Brake job question
 

I just got new front brakes and rotors from the dealer. But I noticed that the pads are not seated parallel to the new rotors, instead the pads are slightly angled. The bottom of the pads touch the rotors while the top of the pads are ~1/4 from the rotors. Is this normal? Perhaps this is just how the pads are shaped or was it not installed correctly?

Doug

not too sure about that, but they should function properly, :dunno:

yay! another san franciscan :xoutpost:

if it was not installed correctly, then they would not work. Perhaps, it is how they are shaped.

Can you post a picture? Are you saying that the top of the pads are not touching the rotor at all? I find that to be rather odd!

perfectly normal.

the pistons retract when your foot is off the pedal to allow for freer rotation of the disc. sometimes the vacuum used to retract the pistons goes back a little too far and allows the pads to "wobble" in place.

when you apply pressure on the brake pedal, the pistons will push the pads flat against the rotor.

its this wobbling at high speeds (metal to metal vibrations at the tabs of the pads) that cause the squealing in light/med braking.

Correct, the top of the pad does not touch the rotor (1/4" gap) while the bottom of the pad touches the rotor. I will post a picture of it later today. I agree the pads should retract but should'nt the pads retract evenly so that they are parallel to the rotor?

Just as a warning, I noticed the brakes did not grip as usual on the application after I left Allison bmw. I almost hit the guy in front of me! But with more brake cycles, it seems to be getting better. But still not as it was before.

Could this be the bevel in the pad that you are looking at? These pads are beveled so the pad portion nearest the metal backing has a larger area than the portion of the pad which contacts the rotor.
Post a picture so we can see this phenomenon.

I am attaching a picture of the brake install as an attached file. Let me know if you guys can see it.

Doug

Looks to me like your pads are right on the rotor. It's hard to tell with the flash and reflection, but the curve lines on the rotor look like it ends at the top edge of the pad.

that picture is normal.. nothing to worry about.

This is normal. Your new brakes are not fully efficient until they are bedded. The bedding will happened automatically after using the brakes for some time and will result in improved breaking power. A school of thoughts says that new brakes should always been bedded following a very specific procedure to be fully efficient. Others think that by just driving the car and use the brakes for a little while is enough. My personal opinion is that unless you do racing you just need to drive your car and be aware that it will take several miles and braking before your brake get to their optimal braking power.

Thanks guys for your help. I updated the picture with some text in case the first one was difficult to see.

Doug

It normally looks like this…

I would have them check the install again just to be sure. When I changed my pads, I never noticed such a large gap. It could be that some of the caliper mounting bolts or pins are not tightened enough and the caliper is floating too much or is just plain loose. Even with new brake pads, the stopping power should still be almost as good as before. Just my opinion, but better safe then sorry.

Looks like there is a bevel on the pads, so think they are fine.