Brake Question

The past few days I have been noticing some brake noise coming from the rear. I had some time today so I pulled the wheels off and from the looks of it the driver side rear pads are almost shot, but the passenger side pads look to only be half worn. Now my understanding is you have to replace both sides to keep an even brake feel, but my question is what would cause one side to wear much faster than the other? All I can think of is maybe the passenger caliper is dead. Is there anyway to test this?

Other info: My abs light has been on basically since I got the car. I've had it checked at numerous places including the Wrays and no one has been able to tell me why. Maybe this has something to do with the uneven wear?

Also, does anyone know the minimum thickness of the rear discs for a 99 RS?

Thanks!

 

to test it you can just leave it jacked up and push the brakes (with it all still attached) and have a buddy or yourself watch if it moves or not.

 

Thanks for the tip. That actually makes perfect sense.

 

and if it is siezed or stuck, first pull it off the rotor then try to pull out the slide and see if its rusted itself together, thats what i had to do on mine. A dremel to clean up the rust, some grease and a hammer (hammer not required mine was just that stuck) and its good as new.

 

possibly owner before you only changed one side for some reason (dont know why they would but it could happen)

 

^^^can you even buy ONE brake pad i thought they came in sets of two?

 

good point i think your right they come in sets, i didnt think of that.

 

I thought you could only buy a full set as well.....That being said, you never know what stupid people are capable of...:laugh:

Not calling anyone here stupid, I was talking about the PO possibly replacing only one side of pads, lol.

 

Its possible they needed a caliper before and they bought a loaded one. That would be half a set of pads.

 

this.

 

I guess I should clarify. I have already replaced the pads once since owning the car. So both sides were replaced at the same time. Probably 20k ago?

Thanks for all of the input everyone. I will update this tomorrow after I dig into it again

 

Now it makes more sense, and yes, it sounds like you might have a dead caliper. My question is you didn't feel anything odd when you got on the brakes? I figured it would pull a little, obviously not as much as if the front had an issue, but there would be an odd feeling once you hit the brakes....

 

when mine was stuck it just felt sloppy, it didn't pull, it just didn't feel like it was stopping like it should. and it was the front on mine.

 

Huh, both times I had a front caliper problem it pulled to one side when I stopped. Nothing hardcore, just a slight pull.

 

Yea the sliders tend to rust and sieze especially if the rubber boots are torn. Pretty easy to rebuild them yourself though.