Brakes-why did they wear out like this

[360cubes]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

Thats just normal wear. YOu will never get even wear unless you have a dual piston calper setup. One pad gently rides against the rotor while the piston pushes against the other one causing it to clamp down. Its possible the caliper needs relubing too causing it to slightly bind up. But on a single piston setup this is entirely normal.

I get normal wear on all my vehicles. Two of which tow 5K-9,000 lbs and are single piston design with drums on the rear. I change the brakes every 18 months and each pad has 20-25% of wear left. Nothing as significant as having one side worn 40% than the other.

Still, I'd check the pressures coming from the brake proportioning valve. I've never had pads wear that uneven, and I've done over 100 brake jobs. The lower right photo shows a clean appearance on the rotor. That's how ALL sides should look - smooth. Having a pad only touch 1.5cm of area on one side of the rotor as in the first few photos leads me to believe something is definitely amiss, as both rotors have the same wear mark.

At least you noticed this. If you would have had the brakes done at a shop or dealer, you'd probably never know about this potential problem. Even with 84K on this set, that's not bad. You are right however, if the pads wore evenly they would have lasted another 15-20,000kms easily, especially in such a light vehicle.