uneven brake pad wear

[Atomb]

changed my front brake pads today and noticed on both wheels that the pads located toward the centre of the car (with the cylinder behind it) had not worn as much as the pads located toward the outside of the wheels.difference was about 30-50% (pads were about 30-50% less worn than those toward the outside).This is my first pad change on the vibe...i don't remember seeing this on my VW. Is this normal or could there be a problem with my caliper cylinders?

[Raven]

More than likely the caliper sliders were causing the calipers to not release fully. If it's your first pad change you probably have a lot of miles on them. Clean everything up well and lube the sliders and you should be OK. In my experience the outside pads are usually the first to go.

[Atomb]

thanks Sunny.I cleaned everything up as good as possible, but did not lube anything. As for lubing the sliders, do i just slide the rubber boot to one side and lube? I'm talking about the top and bottom rubber boots that are part of the caliper that side the outside in and out.thanks (again).This is actually my second pad change...had it done the first time when i got my new rotors.

[thorntcl]

Colonel Panic mentioned the same problem in this thread:http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=20432Flip-side mentioned the slide pins are sealed so no grease req'dhttp://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=20981CheersThor

[Atomb]

thanks thor,CP's problem is different. he had one side (driver vs. passenger) with a sticky caliper.with mine just the pad toward the outside of both (driver and passenger wheels) seems to be wearing more than the inside pads on both wheels.

[thorntcl]

Yep, that's why I was thinking yours was sticking as well...I think it is not abnormal though for wear as I found on this tdi site:http://forums.tdiclub.com/show...age=2Check April 3rd entry by MattIf the car is not pulling left or right then you're ok, but 50% seems really whacky. The only other thing is a sticky caliper like you first mentioned, just try opening them up a bit and then resetting the pad by slowly applying the brakes...If ABS then you'll have to open the bleeder so you don't force things back up the abs system.CheersThor

[Atomb]

thanks for the link, thor.it is strange as i don't remember seeing this on my VW (mentioned above).the car doesn't pull during braking and aside from some noise caused by the drilled rotors, work very well.i've got a 2004 with no ABS.I used a c-clamp to get the cylinder back in. I then cleaned all around it and just under the rubber boot (quite a bit of dirt and anti-squeal grease around there...those guys really lathered it up!) After i was satisfied with the cleanliness, i applied the new anti-squeal stuff ONLY on the edge of the cylinder (for that pad).In the end, brakes seem to be working fine (definitely better than the old pads i just took off!) and i guess i'll wait another 2 or 3 years to see if the next change shows the same wear pattern!