Apparently, my front pads are nice and thick, but had cracked down the middle. What the serviceman told me was that sometimes when people install cheap pads, they put this orange gunk on the shim to keep it from being noisy, that can get into the piston, causing it to not retract all the way.

The pads cracked from excessive heat from that dragging.

If you get your brake pads changed, make sure they do not use that orange crap on them.

 

Was he referring to anti-seize? I thought that stuff helps when removing parts after lots of miles are put on.

-Hoc

 

I think he's referring to this gunk that people spray on their shims and the backs of their pads to prevent squeaking. The stuff I used was red...others are blue or orange. The color doesn't really matter.

When I did the Legend caliper swap on my lude, I made sure to not spray the side of the shim that comes into contact with the pistons. I was worried about that same thing happening.

As a note, I think this stuff is safe to use, but just spray it on the backs of your pads and on one side of the shim (the side that does NOT touch the pistons).

 

that gunk (glue) supposedly keeps the pad from vibrating that causes the squeeking. I have applied the glue to both sides. I just applied the glue with my finger carefully to the piston side pad just to make sure that the piston and the glue made no contact. It helped my front brakes. my passenger side rear keeps knowcking when I go down hills and do some light braking.