2001 Malibu Uneven Brake Wear

You could have a caliper that's not moving on it's slides. Possibly in a bind causing the pad to stay in contact with the rotor after letting off the brakes.

Brian

Sounds to me as though you are getting above average wear on your brakes. Forget about the grooves, how thick is the pad? And make sure you check the inner pad, because it usually wears out about twice as fast as the outer pad on these vehicles.

Ian

Perhaps the slides are sticking and you've got an outboard pad sticking on. Check that your caliper slides freely & that your piston moves back into the caliper as it should upon release of hydraulic pressure. It is very rare that friction materials will brake down prematurely resulting in the wear that you're describing. But it is possible.

PS the piston return in the caliper is provided by the piston seal deformation returning to static position. (Fractions of an inch)

I agree. That is an unusual wear pattern and the hardware could be the cause. For some reason I end up replacing those slider pins after about two years, even before the pads are worn out. They cost $8+ each last time. There is so little movement there that they have plenty of time to get dirty/rusty. When that section of the slider is needed after some wear, the caliper gets stuck on the crud.

I don't really know why these brakes wear out that way. But every last one that comes in the shop is worn out this way so we assume that it's a quirk of the design. These front calipers don't have many problems with the slider mechanisms, I'd be more likely to suspect a problem with the piston.

We often get vehicles that have been inspected by chain shops and they tell the customer to bring it in to the dealership for warranty because there is something wrong with the calipers. We have to set them straight. I can only imagine how many front calipers are being sold to the consumer out in "aftermarker" land. It would be an easy sell, show the customer the two pads, and bingo...they would think there is a problem with the caliper.

Ian