above described brake job so there is no chance they will give me something for free so i will attempt to do the brakes myself this time. i checked them out this weekend havent actually replaced them yet. turns out that the inner pad
Replies:
From : snoman
on tue 24 apr 2007 044700 gmt tom lawrence tnloaswpraemnmcien5g@earthlink.net wrote replace the rubber brake hoses this time - they deteriorate over time and can cause residual pressure to remain at the caliper causing excessive wear. they cost about $20 each. this is not a bad tip but you might also check the wheel bearing endplay too because if it it too tight and it does not alllow the rotors to float or flex a bit maybe 5 to 10 thousandths or so to further retract the pads into caliper it can cause them the drag a bit and wear sooner. one more thing it is hard to rate brake life because it has a lot to do with how you drive and use your brakes because while normal might be 50 or more for one person it might be 20 or 30 k for another because of their driving habits. ----------------- thesnoman.com .
From : Annonymous
on tue 24 apr 2007 203835 -0500 aarcuda69062 nonelson@sbcglobal.net wrote by the time youre all done youll probably be better off getting a set of re-man calipers. ill third this suggestion. .
From : greg o
here my questions - does it seem normal that the driver side pads are used significantly more than the passenger side again the truck does not pull side ways when breaking. the truck is equipped with standard rear wheel anti lock break system in other words there is nothing controlling pressure between the left and right front its one line coming from the combination valve to the t that splits between the left and the right. however the break lines to the left side are obviously a lot shorter then to the right. dont know if that contributes to the different usage. it seems odd however. - do i need to replace the caliper again because the dust boots are gone i am ok with the pads replacement but the caliper should last longer than 2 years. is there potentially a caliper repair kit available or is it not worth the effort thanks for sharing your experience. axel 2000 dodge ram 1500 pickup 5.9l 104000 miles if the dust cover/boot is torn that covers the piston it is very likely the piston is sticking slightly causing that side to wear faster. you need to replace or rebuild that caliper. check the prices on kits or a rebuilt caliper. often there is not enough price difference to justify the time spent rebuilding the caliper yourself. the pads should wear equally on the same axle but they will not be exactly the same a small bit of variance is not unusual. if one pad is shot and the other is 1/2 i would be looking for a problem. as far as life of brake pads more money spent usually means longer pad life. although more expensive pads are harder and wear the rotors faster too. once i had brakes done by a local shop. i told them to put in the highest quality pads they had which in turn lasted 20000 miles! they billed me about $35 for the pads so i knew by the price they sold me some crap. after that i always did the brake work myself. pads cost me about $65 but they would last 65000 - 75000 miles too! greg .
From : axel
on apr 24 1247 am tom lawrence tnloaswpraemnmcie...@earthlink.net wrote replace the rubber brake hoses this time - they deteriorate over time and can cause residual pressure to remain at the caliper causing excessive wear. they cost about $20 each. checked out the cost for the hoses they are $19 for right side and $32 for left side at the local parts store. i also checked on a caliper repair kit its about $7 per caliber piston and includes the seal and the rubber dust boot which is the one which is rottened away on all four caliper pistons. anybody out there who has replaced the caliper piston seal and rubber dust boot before i would spend only $14 per side id i do that rather than buying an entire caliper which will cost me about $54 per side after turning my old once in. just figuring out if its worth the effort and we are also talking about brakes here which need to be safe. axel .
From : aarcuda69062
1177459273.164387.54040@t39g2000prd.googlegroups.com axel ulrich.axel@gmail.com wrote on apr 24 1247 am tom lawrence tnloaswpraemnmcie...@earthlink.net wrote replace the rubber brake hoses this time - they deteriorate over time and can cause residual pressure to remain at the caliper causing excessive wear. they cost about $20 each. checked out the cost for the hoses they are $19 for right side and $32 for left side at the local parts store. i also checked on a caliper repair kit its about $7 per caliber piston and includes the seal and the rubber dust boot which is the one which is rottened away on all four caliper pistons. anybody out there who has replaced the caliper piston seal and rubber dust boot before i would spend only $14 per side id i do that rather than buying an entire caliper which will cost me about $54 per side after turning my old once in. just figuring out if its worth the effort and we are also talking about brakes here which need to be safe. axel you need to factor in the cost of new pistons also. if the caliper is sticking causing the uneven/premature brake wear its the piston jamming in the bore because its rusting due to the damaged boot. once the plating is damaged on the piston theres no saving it... youll also want to buy a brake cylinder hone to hone the caliper bores as part of the rebuild and youll need a way to properly install the boot without distorting it. by the time youre all done youll probably be better off getting a set of re-man calipers. .
