Uneven Brake Pad Wear

[Veritas]

My vehicle is fast approaching the 100,000 mile mark and I changed my brake pads and rotors about 15,000 miles ago from whatever the last owner used (looked like common cheapo brake pads that lasted about 30,000 miles) to the EBC green stuff pads, as well as new advance auto parts wearever rotors.

When I took the old pads off I noticed that the front passenger outer brake pad had significantly more wear then the other 3 front pads. So when I installed all the new stuff I did use a C-clamp and compress all of the pistons fully on the calipers and they all seemed to go in without too much force. I did this to check for frozen calipers. I did also use the EBC grease on the sliding pins.

So here I am 15,000 miles later on EBC green stuff pads and the front passenger outer pad is already squealing. I looked at the pads and sure enough that one is much more worn than the other 3. It is even worn past the relive cut in the center of the pad, while the other 3 still look about 50% used with the relive cut very visible.

So my question is, would this be a frozen caliper that is binding up on the outer pad? or could it be something as simple as me not putting enough grease on the sliding pins or them having a burr on them?

I am going to check the sliding pins today, but was curious what everyone thought, my plan is to buy a caliper rebuild kit and try that before I bought a new caliper all together.

I would just be surprised if this is a frozen caliper, given that i live in Colorado with 0% humidity, however they do use mag-chloride on the roads out here for snow...

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Veritas]

bump

Nobody ever run into this before?

 

[Dylan]

I have not specifically, but I'm about to do my brake job this weekend so I'll report back.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

I had a similar issue recently on a 1st Gen Tacoma, we ended up recommending a replacement caliper. The outer pistons were going far slower than the inner ones, in fact the front outer one was even slower to act than the rear outer piston (was a 4 piston fixed caliper like the 3rd gens.)

I would assume that a rebuild would have fixed the issue, but we don't do that at the dealership anymore; so it was a new caliper to correct the issue.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

FWIW I only got about 20K miles out of my EBC Green 6000 pads before they were either worn out completely (rears) or the brakes started pulsing (fronts).

This was with 2 sets of pads.. I just switched to Centric Posi Quiet all around yesterday.

 

[blackfc3s]

Honestly if you can't get them (the brake pistons) to move by slight force such as by hand or by plastic board clamps, its on its way to being fully seized.

 

[Veritas]

I had a similar issue recently on a 1st Gen Tacoma, we ended up recommending a replacement caliper. The outer pistons were going far slower than the inner ones, in fact the front outer one was even slower to act than the rear outer piston (was a 4 piston fixed caliper like the 3rd gens.)

I would assume that a rebuild would have fixed the issue, but we don't do that at the dealership anymore; so it was a new caliper to correct the issue.

Is there any way to tell that one may be moving slower than the other? Did you guys just pop the brake shoes out(or pull the caliper off) and have somebody press the brake?

I think I will try the rebuild kit since they are so cheap, thanks for the reply!

FWIW I only got about 20K miles out of my EBC Green 6000 pads before they were either worn out completely (rears) or the brakes started pulsing (fronts).

This was with 2 sets of pads.. I just switched to Centric Posi Quiet all around yesterday.

Well that makes me feel better, I drive a little aggresive, but not bad enough to only get 20,000 miles out of the brakes, I am not too impressed with EBC. I am getting pulsing right now and that front right is squealing. I also think when I do my next break job I will be using a different type. Thanks!

Honestly if you can't get them (the brake pistons) to move by slight force such as by hand or by plastic board clamps, its on its way to being fully seized.

I can't honestly remember if I had to torque on them or not, I dont think I did but I will keep this in mind on the next brake change.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Is there any way to tell that one may be moving slower than the other? Did you guys just pop the brake shoes out(or pull the caliper off) and have somebody press the brake?

Actually what happened was that I had squeezed the pistons back into the caliper while it was still on the vehicle with the pads still in there to see if the pistons were stuck. While I had it all squeezed in with the pads, I asked my coworker to watch the pistons as I pressed the brake pedal slowly. He could see one side and particularly one piston moving slower than the others (you should see the outer pistons moving a bit slower than the inners as they will get fluid pressure last.)

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I liked the feel of the EBCs. The new Centric pads don't have as much bite, but are quiet so far and will probably dust less.

Yes the EBCs seem to pulse and start to lightly squeal when they are getting close to worn out.

 

[-JD-]

Did the calliper rebuild solve your problem? I’m having the exact same issue with my 2016 right now. Same passenger side outer pad is significantly more worn. Had no problem pushing pistons in. Replaced the pads with new oem ones. Cleaned everything and regreased.

But after reading your post it sounds like this is going to fix my issue...