Rear new brake pad does not slide freely in the bracket. That ok?

So I'm doing my rear disc brakes and one of the new pads does not slide freely in the caliper mounting bracket that holds the pads. The other pad slides fine in the caliper bracket. The one that does not slide does go into the right position, but once its there I can't slide it down its 'travel channel of the slide clip' or what ever you'd call it. Its just pretty much locked in place in the slide clip. I did spray the bracket with brake cleaner and scrubbed them. I can tap the brake pad down the travel channel with a hammer, but its real tight.

 

(I think its the inside pad, but not positivea till I go back and look at it.)

 

Is that normal or should both pads slide freely in the slide clip.

 

The slide clips look good, but reason for removal is I noticed something was up with my brakes as the outside of the rotor was showing a lot of rust and the outside pad was not making contact with the rotor.

 

The inside pad was worn out more at the bottom of the pad (just barely down to the metal). The top of the pad was about the thickness of a nickel or two.

 

The car has 170,000 miles and the contact surface of the piston was pretty rusted so I sanded it flush again.

 

I got new pads and rotors, but don't want to throw it all together if its not going to operate perfectly.

 

The caliper appears to be operating properly when I compress it with C-clamp (goes in smoothly) then push it out by pressing the brakes.

they should both slide free.. take a file and file down the pad bracket, or you may need to remove some of the powder coat/coating from the bad "ear" itself.. do not press on brake pedal without calipers bolted up, gives for brake fluid facials and lots of swearing..

Yea I was thinking about taking my grinder to just barely remove some of the material from the ears on the pads.

 

I wonder if my bracket rusted or something and thats why it got tight on that one side. The side that is tight is the side that had uneven pad that was worn to the metal at the bottom with about 1/4 inch of pad left at the top.

There is a white bottle with a green label that is a grease for the sliders and clips.

 

I think Permatex makes it, you should grease the sliders.

its common on a lot of models for them to rust up and seize the pads.. When I was working on nissans, Altimas were the worst, we had to replace some brackets cuz they were soo rotted out.

Lesson learned.

 

I got the rear brakes all together. My one slide pin that has the rubber gasket on it was seized. It would spin, but not move in and out. That is the main cause of the lack of coplanarity is my theroy.

 

I would of liked to have upgraded to better pads after this experience, but i don't think it was manufacaturing defect since the pad fits fine on the inside side of the bracket, but none fit ok on the outside.

So I grinded down the ears a little and the pad slides great. I bought a new 'pin and bolt' kit for 9 bucks and regreased everything.

 

I removed the clips and wire brushed all the build of crud off them and the brackets (there was a bunch, but it still fit too tight to slide before grinding)

 

Now on the initial test drive the pads are making contact with the outside rotor when they were not before. Buuuuut then are only making contact on the outer have diameter of the contact area of the rotor(ie the outside diameter inch is contacting, but the inside diameter inch is still showing surface rust on the rotor.) I figure I just need to wear the pad down some and it will be making complete contact.

Sounds like you did not have the rotors re-surfaced ?

 

If the brakes work well just drive it.

 

I like Hawk Ceramic pads for there low dusting. I got them from Mike at AZPinstalls.com If you want better rotors he can get those for you too.

 

Mike has been a big help here for free, support the guy's that help out here for free.

Had a similar issue with uneven wear but with the drivers front caliper. took it apart removed all the exfoliation and regreased both pads moved freely but still had uneven contact when brakes were applied. Ended up replacing the calipers all the way around with a set of near new used calipers I bought from a local member for a steal! No problems since!

Lesson learned.

 

I got the rear brakes all together. My one slide pin that has the rubber gasket on it was seized. It would spin, but not move in and out. That is the main cause of the lack of coplanarity is my theroy.

 

I would of liked to have upgraded to better pads after this experience, but i don't think it was manufacaturing defect since the pad fits fine on the inside side of the bracket, but none fit ok on the outside.

So I grinded down the ears a little and the pad slides great. I bought a new 'pin and bolt' kit for 9 bucks and regreased everything.

 

I removed the clips and wire brushed all the build of crud off them and the brackets (there was a bunch, but it still fit too tight to slide before grinding)

 

Now on the initial test drive the pads are making contact with the outside rotor when they were not before. Buuuuut then are only making contact on the outer have diameter of the contact area of the rotor(ie the outside diameter inch is contacting, but the inside diameter inch is still showing surface rust on the rotor.) I figure I just need to wear the pad down some and it will be making complete contact.

 

If only one side of the caliper is making contact with the rotor the setup is wrong. Both pads on the caliper should make contact for proper braking. They tend not to wear evenly but that's another discussion. One side of the rotor should not be getting rusty. You have a floating caliper that is not floating properly.

Are you having this problem on both sides of the rotor or just the inside?