2003 Front Brake Pad Wear

[NathanS]

I bought a 2003 4 Runner back in December. It's my first Toyota vechicle and I think I may like it! I was doing some work on it and has a question about the front brakes wearing. It has the 17" wheels with the fixed calipers. The outer pads are wearing considerably more than the inner pads, which don't have the wear indicator on them. There is about 1/4" more on the inner pad. Is this normal for these vechicles? It has about 94,000 miles on it, so it could be it's first set of pads. I wouldn't think much of it, but both sides are showing the same wear situation.

Thanks for your help
Nathan

[jetwhine]

NathanS

My take on that is that the caliper is not relaxing enough after brake release. The outside pad is dragging on the disc and causing more wear. The inside is where the piston is, and the piston relaxes enough to allow the inside not to drag. When you do your next brake pad change you might want to lube the bolts that the caliper slides on to allow smooth operation of the brake caliper. On my rig I had to replace the brake calipers on both sides as the lower piston on each caliper would not compress to allow for pad instalation. Hope this is not your case though.

[NathanS]

The caliper is actually fixed and does not move. It is a 4 piston caliper, with 2 pistons per pad,and all that releases are the pistons on both pads. I thought what you said that something may have been hanging up but not by how it is designed. The brake line goes in on the inside and I would have thought that if any pad would wear first it would be the inside. I guess I'll antiseize anything that slides and watch them and see how they wear. The pads look the same, so I don't see what it would hurt to swap sides with them to get more life out of them.

Thanks

[jetwhine]

NathanS,

Your brake calipers are just like mine. I said bolts but what I meant to say was the anti rattle pins. The pads ride on those pins and if not lubbed with anti seize the pads will hang up on the pins. So yes doing the anti seize with help the problem. Unless the two outer pistons are not retracting enough. There is one way to tell, that is to remove the caliper from the mount and squeeze the pistons in with a C clamp and see if they will retract all the way. As I said I had 2 each fail one on each caliper, and needed to be replaced due to too much corrosion on the wall of the piston cavity. Lets just hope that all is well and you don't have to replace them. Oh also make sure that those pins are smooth other wise take a piece of scotchbrite pad and clean them until smooth. You might even need a piece of very very fine sandpaper to get them smooth. No wear marks not ridges.