Rear BRakes Not Wearing Down

[NightRider97]

Ok, I'm doing allot of work to my GST this week and one part being repairing the brake system. The front brakes were worn out and rotors need turned (I've serviced the front ones once since i've had the car, for about 25k-30k miles). The rear brakes though, I have never replaced, the pads looked new when I serviced the fronts so I left them. But here's my problem, I've put 25-30k miles on this car since servicing the brakes the last time and there's no more wear on the rear pads or rotors now than there was back then. This is not right. I know a large percentage of the cars braking power will be with the front brakes, but what I'm seeing is excessive. It appears that nearly no braking power is being placed on the rear brakes. Is this a common problem or not really? I couldn't find any other threads about it.

 

[BLINKY619]

samething to me but its only the rear left side..!!!

 

[eeeewidner]

Ok, I'm doing allot of work to my GST this week and one part being repairing the brake system. The front brakes were worn out and rotors need turned (I've serviced the front ones once since i've had the car, for about 25k-30k miles). The rear brakes though, I have never replaced, the pads looked new when I serviced the fronts so I left them. But here's my problem, I've put 25-30k miles on this car since servicing the brakes the last time and there's no more wear on the rear pads or rotors now than there was back then. This is not right. I know a large percentage of the cars braking power will be with the front brakes, but what I'm seeing is excessive. It appears that nearly no braking power is being placed on the rear brakes. Is this a common problem or not really? I couldn't find any other threads about it.

That seems to be the same situation with a lot of cars today. A lot of it has to do with your braking habits....and when you use the brakes the most....

samething to me but its only the rear left side..!!!

Sounds like either sticking caliper slides or a worn master cylinder....Our cars have a cross diagonal braking system for safety purposes....

 

[luv2rallye]

Sticking calipers or piston is most likely. A more rare case is a sticking proportioning valve (tap with a hammer sometimes frees it).

 

[NightRider97]

So you think its possible that the rear calipers have the pistons seized so that they will no longer put any pressure on the pads? Never really experienced that before, I have experienced a stuck piston that would tighten up and stick and repeat every time the brake was engaged. This is why I'm replacing the front calipers because one of them had stuck and warped a rotor.

 

[SteGerHPI]

There's a lot of variables that go into uneven brake wear like that, but keep in mind the front brakes do @ 80% of the work on most newer cars. I would check it out to be safe though. Jack up the rear end, have some one hit the brakes and see if you can turn the wheels. Depress the pistons in the calipers and have someone pump the brakes slowly and see if the pistons come out evenly. Then do a good brake bleed.

 

[bahamian4g63]

+1 on caliper slides, they need to be lubed.

 

[JayRolla]

Take it apart and check it out like everyone is saying. 30k miles is a long time. You sure you remember where the pads where? The rears dont wear that much at all. They do more than 80% of braking sometimes. On every car I have ever owned I could wear the fronts 3 or more times out before the rears.

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

Take it apart and check it out like everyone is saying. 30k miles is a long time. You sure you remember where the pads where? The rears dont wear that much at all. They do more than 80% of braking sometimes. On every car I have ever owned I could wear the fronts 3 or more times out before the rears.

Perfectly said^^^ Those rears just don't wear very quickly at all compared to the fronts. Take them apart to inspect/lube if you want and/or jack up the rear to see if they are indeed working when the pedal is depressed and if everything checks out ok forget about it.

 

[KKneipper]

Pull the parking brake with the rear end in the air. The parking brake should lock up the rear wheel, as opposed to just pressing the brake pedal, which may not completely lock them. If you can't make those back wheels budge, then you are in good shape.

Its a good thing that you have the GST, because with the limited slip the AWD DSM's have, you would have to get the whole car in the air to try it.

 

[BLINKY619]

i know the caliper makes pressure... just not enough... also ill try tapping on it

 

[1995gsx20g]

the rear rotors would be a little rusty if the calipers were frozen.

there is little to no weight in the rear of a gst so not much braking effort can be applied without them locking up.

 

[Kyogie12]

Like everyone else said...front Brakes do the majority of the braking, and will wear MUCH faster. I just replaced my front brakes for the second time since i've replaced the rear.

 

[Alex Bland]

Maybe you need to adjust the rear calipers, could be to far out and you push in the pedal and it just grabs a little bit

 

[BLINKY619]

yup the rotor is a bit rusted for sure.... imma take a look and check what it is

 

[KKneipper]

Maybe you need to adjust the rear calipers, could be to far out and you push in the pedal and it just grabs a little bit

The pads are always rubbing the rotors. If they weren't then the force of the sudden grip would cause a hell of a lot of damage.

If you really want to do the easy test to figure out if your rear brakes work, park on a sloped driveway or hill. Then pull up on the parking brake and see if your car starts rolling down the hill.

 

[BLINKY619]

well i tried that not too long ago and only one side froze completely and the other one kept rolling untill i pull the handbrake further

 

[NightRider97]

Ok, here's one thing you guys need to realize, I know I didn't until I tore into this thing the other day. GST's do not have rear calipers with screw pistons. They actually have a completely separate parking bake system, a drum and shoe system that runs on the inside of the rotor hub. My parking brake had quit holding the car, thats why I thought the rear pads must be worn out, thinking they were part of a screw piston system. But as I now know they are not.

 

[BLINKY619]

Ok, here's one thing you guys need to realize, I know I didn't until I tore into this thing the other day. GST's do not have rear calipers with screw pistons. They actually have a completely separate parking bake system, a drum and shoe system that runs on the inside of the rotor hub. My parking brake had quit holding the car, thats why I thought the rear pads must be worn out, thinking they were part of a screw piston system. But as I now know they are not.

i guess something is wrong with my brake system

 

[1995gsx20g]

all 2g's have a rotor/drum combo in the rear.