I replaced the rotors and pads on my 08 G35 Journey today with Centric rotors and Wagner ThermoQuiet pads. I have only had the car for about 4 months. When I removed the old pads I noticed that the outside pad on both sides seemed to be much more worn than the inside pads. It was about the same difference on both the passenger and drivers sides. I pulled the slide pins and they seemed normal in terms of dirtiness and the ease by which they came out. I cleaned them and re-lubed them. Upon compressing the pistons for pad replacement they all moved freely so I don't suspect seized caliper. As part of preventative maintenance after purchase I flushed the brake fluid about a month ago.

My question is, is it normal on these cars for the outside pad to wear faster than the inside pad?

 

I've done my brakes twice now, and I didn't notice any significant difference between sides. My guess is that your pins weren't working like the should at some point in the lifespan of the pad set. Maybe they were relubed to address the problem before you got the car.

 

Thank you. The pads and brake job is easy and cheap enough to do that I'm not too concerned about it. I'm pretty diligent in maintaining my cars so I'll keep an eye on the pad wear in 10,000 miles or so to see if it's wearing any more evenly.

 

I ran into the same problem on my car, one of my rear wheel pads actually worn down to the metal on the outside while the inside there were still about 50% pad left. I done a lot of research on this and couldn't really find anything on them. I guess just replace them frequently or at least check them frequently.

 

Slide pins tend to cause the inside pad to wear the most. Sticking caliper pistons cause the outside pad to wear the most.

Are these the rear calipers? These tend to have both issues. The slide pins tend to rust easily due to their low placement, but also, since the rear calipers are cast iron, they have issues with rusting internally and the caliper pistons seizing/sticking in the bore. This usually happens when brake fluid has become laden with water and hasn't been flushed in some time.


Granted, you said that your pistons move freely and you just flushed the brake fluid.

All I'd do for now is clean and relube the pins. If the rear calipers, I'd just replace them completely. Rear caliper remans are cheap from Rockauto.com ($30 + core + shipping)