Hey, I just changed the front brake pads on my '97 Legacy Outback 2.5L with
146,000+ miles. I bought the car a year and a half ago and the brakes have been squealing for about a year. I heard metal on metal grinding the other day and decided to stop driving until I bought pads from the dealer and replaced them. I got the new ones on and the squeak is gone.Here are two pictures of the pads I removed, the front left pads are on the left and the front right pads are on the right. The furthest pad on the right is the outside pad of the passenger side.
Should I worry about this uneven wear? My rotors seem fine, though there are some minor grooves from the pad being almost completely worn down. I used a drill and sandpaper attachment to grind them down as much as I could. I suppose it's possible that someone replaced just the driver's side pads before I got the vehicle, but after a year it doesn't seem like the replaced pads would look that thick. Although, writing that last sentence reminds me that the guy I bought the vehicle from said he had replaced all the pads right before he sold it to me...
On that same passenger tire, I noticed that one of the gaskets from the piston (I think. The pistons are the cylinders you depress to rotate the assembly back together...right?) looked like it had slipped out a little. I would have grabbed a picture, but my hands were filthy. It wasn't seated completely like any of the other ones, anyway. Is this part of the problem?
When driving today, it sounded like the rear brake might have been part of the squealing. I may pop the back tires off tomorrow to see if the rear pads are in terrible shape as well.
Thanks for any tips.