Rep Power: 266

On my left wheel, the inner pad is wearing slanted. The bottom part where the warning clip isn't is warn more than the top part where the clip is. If it keeps wearing like this, the metal of the pad will contact before the safety clip.

Is it because I wasn't running shims? Everything was cleaned properly. The outer pad is perfect btw, suggesting a piston problem perhaps. The rotors are brembo and the pads are nissin/aem, which didn't come with shims.

 
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Check slide pins maybe

 
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I lubed up everything with brake grease because I seem to have not done it upon install, perhaps causing the inner pads to rub when not braking. Both the inner pads are worn exactly the same way.

 
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u dont need to run shims if they didnt come with them. you should have HAWKS HPS pads a try. they are the best pads ive used (that are quiet and low on dust). (all shims do is take the vibration and quiet the braking process, but only if they are applied with grease correctly)

as for rotors, do u have slotted or drilled rotors? because if u do, THAT is ur reason.

what you can do is take ur caliper apart (the pistons, etc) and give them a nice deep clean with strong degreaser, let them dry and put everything back together)

 
Rep Power: 352

u dont need to run shims if they didnt come with them. you should have HAWKS HPS pads a try. they are the best pads ive used (that are quiet and low on dust). (all shims do is take the vibration and quiet the braking process, but only if they are applied with grease correctly)

as for rotors, do u have slotted or drilled rotors? because if u do, THAT is ur reason.

what you can do is take ur caliper apart (the pistons, etc) and give them a nice deep clean with strong degreaser, let them dry and put everything back together)

 
Rep Power: 253

When u put the slide pins back make sure that they actually work. Sometimes the boots get air pockets in them. I dont know any other possibilities. You can try new pads like sleepy said. Btw, how are those rotors, do you like them?

 
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humm i didnt notice u took out thsoe two pins.

curious, why did u take out those pins? it is unnecessary. remove the other two bolts instead and u wont have to mess with it.

if u took em out, u needa really rebleed ur system well (preferably with a vacuum pump to get all the air bubbles out)

those air bubbles are what is probably causing the uneven pressure, and thus resulting in uneven pad wear.

 
Rep Power: 352

humm i didnt notice u took out thsoe two pins.

curious, why did u take out those pins? it is unnecessary. remove the other two bolts instead and u wont have to mess with it.

if u took em out, u needa really rebleed ur system well (preferably with a vacuum pump to get all the air bubbles out)

those air bubbles are what is probably causing the uneven pressure, and thus resulting in uneven pad wear.

 
Rep Power: 266

I don't understand what pin(s) you guys are refering to. On my model, there is one fat "pin" that the caliper slides on to. After the caliper is on it, the caliper pivots on it down over the pads, then another bolt secures it. So I didn't remove anything.

It is a very strange thing. Both inner pads are wearing at exactly the same rate but mirroring each other.

 
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No I have smooth rotors. They look fine visually. I didn't know that I could clean out my pistons, I never thought about it. But that is a bad idea right now because as I said, both sides are wearing the same, so how could it be a caliper piston issue? Unless the actual pistons/piston support rings inside are worn out similarly on both sides.

I wanted to mention that sometimes when I brake, the peddle fluctuates and feels like my rotors are warped, but of course they aren't. Does that indicate air in the system?

 
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The rotors work fine and I like them. I don't think they are any better or worse than OEM, so if you have stocks then just resurface them because they are quality. (that's what I should have done) No reason to get excited about rotors unless you race.

 
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I did some research on this because I found it interesting. The slider pins are what center the caliper, so what may have happened is because you did not grease them during the pad change it caused the caliper not to center properly. Which would cause uneven wear on both pads. Also, when you remove the pins make sure they are free from scuff marks, rust, and corrosion. And use some kind of synthetic brake grease when you do lube them. Also, they recommend that if you do find uneven wear early on to switch the inner/outer brake pads to even it back out, but your pads may be beyond that point. I'd hate to try and help you and mess up your rotors.

 
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Thanks for the info. But why would I remove the pins? Also, how much grease are we talking about here? Should the boot be loaded with it?

