What makes brakes wear like this?

[agarb]

I recently bought a used car for my daughter to drive so I have been doing all the normal fluids and maintenance items to get it ready for her.

The previous owner had recently slapped new pads on each wheel but the rotors were in terrible shape. What makes the rotors wear like this? See attached photo.

 

[Graham Piccinini]

Sticky caliper pistons, seized caliper guide pins, etc.

 

[Jetronic]

stuck brakes, could be pads, pistons or slide pins but the brakes are not (dis)engaging properly

 

[CharlieJ]

Why is the contact area on the rotors so narrow? Were the correct pads used?

 

[LostInTransit]

I was going to ask the same question. I fear that the pads are not the correct ones for the system.

 

[thastinger]

I think the PO put the wrong pads on there

 

[Donald]

You have not told us the rest of the pieces of the puzzle. Do the pistons go back in easily? Pins not stuck? Pads able to move within the SS clips and not bound from road dirt around the pad ears or rust under the SS clips?

 

[Donald]

I think the PO put the wrong pads on there

That would mean the PO found a pad with the right length and size of the pad ear but the width of the pad material was not correct. Seems iffy.

 

[Escape08]

Most likely pistons weren't pressed in correctly (not level) upon brake pads installation.

 

[KrisZ]

Probably little use with lots of around town driving. It doesn’t necessarily mean there is anything wrong with hardware since all rotors look similar.

I had that happen on my minivan, but only on the front. When I was still living in Canada it was driven little and exclusively in town. The front rotors started to pulsate and the inner surface had rust buildup in few spots. The outer surface looked great.

 

[Fabulous50s]

Very little use over a long period of time, and pad slapping without proper machining/replacement of rotors.

I've seen that many times on granny cars.

 

[Bjornviken]

dry or seized caliper guide pins

 

[Kira]

Pads able to move within the SS clips and not bound from road dirt around the pad ears or rust under the SS clips?

Along with all of the above....were the clips installed correctly in the first place?

 

[64bawagon]

Classic case of Midwest rust creep. Usually a combination of slide pins needing lube, the caliper shims being rust jacked and causing the caliper to hang up and the fact that ceramic brakes arent as abrasive as semi metallic pads and cant keep up with cleaning the rust caused by road salt. If you short trip a car in the winter and then put it away wet the rust grows at an astronomical rate.
The 2000's era Silverado 1500's had a huge issue with this. My 2005 Silverado 2500HD went through 2 sets of rotors before 100k miles due to rust, The pads made it to 100k and that was with me sanding them flat when I replaced the rotors.

 

[CharBaby]

Too much lube inside the cylinder bore of the slider pins.

 

[SC Maintenance]

The two on the right appear like they were hardly working. Bad or sticking calipers, bad master cylinder - assuming they were both I am guessing rear, sticking pins, etc etc.

 

[Hall]

Why is the contact area on the rotors so narrow? Were the correct pads used?

The (2) on the right are rears (the parking brake plug is visible) and many rear pads are small, relative to the rotor. Could just be a case of using common parts by the manufacturer and there's zero harm in that. The one in the right-rear looks "okay" but the front one looks like a sticky caliper or slide pin wasn't allowing full-pressure contact.

 

[agarb]

Sorry, my original post wasn’t clear.

Yes, at least 1 caliper pin is frozen and another is extremely dry. Pistons push in OK.

I pulled everything off last night so I could figure out what I needed to order. I decided to get a full set of pads with clips, rotors, and caliper pins.

The pads are the correct size but they aren’t wearing the entire surface of the rotor. I was trying to understand what causes this to happen. The rear brakes (rotors on the right) were the worst as SC Maintenance observed.

Also, the parking brake wasn't adjusted properly and didn't hold at all, not a good thing in a manual transmission!

But overall, the car is in great condition. Can't believe I was able to pick it up for $1200. Only one rust bubble above the left rear tire.

 

[AZjeff]

Is the make, model, and year of the $1200 car a secret?

 

[RedSpider]

The two rotors on the right look exactly like the rear rotors on my 2017 Mazda3. They work fine, still have the factory pads on at 70k miles so it wasnt wrong pads. Pads wearing evenly, no pulsing or noises. They arent seized in the caliper bracket, they move easily, the pins are lubed and move easily, and the piston goes back into the caliper just fine. Activate the parking brake, put it in gear, they hold pretty well. Took it to the dealer when I had a (front) wheel bearing replaced last month, they said they see this a lot and to them they didnt consider it a problem. They said they could machine or replace the rotors but everything was working fine.