Weird Rear Brake Wear

[ted4r]

Hi Folks,

I had my rotors and pads replaced 14 months and 10,050 miles ago by a local independent shop. No idea of the brand of the rotors, but the pads are by Brembo.

I've been hearing some vibration from the rear the last couple days when braking and when I checked today noticed both rear sides had deep gouging into the rotors, but only the very outer 1/4". Both sides *literally had the same wear pattern*, only to the outer 1/4" and very deep. The rest of the rotors from that 1/4" in to the center looked great with no wear or scratches or notable wear. Of note, I had the pads on the front changed 20k miles ago and they still have plenty of life left.

I took it back to the shop today and the guy told me that that kind of wear to just the outer 1/4" means the calipers are sticking and then quoted me $1,275.00 for new rear rotors, pads and calipers. I told him I would think about it. I've done a lot of brake jobs on motorcycles, BMWs and old brit cars and have never seen anything like this before. Makes me think he possible put in the wrong parts or maybe didn't put it back together correctly.

So to the collective wisdom of the community - anyone seen this kind of wear before? Know what the problem could be?

 

[4Rnr4Evr]

LMAO @ $1,275.00

prices from rockauto:

centric calipers $30, $65 core charge (send old calipers back for refund)
centric rotors $35
basic pads are like $10 for the whole rear

so your total parts cost would be less than $200

and it's something you can do at home with basic tools

...........

I have uneven and very accelerated rear pad wear because of bad bearings, which I'm working on figuring out how to replace.

 

[ted4r]

Thanks for the reply - I've decided to go ahead and tackle this myself. Its an '06 V8 4x4 Limited, about 10k a year in mixed commuting and highway.

I'll need a few things from Harbor Freight like a jack (will the 1.5 ton do?) and jackstands, I have most of the other tools I'll need.

What specifically do folks recommend for pads, rotors and calipers? Wanted to make sure I got the hardware kit with the pads.

I am thinking of putting speed bleeders into the calipers to make bleeding easier, any thoughts from folks on that?

Sure appreciate any and all thoughts.

 

[ZebRuaj]

Thanks for the reply - I've decided to go ahead and tackle this myself. Its an '06 V8 4x4 Limited, about 10k a year in mixed commuting and highway.

I'll need a few things from Harbor Freight like a jack (will the 1.5 ton do?) and jackstands, I have most of the other tools I'll need.

What specifically do folks recommend for pads, rotors and calipers? Wanted to make sure I got the hardware kit with the pads.

I am thinking of putting speed bleeders into the calipers to make bleeding easier, any thoughts from folks on that?

Sure appreciate any and all thoughts.

I'd get the HF 3 ton low profile jack. Has a bit higher reach than the 3 ton reg jack. You can find the coupon to get it for $79.99. I wouldn't trust the weight of these rigs to the 1.5 ton jack. And you never know when you'll need a bigger capacity jack. Buy it once. Same for the 3 ton jack stands.

I would use RockAuto to order. Have never had any problems with Centric parts, unless you need the rig back on the road ASAP, then any mid-tier pad and rotors from your autoparts store will do fine. Same for rebuilt calipers. Advance Auto has 20-30% coupons you can find online, makes it a bit more competitive.

Have never used/wanted speed bleeders. Just make the wife come into the garage for a few minutes when needed.

Do read up on the proper way to bleed the rears on our rigs. They aren't your normal pump and bleed.

 

[4Rnr4Evr]

RE: parts, Centric is fine but regarding calipers I would choose coated ones because otherwise they rust very quickly, and I mean days. You install your shiny new part and admire it and next day it's covered with rust and your soul is crushed. Next time I'm going with Beck/Arnley "black onyx" coated calipers.

Have never used/wanted speed bleeders. Just make the wife come into the garage for a few minutes when needed.

Speed bleeders ~$10 and you never need a 2nd person again. I have them on all 4 corners and I've had them on other cars before.

Do read up on the proper way to bleed the rears on our rigs. They aren't your normal pump and bleed.

True but they are actually easier, esp. with speed bleeders - open both bleeders, turn key to on, press brake pedal for 3-5 seconds, done.

 

[ted4r]

Thanks for the replies folks.

Any thoughts on the Raybestos calipers? Cannot tell if they are coated/painted or not, but they do come with pads:
More Information for RAYBESTOS RC11556

Or go for the red bling with these Powerstop calipers?:
More Information for POWER STOP S2726

Thanks!

 

[ted4r]

Well I finally got around to fixing the brakes today, after having to park it for a few days when the brakes got too bad. I decided to check the calipers first, and buy them mid-job if needed. Autozone is down the street and they had both in stock. I did buy Raybestos premium pads and Centric rotors, then the permatex purple brake lube, clear silicone brake lube, a three-sided file (the key bit in this whole thing) and some other odds and ends.

Followed the instructions on here, as well as YouTube vids by Jimthecarguy and others and it all went very easily. The culprit was poor work by shop that replaced them last year. They reused the (original!) hardware, which basically fell to pieces by the time I got it out. The outer pads had rusted to the caliper carrier on each side, and were metal to metal on top and a good 85% left at the bottom. I had to get a hammer to get them out. The back sides looked great, about 80% left with no uneven wear. The carrier pins were dry and had not been lubricated.

I called my (now very much former) mechanic and told him what I had found, it pretty much went downhill fast after that.

Going back together, on both sides I put that file to use cleaning up the surfaces below the hardware. I added some purple lube, clipped the hardware pieces in and then the pads - nice and snug but freely moving. I used the silicone brake lube on the pins, the purple stuff on the caliper to pad surfaces, and buttoned it up.

It was easy and best of all it works great. The calipers by the way work just fine.

 

[blackoutt]

Makes you feel so good doing it yourself and doing it right! High five man, good work.

 

[ted4r]

The $1,000 I didn't have to pay didn't hurt either! Parts were about $75, fluids and lubes another $30, the 3-ton floor jack, jack stands and various tools (file, new C clamp, etc.) another $100.

Doing it right was the big thing - just don't have the faith in hired wrenches I once did.

The only snag I really hit was the low-pad squeal hardware pieces - because the folks who did the work last time didn't replace any of the hardware pieces I had no idea where to put them and have not been able to get a close up of proper placement. I left them off, will get them next time (which will hopefully be more than a year/10k from now!)

Ted