 
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the pins i was talking about have that rubber part accordion thing. it wasnt necessary to take out. the other 2 bolts would have been better

 
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I'm not 100% understanding which bolts you mean. To gain access to the brake pads you must remove the bolts from the slider pins anyway. Once the caliper is out, you should remove the pin and lube it with grease... That's just regular maintenance. What can happen is that pin gets stuck in there and then its a real pain in the ***. The other important thing is to torque the bolts back properly... Just put a bit of grease on the pin with your finger. You don't need to fill the boot. I found a lot of people on different forums that have had the same problem. Just not all of them with civics.

Sleepy if your talking about the same pins on the caliper as I am you definitely don't need to bleed your brake system after.

Here is the pins I'm talking about. It's from an F250 but you get the idea.

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...%3Den%26sa%3DG

 
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Ohhh, very interesting. No I've never taken those out! I always thought they were referring to the "pin" that the caliper slides on and off on. I'm doing a trany swap today so I will check and clean those pins. Thanks again.

 
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On my model, there is only one removable pin located on the bottom. The top part is a similar design but the pin is attached to the bracket with a bolt. (see second pic on top) I lubed up both.

Other than that, when I get some time I will undo both pistons and clean them. Perhaps they are dirty or the grease is too old on both.

Thanks.

 
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Great, hopefully that fixes it.

 
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Yes, those are the bolts I mentioned in my first post. They are slide pins, if you over grease them or get too much grease in those black boots sometimes it causes them to not work correctly. The pins are supposed to push in and spring out, but sometimes if there is too much grease they dont spring out again and cause problems.

 
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Hmm.... If there is no grease in there.. you could have some problems too.

 
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The slide pins had a bit of grease in there but I added more. Any way, I'm waiting till the pads wear out before taking the piston apart, so it will be a while before I can update this post.

 
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I don't think it's a piston thing. I don't hear too often of people taking it apart and cleaning it. It's worth a shot though if they are still wearing uneven.

 
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Ahh, finally found this post. That's what happends when you spell "brake" wrong.

So, I cleaned the calipers yesterday then did a complete bleeding. I cleaned the calipers because I was confident they were binding because of being dirty. I installed new boots over the pistons, a new o-ring and a metal clip. After the install, the car was very responsive --no more brake binding. As hard as it is to believe, the brakes have been slowing my car down for years, though I was still getting good MPG. But now my car feels so peppy it's great. Not only that, but my alignment issue has been solved. The car goes straight on the freeway now instead of left.

The question is, will the uneven brake pad wear correct itself? Obviously, this is what caused it. The piston was resting on the inner pads. I will update this post in the future to answer the question.

 
Rep Power: 266

It's an interesting thing though. Now my mom's element, that thing has major alignment issues. Not once in over 5 years do I recall it being aligned correctly. But now I suspect it's her brakes. See, the thing is, because she's a woman, I think they take advantage of her by NOT doing what they should. What they haven't done every time they changed her pads (which is twice I think) is to resurface the rotor. They flat out threw just new pads on both times! Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if the randomness of the grooves are causing more friction on one side than the other. What do you think?

FYI, an alignment costs 186 at honda, a total ripoff. It's part of her maintenance plan. It's probably aligned correctly, just that the brakes are throwing it off.

 
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new pads will bed into the rotor over 500-1000 miles, even if you dont machine it. in your case tho, i think its too extreme and you will need new pads.

 
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Glad it's fixed Now get that Element all fixed up!

 
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Are the brake pads supposed to be touching/draggin on the rotor because when I turn either rotor, there is a little bit of friction.

 
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my fronts have no drag, but the rears have a lil bit i couldnt get rid of.

 
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So why would my fronts drag? And how do I fix it? Pedal has slack.

 
Rep Power: 812

seems like that would be caused by sticking calipers, if those pins are too tight or binding. but im not exactly sure. ive also seen cheap pads cause this because they are slightly too thick. and once you use them and they get worn down, the rubbing goes away. but i dont think its a good idea to drive with dragging brakes like that. how bad is it, can you still turn the front wheels with your hand? does it turn fairly well but you hear some scraping? that is not as big a deal.