Hit snag during pad swap...need some advice

I'm in the middle of swapping my front pads (wear light came on last week). The lip on my rotor is fairly good size, so I know I'm due to replace the rotors soon, but I figured I'd tackle this in a month or two and do the pads in the meantime. My first question concerns the different amount of wear indicated on the inside and outside pads. The outside pad was worn well into the wear indicator, but the inside pad was not yet to the indicator and seems to have much more material than the other pad. Does this suggest something is amiss with the caliper, a rebuild is necessary, or is it normal? Second question: I can't get the new pads (mintex red box) to fit within the outer and inner "ridges" of the rotor. It is very close, but I can't get the pad to sit completely flat on the rotor by using my hands alone. Is this common? Will it just "seat" when I apply the brakes for the first time? Or, is this a sign that my rotors are too far gone and that I need to replace now? Or, could it be my pads are out of spec a bit? It is almost as though if I just sanded the extreme edge of the pad just a tad it would seat nicely. Any advice would be great as I'm smack dab in the middle of this thing!

Hi Scott, I did my fronts a couple of months ago. I also used the Mintex Red pads. My rotors were in the same condition that you described. Since my car is a rebuilt salvage, I had to have a brake inspection done. My rotors were too worn to bother with trying to have them turned. The new oem rotors are inexpensive. I'm getting ready to do the rears so I can track the car this summer. The rears are $205. for the pair from Suncoast Motorsports. The fronts are $232. My fronts are currently squealing like crazy....I followed Stoptech's bedding procedure. I'm going to pull them off tomorrow, apply more anti-squeal goo and sand the pads lightly. I hope I can stop the squealing...it sounds like the male bonding scene in the movie Deliverance. I'm not an expert; however, it sounds like you might save yourself some grief by replacing the rotors along with the pads (or at least have them turned if they still have enough metal left). Good luck Scott. If I can be of any assistance, please give me a call...[phone removed]. Mark.

Good Luck!! You can't turn slotted or drilled rotors!!

Decided its bests not to force it. I've replaced the worn pads back to the car, and will get new rotors on monday. Mark, do you buy chance know what the model number was for the pads you installed? Mine is mdb 2417. They are the ones with the two large counterweights at the top. Mintex does not show this pad number on their website catalogue, so I'm trying to confirm that the ebay seller sent me the right pads (also, my box has a printed lable on it with the numbers "997"...could it be they sent me the wrong ones?

Scott, I don't have the box for the fronts anymore. I have not done the rears yet. The rears have the numbers D996MTX and MDB1874. It sounds you might want to confirm that the 996 & 997 pads are interchangable. I pulled the fronts today in an attempt to get rid of the squeal. I sanded them & applied more anti-squeal compound. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I wasn't happy when I just pulled it into the garage...my brake sensor light is now on. I put new sensors on a couple months ago when I replaced the pads & rotors. They heated up so much that when I disconnected them today, they broke (they were partially melted). I installed new sensors again today....I must not have pushed the connector in far enough. Do you know if the light will stay on if I just remove both sensors? It sounds like you made a good decision. You won't regret getting new rotors. I painted my calipers while I had them off the car. I also bought braided stainless steel lines to replace the stock rubber lines. I plan on flushing my brake system when I do the rears. If you plan on tracking the car this summer, you might consider the stainless lines & flushing your brake system. If you need me to pull one of front pads tomorrow when I fix the wear sensor (to get the part number off the back). Give me a call. Good luck, Mark.

Light will stay on with sensors removed. Just cut the connector off an old worn sensor leaving about 1" of wire and then strip and twist these wires together, cover end with electrical tape or shrink tubing and place it back into the matching connector. This will satisfy your computer and the lights will be gone.

You shouldnt but you can

Ray, thanks for the advice. I just had a bad connection on the passenger side. It was a five minute fix. When I do the rears, I'll follow your recommendations.

