Flipping Disk Pads - Bad?

[Ducked]

Just given the front calipers and disks a bit of a clean, and in the process I think I swapped over the inner and outer pads on the passenger side.

Realised I'd probably done it when I did the other side. The pads look the same but of course have to be flipped top to bottom if you put them on the other side of the disk.

Running out of daylight, I decided to just leave it for now. My thinking was that it would probably increase wear and reduce braking force a bit on that side, since the hills would no longer correspond with the valleys, but I thought they would probably re-bed fairly quickly, and it MIGHT have the benefit of flattening the disks/pads out a bit.

Brakes work, though there's maybe more rubbing noise. Only driven quite slow slow and havn't had a chance to do any test emergency stops yet.

If this is likely to be a problem I can either reverse it, or do it to the drivers side as well, for balance.

Opinions?

 

[turtlevette]

Do you have any pad taper?

 

[hpb]

It won't make any noticeable difference. Out of interest, what sort of car?

 

[user52165]

Are you sure it's possible? Wear sensors? Same geometry?

 

[Kira]

What year, what type of vehicle (car-truck-regionally specific delivery van), which model?

 

[bvance554]

I wouldn't give it any thought at all, but since you asked here I'm sure many will tell you its time for a complete new set of pads and rotors.

 

[Ducked]

Don't think there was much pad taper, though I THINK there was a bit of undercutting from the rust on the rims.

 

[Ducked]

Car is 1986 Daihatsu Skywing, which I THINK is basically a Charade G11. Small [censored] Oh alright JAPANESE FWD econobox.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: bvance554
I wouldn't give it any thought at all, but since you asked here I'm sure many will tell you its time for a complete new set of pads and rotors.


This COULD be true, though brakes were apparently working OK and it passed its 6-monthly govt inspection (which includes a rolling-road style brake test) about 5 months ago, so due another fairly soon.

when I can find my vernier caliper I'll try and measure the disk thickness.

There's some pictures in my recent "coke can for brake disks" post, (there goes any remaining shred of credibility) but unfortunately I don't think I photographed the pads.

 

[turtlevette]

Originally Posted By: Ducked
Don't think there was much pad taper, though I THINK there was a bit of undercutting from the rust on the rims.


I'm lost on the undercutting. If there is no pad taper, i can't think of any other reason to swap them around. You say one side is wearing faster though. I guess that's a reason.

 

[spackard]

The side with the wear indicator (piece of metal that makes contact with rotor when pad is worn out) normally wears out first in the real world. Flipping them isn't a good idea. You'd have to drive gently again for the pads to bed back into the rotors, and you'll likely not find out your pads are worn out until a little too late.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Don't think there was much pad taper, though I THINK there was a bit of undercutting from the rust on the rims.


I'm lost on the undercutting. If there is no pad taper, i can't think of any other reason to swap them around. You say one side is wearing faster though. I guess that's a reason.



No, I meant that the swapped side might now wear faster because there's less effective contact surface until they bed in.

 

[turtlevette]

I'd put them back if you haven't driven far. Your right about the pad needing to match the pattern grooves of a used unturned rotor.

But it will eventually wear in to match if you don't.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Doesn't the inside pad have an imprint of the piston? Unless you removed the shims or have a fixed caliper, you should be able to visually look at the pads and see which is which.

 

[hpb]

Well, it's a 10 minute job to swap them back if it bothers you that much, otherwise forget about it. As a former Charade owner, I can attest that the immense power and weight of the car doesn't really overwhelm the brakes!

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: hpb
Well, it's a 10 minute job to swap them back if it bothers you that much, otherwise forget about it. As a former Charade owner, I can attest that the immense power and weight of the car doesn't really overwhelm the brakes!


Doesn't bother me much YET, just wasn't sure what was best. Seems likely it doesn't much matter, though opinions vary.

Out of morbid curiosity I'd like to do a few lowish speed emergency stops to see if there's any difference. Can't do that yet because (a) monsoonal rain at the moment, and I don't want to wash off my half-assed rust proofing before its had a chance to set a bit, and (b) its suddenly running very badly. Might be the wet but it hasn't affected it that way before. Might be time to solder up that transistor-assisted ignition module I bought a while ago.

 

[Ducked]

Just passed inspection, which probably doesn't mean anything here in Taiwan but always puts me in a slightly celebratory mood, due to my past experiences trying to get my old bangers through the rather more picky UK MOT inspection.

There's a judder felt through the steering wheel which seems new but smooths out at higher speeds on the freeway. Initially thought it was tyre flatting, then (when it came back) maybe clu clutch slip/judder, but I noticed that one of the front wheels was pretty hot, so I guess either my brake caliper (just cleaned and lubed see "Coke can for brake disks" thread) is sticking on, or its a consequence of flipping my brake pads and I should flip them back again.

Its the drivers side which is hot, though, and I THINK it was the passenger side that was flipped, so I'm a bit puzzled, but, whether I got them mixed up or not, the drivers side needs taken apart again. Heigh ho.

 

[Bladecutter]

Sounds like the opposite side caliper is not working correctly, if the driver's side wheel is getting overly hot.

Could be a bad caliper, or a brake line that isn't letting fluid into the caliper.

BC.

 

[Ducked]

You mean the drivers side is doing all the work? Hadn't thought of that interpretation.

Could be, but my impression (no more) is that it would need to be "stuck on" to get as hot as it did, since I wasn't driving or braking especially aggressively.

I'm now about 20k away from my tools, so I'll limp it back slowly in stages and see what it does. If it still gets hot with gentle driving, that'll tend to support the "stuck on" hypothesis.

I didn't get to see the numbers on the brake tester, and wouldn't necessarily believe them if I did, but if it was VERY bad I'd think they might have failed it, even in Taiwan.

 

[KitaCam]

I flipped mine (inner/outer pads on one front corner) and for a year had no problems....a year later I replaced all 4 up front.