Auto brake pad fitment

[atc12]

Has anybody ever had to grind a little off the ears to fit autozone ceramic pads in the caliper? They do not just slide in and i think i should just grind a little off. Any thoughts on that? Everything seems to be such junk these days, and i even got the better pads.

[Mosh]

99.9% of the time, there is rust built up on the caliper bracket. If you had to pound the old pads out it is due to rust build up. Get the rust off the brackets. Either by lightly chiseling, sanding, wire brushing etc. Dont take material out, just the rust or your pads will rattle. Most cars use tin clips that the pad slides in. The rust builds up under the clips and pushes them in on the pads. Clean all rust wire brush the tins if new were not supplied, use silicone paste or ceramalube under the clips and on top where the pads ride. Also pull out the pins and boats and wipe them off and uses the same lube on them. If they dont move free you will smoke the pads, and you need a new caliper..If the pads don't move free after your cleaning, start over, you didn't do it enough.
There has been a few occasions where some other butcher bent a bracket, by dropping, prying and the pads would not fit but it is rare.

Anybody grinding brake pads either aint doing the clean and prep work right, or bought the cheapest POS parts known to man. In over 25 years of experience wrenching on cars, I have had to grind the powdercoat on the pads maybe 5 times when using quality parts with good prep work and even then it was a slight amt.

[90nut]

I agree with mosh, but, I will say that I have ran into brake pads not fitting well. I've only had to grind or file on them a couple of times. Good luck

[atc12]

99.9% of the time, there is rust built up on the caliper bracket. If you had to pound the old pads out it is due to rust build up. Get the rust off the brackets. Either by lightly chiseling, sanding, wire brushing etc. Dont take material out, just the rust or your pads will rattle. Most cars use tin clips that the pad slides in. The rust builds up under the clips and pushes them in on the pads. Clean all rust wire brush the tins if new were not supplied, use silicone paste or ceramalube under the clips and on top where the pads ride. Also pull out the pins and boats and wipe them off and uses the same lube on them. If they dont move free you will smoke the pads, and you need a new caliper..If the pads don't move free after your cleaning, start over, you didn't do it enough.
There has been a few occasions where some other butcher bent a bracket, by dropping, prying and the pads would not fit but it is rare.

Anybody grinding brake pads either aint doing the clean and prep work right, or bought the cheapest POS parts known to man. In over 25 years of experience wrenching on cars, I have had to grind the powdercoat on the pads maybe 5 times when using quality parts with good prep work and even then it was a slight amt.

Yes i cleaned it good, took them back and got some from NAPA. All is good now and thanks for the nice reply Mosh. Sucks to do the same brakes twice!

[nd4speed]

Been through this nightmare with my 1500 Chevy GMC truck where the pads were always too tight.

BUT, At 18,000 miles on this brand new truck the front pads were gone. That was from the factory. Did them my self and about 15,000 miles later, same . They were Autozone brand. Took it to a guy who worked at GM proving grounds and now runs repair business out of his barn, he said they were all tight from factory and stuck on the trucks and you had to grind the ears to fit. Major pain in my ass. They started squeaking again after he did it and I found the wear tab things had broke off and got wedged in there. So I got all new pads under warrantee and did them again. Fricken worst brakes ever, I considered moving to aftermarket calipers. But for now they are fine. Thank god I have drums in the rear.

[atc12]

Been through this nightmare with my 1500 Chevy GMC truck where the pads were always too tight.

BUT, At 18,000 miles on this brand new truck the front pads were gone. That was from the factory. Did them my self and about 15,000 miles later, same . They were Autozone brand. Took it to a guy who worked at GM proving grounds and now runs repair business out of his barn, he said they were all tight from factory and stuck on the trucks and you had to grind the ears to fit. Major pain in my ass. They started squeaking again after he did it and I found the wear tab things had broke off and got wedged in there. So I got all new pads under warrantee and did them again. Fricken worst brakes ever, I considered moving to aftermarket calipers. But for now they are fine. Thank god I have drums in the rear.

This was a GMC yukon so the same crap pads. Autozone seems to be hit and miss on many parts.

[Scootertrash]

Mosh knows his stuff. Helped with brake problems on my Impala.

[atc300r]

I have a 2004 Kia Optima disc brakes front and back and when ever I changed the brake pads I had to grind the tabs alittle to fit . When I mentioned it to the autoparts store clerk they said you had to grind all brake pads to fit. I told him that the Kia is the only vehicle that I ever had to do it on.

[Dirtcrasher]

One of my idiot tenants and a couple other bozos were failing at getting the pads in.

Like Mosh said, It was rusty and the clips were bent. Once I got them cleaned and back ib shape, they popped right in.

He goes on to tell me they were 16.99 with a lifetime warranty. I said "cheap pads might get ya killed, (serious braking fade) and said never ever buy anything with a lifetime warranty, they are junk and they know you'll lose the receipt anyway".

I buy the most expensive pads available.....

With NO WARRANTY!!