So I changed my rear brake pads on the 04 in my sig, the fronts must have been replaced, they seem fine. My question is: The inner pads on both rear discs were shot, they were squeaking bad while rolling, the outer pads were worn, but not shot, is this normal, or do I have calipers sticking in the rear? The rotors look incredibly smooth...kinda makes me wonder, the truck has 89k on it, no heavy towing history. What gives? sabreson

 

Pad wear should be fairly even, inside to outside. Not perfect, but pretty close.

Make sure you clean the pins, caliper slots, and bracket slots with a wire wheel. Should be nice and smooth. During reassembly, put a little smear of high temp wheel bearing grease on those areas.

 

My brakes always wear heavier on the piston side of the caliper (inside). Rotors should be smooth!
Rears wear much less than fronts.

 

dang it....i didnt do most of that....welll now I know. It still seems to squeak every now and then....bugs the tar out of me....especially when I ride in my brothers tomb-quiet 07.5.....you could hear a pin drop in that thing. Thanks for the help. sabreson

 

I had to replace the calipers in the rear of my truck. They did start to hang up. One stuck and was not working well the other side stuck dragging very bad. Replaced them and they have been great for about 75k

 

One of mine froze up too and it squeaked.

 

Squeaking on light brake application is caused by the pad vibrating in the caliper; usually the outboard pad, opposite the piston.

Take the pad out, clean the contact surfaces really well, apply Permatex Disc Brake Anti-Squeal. Re-assemble, and let sit for a while before driving it. That usually resolves the squeak.

On my '01 Dakota, I had to do that about once a year.

 

The most important thing is to remove the caliper slides and bushings, and hone all the rust out of the slide bores with a small stone or flapper wheel right down to shiny bare metal.

When hot, the rust expands about ten times more than iron, and will cause the slides to seize, even if they feel fine when they cool off.

 

The sticking is definitely there....it will roll on a slight decline...slowly if facing downhill, not really at all if facing uphill, what a bag. So...I need to take everything off and clean it. Is there a method to ensuring that the calipers will not stick?

 

Just periodic maintenance. I've found on the rear disc-equipped trucks, the rear caliper slide bushings take a real beating from dirt and gravel, and are likely to be torn open when you look at them. Most of the time, the rear slides will be seized solid. There are guards you can buy to protect the rear slide bushings from rock damage.

 

I had the same problem on mine . . . . it was the left rear caliper that froze up at 75,000 . Went ahead and replaced both of them and made sure everything was well lubed after that .

 

I took my truck out today...ran it around town for 15-20 mins..no hard braking. The pads up front look like they may need replaced, and they are squeaking. However, the problem occurred when I pulled up at the house and smelled the rank odor of fried brakes. My left rear inside was smoking.....just smoking... the rotor kinda looks like glass.....mirror smooth.

So.....I believe my assumption and all of your knowledgeable assertions are correct...the caliper has got to be sticking and its getting worse. So I am going to just ride the old vt1100 around for a few days until I get time to do calipers. I guess I'll just replace them on both sides. Is anything wrong with getting stocker replacements at advanced or napa? What about lube...whats the best stuff? Thanks, sabreson.

 

I just had the same thing happen to me, I have 135000 and on the second set of rear pads. The left rear was sticking, after removal it appeared the piston seals were torn. New caliper and turning the rotor cost less than $100 per side (Napa had the part and turned the rotor) and took a couple hours to complete in the driveway. Toughest part is removing the rotor, took a few good whacks with a big slide hammer to free it up.

 

We changed the pads on the front on Sat....went pretty quick, and the pads were not shot, but really cheap junk. No more squeak, but my brother noticed today after doing a um.....WOT run that may have involved another truck....the brakes get hot QUICK. He made it to about 100mph and ran that way for a few seconds, slowed down for a turn (plenty of time for the turn, trust me, no hard braking) and then went back to around 90....when we stopped the brakes were smoking....why? We didn't get on them much at all....is this just residual friction and high mph heating them up? Or is something wrong, normal driving doesn't cause it. hope yall can give him some answers.

 

Great post, this has to be the biggest neglect when brake jobs are done..