Uneven brake wear ????????????

[claymore]

On one of the other sites the kids have their drawers in a bunch over one brake pad wearing more then the other pad in a set on one wheel and the membership over there is coming up with all kinds of off the wall answers to the question.

It's nothing to worry about it's completely normal on most cars.

Think about for a minute............. the inner pad is forced against the rotor by the caliper piston ok some wear ..... but what happens to the outer pad??????
It is only there for the ride.

There is no direct force placed on it by the caliper it moves against the rotor only by the force on the inner pad moving the whole caliper then it comes in contact with the rotor so their is less force pushing it against the rotor ... ergo a lot less wear.

The amount of time it spends on the rotor is less than the other side also because the forces have to travel from the inner pad through the caliper then into the outer pad which all takes TIME so it also spends less time in contact with the rotor than the inner or PRIMARY pad.

So there you go the correct answer to the NON problem from the friendly folks at Honda Fit Forums :p

[manxman]

Hee hee! Just wait until the freaks discover the terrible, uneven wear between the primary and secondary shoes of the rear drum brakes!

[VillageIdiot]

You know, it has been so long since I have replaced brake shoes I am wondering if I still can..... I think the last time I had to do disk pads on a car was 15 years ago.

[claymore]

Yep I forgot you guys have shoes in the rear. Like Dave said same thing occurs there and it's perfectly NORMAL.

[VillageIdiot]

One of my fathers businesses was a full service gas station and garage and I worked there while I was in high school and ran it after coming back home from Vietnam.... We had service contracts with numerous companies and county agencies so I did my share of wrench turning on all kinds of stuff starting when he bought the place when I was 15.

[manxman]

You, claymore and I (as well as SOME others in various forums) were lucky enough to grow up in the era when gas stations did more than just let their customers pump their own fuel. High School students of today don't have the opportunity to get a taste of the auto repair industry by working for their local gas station. And budget cuts have eliminated most of the High School Industrial Arts classes, like "Auto Shop".

Unfortunately, those are the reasons for most of the ignorance on car forums. Learning-by-doing is a LOT more educational than reading and misunderstanding the occasional article in a car magazine.

[claymore]

I was on another forum and was surprised to find younger members reporting that schools no longer offer automotive classes or even metal working classes anymore due to funds cuts and lack of interest by students it's a shame.:(

[VillageIdiot]

It allowed me to open my own VW repair shop when I was 20 and to buy sale and trade lots of different car from a Fiat 500 to a 55 Cadillac EL Dorado Convertible, and pick up parts to do some raggedy street sleepers like a souped 396 in a 65 Chevy short wheelbase Fleet side pickup a 409 powered 59 Chevy convertible and plenty of other fun things..... Working bent over under an ancient lift with drive on ramps that was better suited to pre WW2 cars, squatting down to place the fuel nozzle in fill tubes under licence plates, changing and repairing tires on a manual tire breaker combined with being a Marine with scoliosis and knee injuries has had me living with constant chronic pain for a long time... Two of my cousins worked there also and have worn out knees and backs.

[manxman]

I actually miss the manual tire breaker machines. Using those things was a great stress reliever! But I am really glad that the days of the old split-rim truck tires are gone (along with the heads of a few people who tried to put one back together without paying enough attention, and without moving far enough away during the filling process). BOOM!! Hey! Call an ambulance and put Charlie's arm in a bag so he can take it with him!

[claymore]

The site I was talking about is for traditional Hot Rods and their are guys on their making A KILLING repairing generators, regulators and carburetors because only us old timers know how to fix them.

Even the real automotive schools now don't even teach them as subjects anymore so a whole generation of mechanics is growing up without knowing anything about them or using old time dwell meters or any other diagnostic machines of the old days, they only know hook it up to a laptop.

The real smart ones are buying up all the old generators, regulators, carburetors and old diagnostic tools they can buy now real cheap but they are getting harder and harder to find and the price will only go up as they get worn out so they will be the only ones you can get one from soon.

And to most people today anything about the old 6v positive ground systems is black art stuff.


As an interesting side note "Jessie James" the motorcycle and monster garage guy who has been in the news this week for making like "Tiger Woods" is a member on the site and posts every once in awhile just like the other members.

[claymore]

Tire machines is another art that is being lost. Speaking of dangerous we had contests to see who could make the loudest bang when seating tires with air. Some guys went as far as not lubing the bead so it took like 90psi to get them to seat and it was a VERY LOUD BANG.

