***PICS*** How do my brake pads look?

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kcpope

kcpope

10 Year
Joined
Jul 24, 2011
Threads
9
Messages
24
Just today I started hearing some brake squeal. I pulled off the front wheel and snapped a picture of the pads (shown below). I also opened the inspection hole on the backside of the rear drum and took a picture of the shoes inside the rear drum (shown below).

My question is, how do these look to you guys? I assume the front pads and rotors will need to be replaced fairly soon, but what about the rears? Any advice is much appreciated. The truck is a 2002 prerunner with 120K, and I'm a gentle driver. Thanks.

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I think you're OK on the thickness remaining, but I believe there are some springs missing on your front calipers.
 
KLF said:
I think you're OK on the thickness remaining, but I believe there are some springs missing on your front calipers.
Click to expand...

I removed the springs so that I could get a better pic. Thanks
 
The front ones are good. The notches (circled) show quite a bit of life left. When those notches get worn down is when they need replaced. Can't quite see the rears well enough to tell how much pad you have left, but it looks like there is at least some pad to go.
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Great, thanks for the info! In regards to the rear shoes, it looks like there's about 0.25 inches of pad left. Any idea how long this will last me?
 
Okay, that's what I figured. From what I've been reading, it sounds like the rear pads last an exceptionally long time.

I'll give the front pads a couple more months, then I'll be changing them out, along with a complete brake fluid flush.

Thanks for the help
 
kcpope said:
I'll give the front pads a couple more months, then I'll be changing them out
Click to expand...

Why? As mentioned above, they have wear indicators (circled). No reason to replace them until they're worn down.
 
PAToyota said:
Why? As mentioned above, they have wear indicators (circled). No reason to replace them until they're worn down.
Click to expand...

I checked the other side of the vehicle, and one of the pads is below the indicator mark. This is the same one that seems to be squealing. I figure I might as well replace them all.
 
Ok, yes. Replace both sides at once. But if one side is worn that much more than the other side, I'd be looking for the reason - sticking caliper?
 
kcpope said:
I checked the other side of the vehicle, and one of the pads is below the indicator mark. This is the same one that seems to be squealing. I figure I might as well replace them all.
Click to expand...

you might want to go ahead and replace the calipers too, being as the are 4 piston calipers the pistons are probably frozen. i would either have the rotors resurfaced (turned) or get new ones. the one on the side where you have more pad wear has probably gotten really hot a few times and could have warped. and if you let it go to long you might have to replace the rotor.
 
here is a pic of a rotor off my suburban the caliper locked up while on a 112 mile trip one way, the caliper locked some where on the way there, i had no tools so i drove it home that way, i knew i was going to be replacing everything anyhow, but what i was not prepared for was the brake fade, it was bad.

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toy4xfun said:
you might want to go ahead and replace the calipers too, being as the are 4 piston calipers the pistons are probably frozen. i would either have the rotors resurfaced (turned) or get new ones. the one on the side where you have more pad wear has probably gotten really hot a few times and could have warped. and if you let it go to long you might have to replace the rotor.
Click to expand...

Well, my plan is to replace both the pads and the rotors. Then I plan on doing a complete flush and refill of my brake fluid.

The truck has no problem safely coming to a stop. Wouldn't it be very apparent if i had a frozen piston? And is there anyway to test for a frozen piston before replacing the whole caliper?
 
You'll know if the pistons are frozen when you have to compress them back into the caliper when installing the new pads.
 
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