Lesson Re-Learned: Dont Put Off Investigating Noises, and Always Check the Inner Pad

I've had a strange "soft" grinding from the RR corner of my SAAB for some time now, only noticeable under light braking. Between work, vacations etc. I only tonight got around to checking it out. The rear disks had looked pretty new: almost no lip, I could see plenty of pad, and I couldn't really feel any vibration. This led me to think it was a hub bearing starting to go, so I ordered one up and tonight went to swap it out...

The outer boot on the caliper crumbled in my hand when I pulled it off. Piston looks rough. The inside brake pad was worn right down to the the backing plate, and the soft grinding was the backing plate machining away the outer 1" of the inside face of the disk. Awesome. I pull the LR caliper. Left side pads are almost new, even though the caliper/piston were just as trashed. Who in God's name only replaces the pads on one side?! This, and a bunch of other stuff I've come across (low beam bulbs held in place with duct tape) make me want to have whoever used to wrench on this car beaten with hockey sticks.

That said, I'm kind of pissed at myself for how having to replace two rotors, when if I'd followed up when I first started hearing the sound I might have saved this one...

I doubt someone only changed one pad.

Chances are the caliper slides are hanging up. GM trucks are bad for that on the rear calipers, the inside pad always wears more.

Shawn

In reply to Trans_Maro: Yeah, I'm pretty sure the slides were sticking on the passenger side, the outer pad had slightly more meat on it, and the inner was worn at an angle. What I meant about only changing one side is that the driver side pads look pretty new, lots of meat, and the backing plates are a different color from the ones on the toasted passenger side pads.

Brake pads are important mguay?

All of my SAAB 9000s had a rear caliper stick at some point.

My 9-3 wore the inner pad faster than the outer too. I thought I had 1/2 left when looking at the outer, but the inner was less than 1mm. It's a Saab thing. I agree though it looks like the PO only changed one side. Let the hockey stick beating begin.