See attached photos. These are Pagid yellows with a little more than two DE events on them - both running counterclockwise. The left pads seems fine, but the rights are wearing very very unevenly. My first thought is that the pistons aren't working evenly - do I need to rebuild the caliper? Could there be a different reason?

 

That sure looks like one set of pistons is not retracting. You might want to check to see if the dust seals are hard, dry and cracked - a sign of overheating.

Caliper rebuild is not a terribly difficult job. Just be VERY careful to torque the allen bolts to 63 ft-lbs. Too little and they can back out. Too much, and you strip the threads in the aluminum spindle.

 

What brake setup are you running? How old is the assembly? I get some longitudinal taper wear on my pads on the leading edge and I think it's bc more work is being done at that initial contact point thus more heat and pad wear. Only theorizing. It's fairly even on both front brakes.

 

The pistons are different sizes to compensate for the issue you raise. Pad wear should be even.

 

I agree, it is supposed to be designed that way and my pistons are different sizes but as I recall it is the middle set that is smaller and front and rear look about the same. Nonetheless, it's still a reality that I get taper wear. I'm running Brembo GT slotted all corners and changiing from PFC 01 pads to PFC 06 pads as the 01's wear out.

 

They look just like my Pagid Yellows after a couple track weekends.

 

Bob - You get that much uneven wear from top to bottom?

Also - Al - to answer your question - I've got a completely original 2002 stock brake system except for the Pagid yellows.

Maybe my original post wasn't clear - the first picture is my left rear pads, the other two pics are just different views of my right rear pads.

 

I think Fast Fwd is on the right track. I have an '02 also and with the stock system and Pagid Oranges I never had any problems like that. Just problems stopping the car after everything got real hot.

 

That is definitely excessive taper wear. I would recommend having it checked out.

 

I had this happen one time on a wilwood caliper on one of my track cars... It turned out that one of the piston circuits was blocked with some foreign debris (looked like rust, but who knows) and that cause the uneven taper... I'd bet you're going to see a problem with one of the pistons in the right caliper... There's no way you should be seeing uneven pad wear like that... You're either in for a caliper rebuild or replacement!

Mike