From : greg o
1177459273.164387.54040@t39g2000prd.googlegroups.com axel ulrich.axel@gmail.com wrote on apr 24 1247 am tom lawrence tnloaswpraemnmcie...@earthlink.net wrote replace the rubber brake hoses this time - they deteriorate over time and can cause residual pressure to remain at the caliper causing excessive wear. they cost about $20 each. checked out the cost for the hoses they are $19 for right side and $32 for left side at the local parts store. i also checked on a caliper repair kit its about $7 per caliber piston and includes the seal and the rubber dust boot which is the one which is rottened away on all four caliper pistons. anybody out there who has replaced the caliper piston seal and rubber dust boot before i would spend only $14 per side id i do that rather than buying an entire caliper which will cost me about $54 per side after turning my old once in. just figuring out if its worth the effort and we are also talking about brakes here which need to be safe. axel you need to factor in the cost of new pistons also. if the caliper is sticking causing the uneven/premature brake wear its the piston jamming in the bore because its rusting due to the damaged boot. once the plating is damaged on the piston theres no saving it... youll also want to buy a brake cylinder hone to hone the caliper bores as part of the rebuild and youll need a way to properly install the boot without distorting it. by the time youre all done youll probably be better off getting a set of re-man calipers. agreed. greg .
From : tom lawrence
replace the rubber brake hoses this time - they deteriorate over time and can cause residual pressure to remain at the caliper causing excessive wear. they cost about $20 each. .
From : snoman
on tue 24 apr 2007 203835 -0500 aarcuda69062 nonelson@sbcglobal.net wrote if the caliper is sticking causing the uneven/premature brake wear its the piston jamming in the bore because its rusting due to the damaged boot. once the plating is damaged on the piston theres no saving it... no arguement there. most calipers fail because of this which cause pads to not retract properly ad wear faster. ----------------- thesnoman.com .
From : axel
well i started this thread so let me tell you what i ended up doing i went to 4 different auto parts stores. they all listed the caliper repair kit ranging from $ 10 to $22 but no one caried them. the closest i got was that the warehouse had 1 i would have needed 4 which they would have needed to ship. so i ended up buying 2 remanufactured calipers which cost about $54 each after returning the old cores. spend $50 on some good pads plus a bottle of brake fluid and a clear hose for bleeding. i had my rotors turned for $10 each. so overall it cost me under $200 and while i was working on the truck in front of our garage my wife and our two daughters were outside with me and we actually had a nice afternoon. they brakes feel great now and i will do my rear brakes drums soon. thanks for all the advise. axel .
From : axel
what i forgot to mention is the following regarding the different wear i was concerned about i started out saying that this is the 1st brake job i did. well after seeing how fat the new pads are i take back that i have a problem with significantly different wear. i would say compared to the driver side inner pad which was 100% gone the passenger side inner pad was about 90% gone. so i consider this normal and like stated above i replaced what i thought was necessary. thanks again. axel .
From : snoman
on 30 apr 2007 195458 -0700 axel ulrich.axel@gmail.com wrote what i forgot to mention is the following regarding the different wear i was concerned about i started out saying that this is the 1st brake job i did. well after seeing how fat the new pads are i take back that i have a problem with significantly different wear. i would say compared to the driver side inner pad which was 100% gone the passenger side inner pad was about 90% gone. so i consider this normal and like stated above i replaced what i thought was necessary. it is not unusual for the to be samll differences in pad wear. when you have a sticky caliper there will be big differences in pad wear ----------------- thesnoman.com .