Possible safety issue??
 

Pulled out my old brake pads today, and found this

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/7605/image201xe7.jpg

If you cant see my issue, its wearing more towards one end of the pad than the other. Talked to the guys at advance auto parts, and they said that the piston in the caliper is pressing the pad crooked, and that I would need to replace the pin (??) or the caliper itself. Any ideas on why this is happening? What can be done to fix it?? The brakes feel fine, everything works, but is this a safety issue??

Thanks

something is binding... whether its a slide pin or the pad or even the piston in the caliper if thats possible. it can probably be taken apart and cleaned and greased up and reassembled, but if the calipers are real cheap it might be faster and not much more expensive to just get a new one.

When we took the caliper out, there was a whole bunch of crusty yellow stuff on the inside of it that we cleaned out. Im not sure if this is normal, or maybe something is getting in there. Im not sure what the cost of a "rebuild" would be, but I found a used set on ebay with all brake lines for 18.99 and 15 shipping. New calipers are 35 dollars per side.

you could take all of the moving parts out, clean them well to get the crap off of them, then put brake caliper grease on them and hopefully they should all move easily and not bind. you could take it a step further and pull the piston(s) out of the caliper and clean them and replace the seals in there as well if you think thats the problem.
orrr, you could just get a new caliper.

See I have NO idea how this is done, and since its brakes, id rather not take a chance. 38 dollars doesnt seem all that bad though, and since I only replaced the front pads and painted some stuff, I have money left over to get it done. I noticed that when we were compressing the piston back in, it was very stiff, and in the brake fluid reservoir, the fluid became dark and the level raised. NO idea what that is, but il just replace em. Thanks

just so you know when replacing the caliper you'll also need the proper tools and parts to take off and put back on the brake line itself where it attaches to the caliper. if it needs new crush washers or anything make sure to get them. you'll also need to rebleed your brake system but from what it sounds like thats probably a really good idea anyway.

yeah thats pretty dangerous to have coins in your brake system

lol looks like your rotors could be warped and the caliper is fuxored, replace the caliper asap before they lock on you one day oh and your rotor is now toast

Its funny you say that, but my rotors are actually fine. I had a new set ready to replace them, we went to take the old ones off, and sure enough, the bolts didnt want to come undone (you know about this one firsthand). Then we checked the rotor, and it was pretty straight, no bumps or grooves, so we left it be. I dont get any vibration while braking, but I will replace the calipers probbably next week.

and replace the pad too of course, as well as the other stuff i mentioned above. if you arent familliar with brake work then take it somewhere to have it done.

Theres nothing wrong its called shoveling. It happens with hard breaking on cheap pads or low pads seating weird because the piston has too much play. Personally it looks like a combo of both. Your pads are down pretty low and should have been changed already.

I thought you quit TST.

Well we put brand new pads in today, I really hope they dont get fubared in a week till my calipers get here. The pads and all were easy to do, it was just a bit time consuming, I am hoping that the caliper replacement will be a straight swap deal, but it should be cause they are from the same car after all. Sucks, cause i have to paint them again

I do quite a bit of hard braking, but I dont know what to do..leave it be, or change the calipers to be sure

When it comes to something like this, i can bend my word

i'd take the new pads out if i were you and not drive your car any more than you have to.

I promise you there is nothing wrong with your brakes, put your new ones in and stop driving like an Idiot with out the proper pads. Kelly drive can wait. Seriously, just change them and don't worry. lemme guess you got like bendix or whatever that brand pepboys sells for like 15 bux as replacements. Ill be dammed to see a set of Hawks do that tat bad. Its really no big deal.

Do you grease up with each pad change also? you should. that may be part of it. check the little boot that goes around the bolt if its dry lube it up.

Il try to answer all of this in order.

The pad pictured is the pad that was taken out. I put in Wearever silver pads, regular stuff. Il probbably drive around for a month or so and pull em and see if they are wearing evenly or not, and then see if I should replace anything. We didnt grease the pads, but we did grease all of the bolts for the calipers, and so on.

I was talking about greasing the two bolts jerkass! Your car will be fine. you aren't going to see a difference in a month so just forget about them until its time to change again or if they start acting weird. I've had a set of pads last me close to a year with much much harder driving and shown little to no wear.

take the calipers off, take the caliper brackets off. get a wire brush and clean the spaces where the pads are seated VERY good. grease these spaces up very good too. grease the caliper slide pins and reinstall. theres nothing wrong, its very common for hondas to wear like this.