New brake pads too thick

[UNCC_BRZ]

I just installed a new set of brake pads on Monday, Wearever Platinum. One side went on no problems, change done in 5 minutes. The other side took me about 30 minutes to convince the caliper to go back on over the new pads. Now I'm having some serious drag issues. I know that it's just the one side from the heat I can feel after I drive.
I'm 99.9% sure that the pads are just overly thick. I did not replace the rotors.

So what are my options? I dont have the old pads anymore.

[8RZ]

Did you seat/bed the pads in properly?


Part number for the pads? You sure they're made for our cars, right?

[UNCC_BRZ]

Wouldn't that cause both sides to be dragging not just one?

But yes, I did 4 stops from 30, 2 stops from 50, then let them cool. But I dont think that mattered much considering they were super tight to begin with.

[UNCC_BRZ]

Part number from Advanced Auto is #PXD1539H, says its a Exact fit.

[NCtoBRZ]

Originally Posted by UNCC_BRZ

I just installed a new set of brake pads on Monday, Wearever Platinum. One side went on no problems, change done in 5 minutes. The other side took me about 30 minutes to convince the caliper to go back on over the new pads. Now I'm having some serious drag issues. I know that it's just the one side from the heat I can feel after I drive.
I'm 99.9% sure that the pads are just overly thick. I did not replace the rotors.

So what are my options? I dont have the old pads anymore.

Drag issues makes it sound like something is seizing. Did you clean/lube the sliding pins? Are the pistons moving smoothly in the caliper? If the backplates on the new pads are out of spec, that could also cause drag.

[ls1ac]

I have got pads that were just a little too thick, and used a belt sander to take them down.


side note: have used the sander to resurface old pads with a hard glaze before reinstalling them

[wparsons]

Was it only one side? Did the caliper pistons fully retract, or did they stop before fully retracting?

[UNCC_BRZ]

Thanks for the responses, I swapped the pads around, no help. So I swapped 1 pad from each side to the other, made it a little better.
At that point I could at least get the caliper over the pads and rotor without a rubber mallet, but it was still binding, so I took my thin crowbar to the "window" in the rotor. Seemed to move the rotor enough to allow the pads to back off.

No issues anymore, car rolls back on hills again, and no overheating (these things were so hot I couldnt even take off the wheel without gloves). Drove it about 15 miles on the highway to get home from where I was working on it and there were no issues at all on the way home!!!

So I think that what might have happened is that the caliper pistons werent actually fully retracted? Or maybe the slide pins were jammed up? I checked the slide pins when I pulled the caliper off and they moved freely, and had plenty of grease on them still, so I'm honestly not sure what the issue was.

Are brake pads R/L AND inside/ outside specific?

The brakes weren't too glazed so I just popped them right back in, they only had about 60ish miles on them.

[UNCC_BRZ]

Originally Posted by NCtoBRZ

Drag issues makes it sound like something is seizing. Did you clean/lube the sliding pins? Are the pistons moving smoothly in the caliper? If the backplates on the new pads are out of spec, that could also cause drag.

One of the backplates on the side that was dragging/binding came off, but I popped it back on when I reinstalled, is this an issue I should address? Should return these pads and get new ones? The braking material was in fine shape, no glazing.

[NCtoBRZ]

Originally Posted by UNCC_BRZ

One of the backplates on the side that was dragging/binding came off, but I popped it back on when I reinstalled, is this an issue I should address? Should return these pads and get new ones? The braking material was in fine shape, no glazing.

I would return/exchange the pads for new ones just to be safe.

[UNCC_BRZ]

Originally Posted by NCtoBRZ

I would return/exchange the pads for new ones just to be safe.

I dont have time to do it right away, but I will most definitely get to it this weekend.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by UNCC_BRZ

Are brake pads R/L AND inside/ outside specific?

Yes, though inside/outside is more important than right/left. Wear indicator pads go on the inside with the wear indicator strip on the bottom. Im pretty sure most outside pads are interchangeable between the left and right, but I just keep the l/r sets together out of the box.

If you had the inside and outside pads flipped, you might have binding issues since sometimes the inside pads have small pins or something on the back which don't allow the pad to sit flush with the caliper casting.

[stevesnj]

Sounds like a piston was cocked in the bore or there was too much pad shimming