The front brakes on my wife’s '97 Ford Taurus wagon began to make noise so I took the tires off and discovered on thhe left side the inner pad was worn down to the rivets. The outer pad was worn down but not quite to the rivets. On the right side, the pads were not worn down nearly as much but were sufficiently worn to warrant replacement. Two years ago, I replaced the pads, rotors and the calipers on both sides. My question is: why would the pads on the left side be worn so much more than the pads on the right side? And on the left side, why is the inner pad worn so much more than the outer pad?
Usually, when the set of pads on one side wears out quicker than the other side, your problem is a caliper that has a sticking piston. The piston isn’t returning all the way. You may have put on a defective caliper the last time you did a brake job.
When one pad is worn more than the other on the same side, the caliper isn’t sliding correctly. Did you use the special high temp brake grease on the caliper sliding points or pins when you replaced them?
I would have the rotors checked on both sides too. One side probably has too much wear and the other side has uneven wear.
This vintage Taurus has a brake design with pins that slide in a a caliper mount covered by a rubber boot. The bottom pins tend to seize up and that does not allow the full floating caliper to slide and together with calipers that stick the pads wear uneven.
I did use the grease when I did the brake job, I am always pretty careful about that.
You are right about the rotor on that side. Outside is heavily worn, and inside is unevenly worn and scored by the rivets.
Replaced the pads, rotors, (both sides), & bad caliper. Bled and tested, everything came out fine. Thanks everyone for your input.