s-nisen

I don't know much about brakes but a friend of mine installed some new pads for me last week and everything went well. I just noticed today when I got home from work that the passenger side front wheel has a lot more brake dust than the driver's side and the rotor has a different wear pattern on it. Driving the car normally shows no sign of anything wrong. Upon closer inspection it appears the driver's side caliper isn't holding the pad properly. I'm having this looked at tomorrow but I'm curious if anyone has seen this and knows what the issue is?

Thanks!

Driver's side. Pretty clean, uniform pad usage.


Passenger's side. Not as clean, uneven pad usage.


Close up of driver's side caliper.


Close up of passenger's side caliper. Notice the gap between caliper and pad.

EOE

Did you re-grease your sliders?

If not, one of your sliders could be seized.

Take the pads out, pull out the sliders without ripping tiny rubber boots and lube it up nicely and work them back and forth.

s-nisen

Ah, brilliant! The passenger rear was stuck but loosened up during the pad replacement and all the others seemed fine so no lube was applied. I'll get them re-greased ASAP. Any other possibilities?

lanechanger

Check the seal around the caliper piston. Friend brought his Element over with similar pattern on rear rotors but passenger side was out of pad but driver side had 1/3 pad remaining. Seal around piston on driver side was all swelled and likely leaking slowly under pressure making the passenger side caliper work harder hence lack of pad on that side. Replaced axle set of rotor/pads as we didn't have time to pickup a caliper which we're going to replace next weekend.

If the piston boot is showing these signs replace the caliper unless you're technically inclined to overhaul the caliper. The kit for the latter is ~$20 + a whole lot of time and patience. I overhauled both rear calipers on my TL and it was a major PITA.

Good luck with your repair!

s-nisen

Ended up taking the car to the local dealer. They said the pads were installed incorrectly (inside pad on the outside) and not a stuck caliper. That seemed a little but I needed the car because I was going out of town so they reversed it and resurfaced the rotor. The car drives fine and there's no more squeeking.