Front brake knowledge...

[xterrabull]

First of all, any moderator should feel free to move this to a more appropriate section....
With that said,
I found that my front passenger brake rubs (the pad touches the rotor) for about 120 degrees of the 360 degrees in the wheel rotation.
Basically, with the tire off, I rotate the rotor and there is a VERY small gap between the (outer) brake pad and the rotor until a certain point in the rotation and then there is AUDIBLE contact between the (outer) pad and rotor; the friction makes it much more difficult to rotate the wheel.
I know one possibility is a mishapen rotor but I'm also thinking that the pads may be too close to the rotor to begin with, thus causing a "normal" rotor flatness variation (or imperfection mounting of the rotor) to result in rubbing on the pads.
I was thinking there may be a way to adjust the pad-rotor distance. Anyon have any knowledge here?

A side note is that I investigated this as part of my quest to discover the origins of a sudden fuel efficiency drop (2-3 MPG) back in November. And yes, I've checked all the usual suspects (I even adjusted the ignition timing which was way out of specification).

Thanks .

[Schludwiller]

I know we tend to deal with these things ourselves, but wouldn't a trip to the dealer be appropriate in this case?

[enzo@af]

I was under the impression that the rotors should always be slightly in contact with the pads....same with shoes and drums.

However, my knowledge of braking is somewhat skewed...every assumption I have seems to be wrong

Yeah, sounds like the rotor is a little warped. Get a new one. They aren't too expensive, and maybe you can find some nice cross drilled ones...maybe a little bigger than your current ones too, if they'll fit.

[Matt Peckham]

and hopefully you can paint the rotors red, and spraypaint Bemboeck on them to make you brake 20% faster.

[wqbang]

Brakes pads should contact the rotors. However, when you spin the wheel with the wheels off the ground, there should not be any binding, rather just the normal resistance of your axle shafts turning (front wheel drive). Your rotors are warped. If you have >25-30K miles, get them turned at a brake shop. If they continue to warp consider looking into other problems including caliper drag.

[xterrabull]

Thanks for the input...
I had a neighbor look at it & he said I was crazy for thinking it was a problem ('cause I could spin the tire & get 2-3 full rotations with not too much effort).
However, it is slightly uneven contact through rotation (more on passenger than driver side) and I do have 35K miles, so maybe I'll get the rotors turned (the break pads are still *ok* but maybe I'll replace them at the same time).
Also, I found a bigger problem: the front driver side wheel (I have year 2000 aluminum wheels) has two CRACKS, one on each side of the same "spoke" on the end of the "spoke" that is closest to the tire.
I also found a similar (but smaller) crack on my rear driver side wheel (so, the dealer can't blame ARB/winch for this ).
Looks like I'll have to take it to the dealer this week (my first time back since my bad buying experience 1.5 years ago).
Sorry for the lack of pictures (no digital camera or scanner (or regular camera, for that matter)).
I ALSO replaced my spark plugs (yes, busy day) & found that the #5 spark plug had some kind of crud covering one electrode (not the one that bends to change gap size, the other one). Maybe THIS caused my big mileage drop; only time will tell.
And yes, the 6th plug is a b!tch.