[VillageIdiot]

A neighbors 16 year old is in a vocational program learning auto repair and welding but his fat little 13 year old cousin that learned to handle a back hoe in addition to a farm tractor and implements before the 1st grade is the guy that I can count on the most when working on stuff.... When I am about to mess up by removing something that isn't necessary to get to something else or installing something incorrectly he sets me straight.... I am sure glad I took the time to help him with his ATV when he was about 7 or 8 and took him for rides on my Goldwing.... He is going to do very well for himself but he needs to walk more instead of always driving.

[manxman]

The site I was talking about is for traditional Hot Rods and their are guys on their making A KILLING repairing generators, regulators and carburetors because only us old timers know how to fix them.

Even the real automotive schools now don't even teach them as subjects anymore so a whole generation of mechanics is growing up without knowing anything about them or using old time dwell meters or any other diagnostic machines of the old days, they only know hook it up to a laptop.

The real smart ones are buying up all the old generators, regulators, carburetors and old diagnostic tools they can buy now real cheap but they are getting harder and harder to find and the price will only go up as they get worn out so they will be the only ones you can get one from soon.

And to most people today anything about the old 6v positive ground systems is black art stuff.


As an interesting side note "Jessie James" the motorcycle and monster garage guy who has been in the news this week for making like "Tiger Woods" is a member on the site and posts every once in awhile just like the other members.
Please do us the favor of posting a link to that site. Thank yew.

BTW, I saw a T-shirt on a guy on a Harley that reminded me of Jesse James. The shirt said" "If you can read this, the bitch fell off!".

[VillageIdiot]

I have a dwell meter and timing light both in the original boxes they came in....Remember the Mr Gasket kits with advance kits with altered weights and 3 sets of springs to use for more advance that comes on quicker or raising or lowering carburetor floats after a jet change to get the absolute perfect mixture.... How about shimming valve springs to prevent valve float and get higher revs or on the dash vernier timing adjusters from J.C.Whitney.... I used to go to a factory that rebuilt clutches and brake shoes and have beefed up pressure plates built up, shaved flywheels and built bonded riveted disc and another place that reground stock camshafts for about $25.00. I have a friend that has a mess of generator brushes and lots of other electrical stuff.... He is always giving me NOS vacuum tubes for amps I use for playing blues harp.

[claymore]

OK here it is but one warning they will flame to the death almost anything that is not 1964 and older and DO NOT mention rat rods. Go here and click on the HAMB hokey assed message board.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/index.php

[VillageIdiot]

Thanks Claymore. I will check it out.

[manxman]

Yes, thanks John. Those forums really bring me back to my own training in auto repair and customizing. My first five cars were a '50 Chevy Coupe with dual 1bbl. carbs and a floor mounted 3 speed shifter (sold), '57 Ford Fairlane (wrecked), '55 Chevy Wagon with a '58 Buick Roadmaster V-8 and a 3 speed trans from a '48 LaSalle (sold), a '60 Ford Starliner (sold), and '66 Volkswagen Beetle (sold). None of them stayed stock, and all of them required tools for maintenance that my Fit does not need.

I am really happy not needing to replace and adjust points, rotor & condenser every few months. Plugs that last 100,000 miles with no maintenance are fantastic, particularly with not needing a timing light, ever. Even my wife's '06 Scion XB needs a change of plugs at 35K. Compared to both of my Fits, the Scion's short plug life just seems weird. But I'm not complaining- I could have much worse problems with a Toyota product.

[claymore]

Yep it's nice to be able to hook up a scanguage or some other computer connection and be able to diagnosis your cars problems. A whole lot less cars broke down on the side of the road now a days they are much more reliable but their brake pads still wear unevenly:rolleyes:

[d50erock]

I agree that there is some uneven brake wear on disc brakes. But excessive uneveness is a sing of faulty slide/guide pins for the caliper. I have seen this first hand. And as for the rear shoes wearing unevenly, thats just due to the direction that the drum rotates in relation to the shoes, right? My thought there is because one shoes is being pulled into the drum where as the other is being pushed back down. All this is due to 1 pivot point at the bottom of the brake setup. At least thats how I think that happens. I will say that I have had brake pads were evenly before, not always, but have seen it happen on my vehicles.