My 1997 Sentra Eats Brake Pads... Ideas?

if you would remove the piston from the caliper, clean the internals, replace the o'ring, you could expect to see an improvement, IF the cylinder walls containing the piston and the piston are within spec. just cycling the piston on such an old auto, does not remove the microscopic wear debris and other contaminants of many years, remaining in the cylinder.

if you would remove the piston from the caliper, clean the internals, replace the o'ring, this should show improvement IF the piston dimensions and the caliper cylinder dimensions are within spec. just cycling the piston within the cylinder on such an old auto, does not remove the wear and contaminant debris of may years.

I've removed the entire caliper and replaced it. No luck.

"Joe AutoDrill" wrote in news:xdajp.2095$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe04.iad:

if it "eats brake pads",then either the pads are too soft,the rotor is warped or too grooved,your caliper pins and guides are not free and lubricated(sticking caliper),OR ***you ride your brakes***. does a pad on one side of a caliper wear a lot more than the other side? that's a sticking caliper. If the wear is even on both sides,then you're likely applying the brakes too much. I see a LOT of people driving and their brake lights are going off and on while they are NOT actually slowing down for anything;they are probably left-foot braking,and their foot is unconsciously riding the pedal. (If your reflexes are that bad that you need left-foot braking,then you should surrender your license.) Drive the proper way and right-foot brake,as you would for a stick-shift transmission. You will also avoid "unintended acceleration" incidents.

Do you know that it sticks? Or are you deducing this from the uneven wear? Does that wheel drag more when you spin it with the front jacked up?

Could there be residual pressure in the hydraulics because of another problem? Due to road camber or wheel alignment, this just might show itself as wear at the kerb-side disc.

What about excessive play in the RH front wheel bearing.

John

If the wheel/hub gets hot it's rubbing. Something is sticking, either piston or sliding pins.

If the wheel/hub doesn't get hot it's wearing under application. That implies a cracked rotor.

Pads replaced numerous times from different sources. I didn't go high end racing pads yet, but I'd think that I'm not buying cheapo pads each time.

Rotors were replaced.

Calipers replaced.

Hydraulic lines replaced.

Fluid replaced.

Not a two foot driver.

Yes. Inner pad wears 2X as fast as outer pad on old and new calipers.

I agree with you, but it's not the case here.

No. I replaced it *twice* with a rebuilt one from two different sources about 50 miles apart (that's far enough here in NJ to guarantee two different suppliers in most cases.) Two different mechanics too.

We basically don't have junk yards here in NJ any longer. There are a few, but they mostly do nothing except plan for their own closure.

Nope. It's been in the family since it had 10,000 miles on it. It now has

220,000 and this just started a few months ago. I'm the only driver.

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022

01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: Spindle Drills: Tapping: Site: V8013-R

Wheel spins freely. We are guessing because of the uneven wear (inside pad wears more than outside pad.)

Not sure... I've looked at it VERY carefully as have two mechanics. We have all tried all we can think of to figure out the cause including leaving it with someone I trust to check it over thoroughly for 3-4 days...

It's a true head scratcher for me... And I'm not a complete novice at this either. I've done my own brakes on vehicles since I was 18. Total mileage driven is probably close to 750,000. That's a lot of brakes on a lot of vehicles and this is a first for me.

I'll repeat from my original post because I think it gets lost in the replies and / or forgotten:

I've changed the pads (3 times)

I've changed the rotor (2 times)

I've changed the caliper (2 times)

I've changed the brake lines (1 time with the first caliper)

And to clarify, "changed" means replaced with new or equivalent.

"Joe AutoDrill" wrote in news:ez%jp.370$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe05.iad:

that's a clear sign the caliper is sticking. Perhaps the new caliper you installed didn't have it's guide pins lubed.

there's some reason why the caliper is not floating as it should,thus the uneven pad wear.

I totally agree except from my perspective, it is a clear sign that this is the third caliper that is sticking... In the same exact way as the second and the original. I've replaced the entire caliper (not rebuilt, but tossed and put a different unit on there) twice now.

...Still scratching my head at this one.

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022

01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: Spindle Drills: Tapping: Site: V8013-R

"Joe AutoDrill" wrote in news:mD%jp.3855$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe19.iad:

I have a 03 Sentra Spec V. I had to replace the left front caliper bracket because the caliper guide pins had rusted solid with it,one pad had ground down to barely

1/16". Not even a oxy-MAPP torch could get the old pin out of the bracket. I was thankful the rotor wasn't damaged.

I noticed there's a rubber sleeve that goes on -one- of the new guide pins(why,I don't know.it's not the pin boot),perhaps yours has swelled and is keeping the caliper from floating. I had to replace both guide pins and installled a new boot kit,that came with a new "sleeve" I mentioned earlier. Perhaps your caliper bracket has rust or crud in the pin holes.

Are you using the original guide pins or new ones? did you use proper high-temp brake lube on them? "Sil-pad" or equal?

BTW,Rock Auto is a great online place to buy parts. Good service and prices.

Master cylinder or ABS or your foot then.

No ABS.

My foot will not cause one pad to wear over the other on one wheel only.

I can't see how the MC could do it either.

Seeing it's desperation time, try bleeding the brakes again, but taking care to let the brake pedal up slowly as you're doing it.

My Nissan workshop manual mades a point of doing that (no reason given).

Furthermore, that advice once cured a problem with dragging brakes on one front wheel that I had with my other vehicle (VW Transporter/Eurovan). At least the problem stopped when I got my assistant to change their pumping technique, and that was years ago. The problem had started only during a routine brake fluid change in which nothing else was touched.

John

I'll give that a shot, right after I keep the brakes under high pressure overnight to drive any residual air out of the system...

Right this is really stupid. Not been given a LH for RH? Are the calipers on the right wheel? Bleed at top?