tracking down a persistent squeek/uneven wear issue

[berbes]

hello. our '09 forester had a high-pitched squeal and left excessive dust on the left rear wheel.

 

when i took off the caliper, the outer pad was 90% gone while the inner pad had much more meat. i noticed the upper pad clip was bent in a bit, and that seemed to inhibit the pad's movement after braking.

 

i bent the clip back, bought new pads and had both rotors turned. i then put everything back on, but sure enough, less than a week later, the exact same squeal. i'm thinking maybe i didn't clean the pad clips and the surrounding areas good enough, so that's my afternoon project. i'm currently cleaning the hell out of those clips and immediate areas with solvent, brush, and sandpaper, as i see they have a good amount of black crud here and there. i'm also putting the pad clips on the other side of the car to see if the sound follows.

 

if this doesn't work, am i looking at an intense caliper cleaning next? any tips would be MUCH appreciated.

 

THANKS!

Edited July 11, 2012 by berbes

[nickb21]

I'm not sure about the squeak - how loud is it? Does it sounds like metal on metal?

 

You'll definitely want to pull the outer frame of the caliper off and clean and lube the slide pins (2). More than likely these are sicking and the outer pad isn't fully releasing off the rotor. The auto-parts store sells small packets of grease, but I usually just buy a tube of SilGlyde. Clean off all the old crud under the boots and re-lube and re-assemble.

[idosubaru]

keep it simple:

 

1. buy new clips

2. clean and regrease the slides properly and make sure they aren't binding if the slides have a rubber seal on the shaft (some of them do on front calipers, not sure if the rears do sometimes as well). they are notorious for swelling and not allowing full travel in the bore which results in one pad wearing faster than another.

[berbes]

all excellent advice. i'm starting with the cheapest advice and moving up to clips. btw, when i look for clips, they're always packaged with pads. where can i find them ala carte?

 

thanks again.