brake pad problems

has anyone every had a pair of brake pads wear one pad out on one side completely but the other still have 4-5mm (almost new).

i changed my rear pads about 8 months ago and last week had a squeal that i could only hear without my helmet. looked at the rear brakes half arsed and saw the outer pad was still very meaty.:screwy:
figured it was glazed and would come good.

this week the noise was worse so i had a better look and saw the inner pad was down to bare metal and had carved some nice grooves into the disc. so bad that i'll need to replace it.:banghead:


the caliper moves freely and the pads move freely within the guides.

so what went wrong? anyone? anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I would guess that the metal spring that pushes both pads together were ill-fitted or got loose. So one probably rubbed pretty hard, and the other went out of line and barely gliding on the rotor. It could be also that caliper wasn't set correctly, my bike once had an issue where it screeched every time I backed up the bike, but I don't think you have that problem. If the outerpad even has the slightest decay, it's best to replace both of them and make sure they both sit on the disc firmly. Also check if the rotor is warped or not.

no warpage

the rear works (on my954 anyway) like this.


one bolt attaches caliper to the swingarm. it has rubber bushes in it allowing the caliper to move along the bolt as required. the other anchor point is a shaft attached to the caliper which slides into another booted sleeve.


undo bolt and the caliper swings up free of the disc and then slides out of the sleeve for easy access.

there is only one piston which pushes on the outer pad which in theory should push on the disc. the inner pad is basically there for the inner side of the caliper to push back on. the outer pad should be doing all the work if the caliper is unable to move within the booted sleeves.