Worn brake pad...

[mechanicalbrain]

My dad drives a Tahoe and recently we noticed a squeaking when he hit the brakes. We took a look at the pads, the drivers side inside brake is pictured below (along with a healthy one). Only that brake was worn out and were wondering what might have caused this. I would love to know what issues might cause this.

[Andrew Blair]

mmm...Warped rotor maybe?

[MattD1Drift]

Could be any number of things, maybe the pad stuck after your dad released the brake pedal for while, when you replace your pads, I would have checked every thing,e specially if it was only that one side.

[team222badbrad]

I'm no expert, but my guess would be a sticking brake caliper.

[Conor Ryan]

Why not test it out, install the new one, drive it around for a little bit (use the brakes!). Then take the pad off, look where it was worn down. Then get back to us with results

[Jay H 237]

How's the rotor look where the pad was? If the rotor is scoured it will eat the new pad up also.

The calipers may be sticking and not "floating" like they should. Road debris, sand, salt, ect. can cause the calipers to drag at times. If the brakes had been replaced before then there's always the chance the rotor wasn't turned or that the rotor has become scoured up on that one side which ate the pad up over time. The rotors are thinner today then they used to be. Some of them are only able to be resurfaced once since there won't be enough thickness left for a second resurfacing down the road.


Some vehicles are known to "eat" brake pads up ([cough] Pontiac Grand Prix [cough] ) but the Tahoe isn't one of them that I know of.

[ebmonon36]

When my car did that, it was a warped rotor. I could feel it in the brake pedal - it would kind of shake a little up and down when I applied the brakes and then one day, I put on the brakes and I heard the remainder of the pad break off and the squeeling started....it was raining too.
Eric

[Mr.Fraggs]

sounds like warped brake rotor or bad calipers. see if your calipers are leaking any break fluid and make sure the rotor is totaly smooth ( as in like no bumps or one side warped out or soemthing)

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by team222badbrad

I'm no expert, but my guess would be a sticking brake caliper.

Well, I AM an expert, and it IS a sticking brake caliper.

If you have single-piston calipers, then the 'other' side of the caliper is supposed to 'float' so that both sides press against the disk equally. If the floating side sticks, only the piston side pushes.

If you have double-piston calipers, then one piston is frozen (stuck) in its bore.

In both cases, I strongly recommend having the caliper replaced by a competent shop, the other caliper carefully cleaned, and the brake fluid completely flushed. Note that, on that particular wheel, you were driving with only one half of the braking ability, which should sound dangerous.

Don

[SenseiSkins]

I have one of those in my room

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I agree with Dan on this but would like to go a little further. Your picture shows a pad worn through to the backing plate. That means metal against metal on at least one of the rotors. It is possible you have worn through the critical depth of allowable metal for safe brake operation and it is likely that if you just replaced the pad, you have compounded the problem. Since you did not have the rotor turned and faced, you have less than optimal contact on that face and the original problem still exists. You have either a frozen piston or frozen caliper mounting bolts, so the caliper does not retract after you apply the brakes. This leaves the pad in constant contact with the rotor, raising the heat of the assy and causing temperature related failures of the brake fluid, rotor face, caliper piston seals, etc. With that being said, a brake shop needs to asses the damage, replace or repair the defective caliper, pads, and rotor and the fluid needs a flush.

[i_am_Doug]

Originally Posted by Andrew Blair

mmm...Warped rotor maybe?

Ya i agreed.

[Rickertsen2]

I have the factory service manual TSBs etc for all GM cars. What year is it. Is it 2wd or 4wd? they might have different brakes. I'll look it up and see what I can find.