Unequal brake pad wear

[jono]

Both front brakes on my Plus 2 have unequal pad wear to the extent where the inner pads have only around 3mm left whilst the outer pads have more than 6mm.

Also on one side the inner pad friction material is worn to a taper. Both discs are also markedly more worn on the inside as if that side is producing most of the braking resistance.

Whats going on here? The brakes are virtually new - new discs and the calipers re manufactured by Classic Car Automotive only 8k miles ago.

Jon

[JJDraper]

Check everything is clean and moving around correctly, especially the pads on the pins & in their slot. See my post of a few weeks ago in this section. Unequal wear across the face of the pad suggest they are dragging within the slot (not on the disk). Also check you are using the right pads for the caliper - earlier calipers need different pads to later ones. Late pads in early calipers are a very tight fit (see picture of a comparison between old and new) and don't move around easily. As far as I am aware early pads are fine in later calipers.

Jeremy

[LaikaTheDog]

I never used to do this. But when I worked in a "shop" the old guy fitting replacement brake calipers showed me how he measured the distance from the disk to the caliper face and shimmed the bolt side to make sure they were perfectly even.

I have a pile of various thickness shims that slide in between the mount and the caliper to make the disk perfectly central.

Apparently this is to stop exactly the problem you have.


Or

You haven't got the pad springs fitted and one pad is dragging ?

[jono]

pad springs?

Are these the same as shims? I have neither, just the pads fitted and the pins with R clips

The discs are not central within the jaws of the calipers but I can't correct this as it would mean taking metal off the caliper lugs (shimming would increase non centrality). But, would a non centralised disc affected pad wear anyway?

Jon

[Galwaylotus]

I had pads drag in the caliper to the point that one seized and I boiled the brake fluid resulting in pedal-to-the-floor syndrome and a fried caliper! Spooky. I removed the calipers and sent them to Classic Car and they came back better than new. I ensured that the new pads move freely in the caliper and used brake lube on the sliding surfaces. My brakes are much better than ever before now.

[Grizzly]

Both front brakes on my Plus 2 have unequal pad wear to the extent where the inner pads have only around 3mm left whilst the outer pads have more than 6mm.

Also on one side the inner pad friction material is worn to a taper. Both discs are also markedly more worn on the inside as if that side is producing most of the braking resistance.

Whats going on here? The brakes are virtually new - new discs and the calipers re manufactured by Classic Car Automotive only 8k miles ago.

Jon

My +2 does exactly the same thing on both sides and the pistons are all free, not exactly sure why it does it as i clean all the contact surfaces etc, if i take the pads out and push one piston gently the other moves out easy enough so defiantly not stuck.