I have an 07 Camry V6 non hybrid now with 74K on it. I replaced the front pads myself at around 65K(first time for pads). I thought it was a successfully change. For some reason the driver side outer pad only is wearing much faster than the rest of the front pads. I had to replace the driver side pads due to this fact(actually replaced passenger side also) at 70k. I since changed the Driver side caliper,caliper bracket, caliper pins and hydraulic brake hose and still the one pad is wearing out much faster than the others. The pad on the backside of the driver side front rotor shows minimal wear as does the front pads on the passenger side. I am truly puzzled. Master Cylinder??
Something is jammed or hung up…Using a pair of large screw-drivers or a large “C”-clamp, retract the
caliper piston into its bore. You should now be able to slide the caliper back and forth on its mounting pins with minimal effort. If you can not move the caliper on its mount, find out WHY it is jammed…Closely examine the installation on the passenger side and see what is different between the two brakes…SOMETHING is different…The calipers must “float” to equalize pad wear…The pads must be correctly seated and retained on THEIR mounts also…
One thing I always do is remove the pins the pads slide on…and clean them…then grease them. If you just regrease over the caked on dirt/grime it can cause binding and thus the uneven wear you’re seeing.
Thanks for responding. Everything is new. Caliper, pins, bracket and hose. I will try your suggestion. On other thing. the caliper pins rotate as I tighten the caliper bolt into it and have to hold the pin with vice grips. Is there a possible issue with that?
Thank you for getting back to me. Everything is new(caliper, pins, bracket) and I did grease the caliper pins. Any other suggestions.
so what kind of braking do you feel when you apply the brakes? do they pull so one side? Is there a pulse in the peddle? any peculiar noise when braking? did you bleed them when you replaced the caliper? is there a kink in one of the lines? is there a proportioning valve in the front brake lines?
The brakes feel fine. The pedel is not soft, They do not pull to one side, no pulsing, the only noise is a squeal from the wear indicator because the outside pad is getting low again. Yes I did bleed the brakes but only the driver side. I’ll check for a kink in the line. I do not know what a proportioning valve is.
There are two sets of “pins” here, and I think they may be being confused…
One set holds the pads in place in the caliper,
Second set holds the caliper itself to the caliper bracket (the slides).
If only one pad is getting worn (outside), then the most likely cause is the caliper slides aren’t allowing the caliper to release properly, holding one pad against the disc.
If it were both pads, then the culprit would be the caliper piston.
This has nothing to do with the master, so that’s not a problem.
Using the old bracket, check it for smoothness. Take it apart, check the slides, check the slide boots, and see how it all works. Then get into the replacement that’s now on the vehicle. Remove the caliper and pads, put it back together without the pads, and see if everything is nice and smooth. I’ll bet you it’s binding.
If it’s not, a close inspection of the disc is in order. You listed everything but those as being new. Make sure it’s nice and clean. It may be slightly warped, as it’s vented, the outside may have something wrong. Also, make sure the hub and backside of the rotor are clean on assembly so you don’t have a bit of dirt or something forcing it out of alignment.
Proportioning valves devide the fluid pressure to give even braking on all wheels.
On a Toyota, what you are calling a caliper pin is called a bushing. It is a small heavy duty barrel with a rubber seal at each end. It goes through the caliper, then the bolt goes through it. It will not hurt to rotate while the bolt is being torqued down.
Putting a vice grip on the bushing could have damaged it. So can using too much torque. The bolt should be put in with a small amount of the soft locktite on the threads and torqued to a specific value. This is one place where a torque wrench is critical.
You also need to use a very high temp grease such as a synthetic or a silicone grease, and not too much, just coat the outside of the bushing.
Thanks I will definitely try this makes a lot of sense. But I will have to do it tomorrow Time to have a beer with dinner.
Update, I did as suggested , I took my rotor and had it turned. It did need it and I also found that I put one of the caliper pins (slides) in the wrong spot. The 07 Camry has 2 different length caliper pins(slides) and only one of those pins has a O ring on it which happens to be the shorter of the two pins. I mistakenly put the short pin in the top slot when it needs to be in the bottom slot. So well see what happens in the near future if I still get a lot of brake dust then I know something is still going on but I’m pretty confident that this fixed the problem. I’ll update in near future. Thanks for all you great suggestions.
Dave
Thanks for getting back. That’s rare, and best of luck! Nothing personal, but hopefully we won’t hear about this problem again. ('cause that means it’s fixed).
Chase