brake pad question

[pilsner]

is this normal, or if not, what causese it?
my front right brakes have been grinding, so i pull off the caliper and find that one pad is completely worn down, grinding down the rotor, and the other still has quite a bit left, it doesn't need to be replaced yet. they're on the same caliper.......what the heck??? somebody please explain this to me, maybe i'm just being dumb here.

 

[headrec*]

Since you say only one pad was worn it would probably be a worn caliper pin or slides frozen (meaning that they are unable to release after application).

 

[pilsner]

alright, i'll have to check that out, thanks.

 

[Defiant]

Slider pins need lube, best to just replace them and clean out the bores. However -biting knuckle in shock and indignation- turning the rotor _still_ isn't necessary. I know, it looks like it'll eat pads like there's no tomorrow, and it should snag and lock and pull to the side and just be a crime against mechanicals in general.... but it isn't. I had a work car -Datsun 510 wagon, jeeze, what a wonderful machine- that'd eaten a pad pretty severely, and my shop was an old chicken coop, oddly without a brake lathe. I tossed in pads, figuring on losing the set on the way to the real shop and just getting another $10 set and fighting the ditch-pull on the way to town..... but it didn't. No symptom at all, just normal as could be. For the three more years I drove it, in dry and wet and all. Yes, I know it was bad, I know it was wrong. But apparently, the car didn't.

 

[crazyjoe]

Turning rotors is dumb. Why would you want to take material off your rotors, making them less able to withstand heat and warping, and PAY someone to do this for you?

Either do what ^^^ he did, and just replace the pads once you have the sticking issue fixed, or replace the pads AND get new rotors. Turning them is a waste of money.