I would recommend using stripes instead of tape for just about anything on a car. For instance tying the pad sensor cables to the brake line.

Scott, I hope you have better luck with your Mintex red box pads than me. I am ordering a different brand of pads tomorrow. My car is squealing so bad now that it is undriveable. I'm going to try and return the rear pads that I havn't installed yet.

Did you replace or salvage the old anti-squeal hardware when you put the new pads on? Without the hardware it is hard to keep any pad from squealing.

Mintex Red Box pads are usually not high squeal pads. I'm wondering if it is something other than the pad material causing the squeal. I've had pretty bad results with the anti-squeal compound. It never worked better than temporarily on my old 993 calipers. The solution may be the shims that attach to the pad and plug into the caliper piston holes. The only problem with those is it makes changing to track pads for events a pain.

Scott, I know I read somewhere about filing the edges of new pads so they fit on the old rotors. Perhaps the Pagid site as I was shopping those pads. Quite certain I read it and wanted you to know that at least. You may not need new rotors yet if it is something you wish to avoid. Keep looking/asking. I think filing the edges is acceptable.

Thanks for the responses guys. I decided to go for the rotors...they needed them after all, was just being cheap (easy to be cheap after a 4k tranny repair!). We'll see if I have the same squealing issues as Mark!

Here is the Pagid link and text to filing the pad edges off to fit to old rotors: MOUNTING NEW PADS ON USED DISCS Edges of pad surface should be filed roughly to 45 degrees to ensure that the pad carries fully and evenly and is not touching the edge of the disc. Do not use discs, which are pre-bedded, or have been used with friction material other than PAGID. http://www.braketechnology.com/brakepadbedding.html I know you are not using these pads but I just had the Pagid sports put on and they seem great. I've really only just bedded them in but so far they seem smooth and no squeal with light or heavy braking. They were put on rotors with 11k miles and the Porsche OEM pads came off. Not sure about the last statement about "Do not use discs, which are pre-bedded, or have been used with friction material other than PAGID". There is a wealth of info at Pagids site, good reading I thought. I would take these statements to mean you can file an edge to make the pad fit better but you may want to call a pad manufacturer. I also think it is saying to clean off the old rotor before using a new/different pad. I am not a mechanic, just passing on stuff I read.

Steve and Mike, you guys are probably right. I'm going to the dealer tomorrow to pick up NEW anti-squeal hardware. I may also get a pair of OEM pads with the vibration counter weights, just in case. The Mintex pads did not have them. Thanks for your help.

Well... I just replaced the pads on my fairly well worn rotors today. The pads were down to 4mm. No problems. I bough the OEM Mintex pads and also the brake pad vibration dampers. I followed the Renntech brake article to the letter (concerning the pads, not the rotors) but I also chamfered the outer and inner edges of each pad with a shop file (about 1/32 inch off) before installing them (on a shop owner/friend's advice). They slid right in, laid flay on the rotor and buttoned up with no problems. After the install, I took them out on a quick test drive and found nice retardation and absolutely no squeak (my old pads had some squeak).

I just picked up new anti-squeal hardware from the dealer...they have adhesive on the back and adhere to the new pads...duh....I shouldn't have attempted to reuse the old ones. I bought new OEM pads because they have the anti-vibration counterweights unlike the Mintex. I'll save the Mintex for track days. I spoke to a factory trained mechanic....he said to not use the anti-squeal goo. If you're smart enough to get the new backing plates($9x4) the first time (unlike me), the goo isn't necessary. It does however, make a serioous mess. Thanks for the help guys. Scott, good luck with yours...I'm sure your pads will work fine with new anti-squeal backing plates.

Thanks. I bedded the pads in today and the brakes work great. The old low speed squeel is gone too. Oh, and I didn't use any anti-squeal lube.

I don't think they used it in the movie "Deliverance" either!

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Tim, thanks for the laughs. Mine were so loud, I wouldn't have been able to even hear the nice banjo music.