Anyone ever replace pads on one wheel, but not the other?

T

The motor guy

Joined
Nov 29, 2009
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After the premature replacement of my brake pads thanks to some swollen caliper pin boots causing uneven wear I only ended up changing the pads on one front wheel and not the other. I think I have another 3 or 4k miles on the pads on the other side and they're wearing perfectly so I used the if it aint broke don't fix it mentality on this one. Probably a bitog sin, but oh well. I'm going to have to start taking the tires off every once and a while moving forward so I can see the inner pad. I just didn't feel like messing with it today. Truck still stops fine, and the steering wheel doesn't pull one way or the other.
 
I have swapped rear brake shoes on one side when pressed for time. I did the other side right away, though. The issue with changing only one side is that you risk uneven breaking during a panic stop.
 
Waaaaayyyy back in the last century I worked at a place that supported mostly heavy trucking (i.e. dump trucks). It was common like when an axle seal blew and brake [shoes] were ruined by gear oil and such for just one side to be replaced.

Anecdote, one dude I knew worked on trash trucks (Smelly, but paid good), he said they all got new brakes at least once a month.
 
Speedbird001 said:
Waaaaayyyy back in the last century I worked at a place that supported mostly heavy trucking (i.e. dump trucks). It was common like when an axle seal blew and brake [shoes] were ruined by gear oil and such for just one side to be replaced.

Anecdote, one dude I knew worked on trash trucks (Smelly, but paid good), he said they all got new brakes at least once a month.
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Considering how many times they stop, they probably just do it as a preventive measure. I bet they're metal on metal by month two and the drivers aren't going to care
 
BMW Dom said:
The time you took to post this, could have swapped the other side...
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Very true but he is an original for some "questionable" comments. Saying 3-4K left on the other side? That is not much and I cannot understand his reasoning sometimes.
 
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I've seen it done by backyard mechanics if they're pressed for time or waiting on something else for the other side-- e-brake cable, caliper hardware, etc. Then it gets tackled a week or two later.
 
Unless it was an emergency situation, changing brake pads on just one corner of a vehicle is pure laziness and shows a hacker's mentality. Especially if the pads on the other side only have 3-4K miles of wear left on them since that would be ~1/16" of friction material before metal to metal contact. To me, that would be akin to doing a tune-up on a V-8 and only changing 4 spark plugs because of convenience. I wouldn't let someone with that lack of critical thinking within 50 feet of my vehicles.
 
I've done it once in a hurry. Brake pad came apart on the right rear of my car.
Of course, because it's a Ford, there's 2 different rear sets of pads and calipers. I couldn't find the right ones in stock for my car , nor could I find the caliper that matched the available pad. I modified them to work on the right rear.
 
Chris142 said:
Nope. I'm very frugal and I would still do both wheels on an axle.
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The other side will get done in a month or two when I have more time. Now that we found out why these pads are always wearing unevenly. Helps to just do this stuff yourself. No shop is going to sit there and diagnose this. Nope, just slap new pads on and send it out the door! I wasn't aware how freely those slide pins were supposed to be able to move either. I was also able to wiggle the rotors loose at the same time so they won't need a sledge hammer come replacement time.m, like the original set needed. The factory uses those dumb retaining washers that keeps them in place. Probably just so it doesn't land on a person's foot and they get sued.
 
The motor guy said:
No shop is going to sit there and diagnose this. Nope, just slap new pads on and send it out the door!
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With reputable shops and brakes it's actually the opposite. There is immense liability inherent with brake systems, so if anything they will tend to oversell and over-replace anything that's suspect.
 
It seems that as far as the brakes on the car are concerned, it should work out fine.

But for me, once I have the car up on jack stands, have out the right tools and supplies, doing the second side takes no time at all. Why would you want to have to repeat all the prep work, just to get 3k-4k more out of the other side?
 
BHopkins said:
It seems that as far as the brakes on the car are concerned, it should work out fine.

But for me, once I have the car up on jack stands, have out the right tools and supplies, doing the second side takes no time at all. Why would you want to have to repeat all the prep work, just to get 3k-4k more out of the other side?
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There isn't any prep work really. The truck is parked next to the floor jack and it only takes a 15/16" socket for the lug nuts and 1/2" for the caliper bolts. Every vehicle I have has a socket set inside of it. It also helps if I keep to my rule of all like items stay together. Brake fluid and brake caliper grease stays next to each other etc
 
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