Whats wrong with my brake pad?
 

for about the last week, my brakes have been making a squealing sound, sometimes when I apply the brakes, and a lot of the time when I let off of them, usually around 30 mph.

I took the passenger side front tire off and found this:
Attachment 208804

The metal backing plate appears to have shifted downwards, and has gotten a tear in the little oval piece that centers and holds it in place on the pad.
Attachment 208805

Since that has shifted down, its made this little score mark on the rotor, all the way around.
Attachment 208806


Any help here? I plan on replacing stuff Friday or Saturday.

It looks like the brake pad is in the right place but the shim has shifted downward and it is rubbing on the rotor hat. Whatever originally located it has probably rusted away.

Cant tell anything from the pictures.....so im no help...

Rocky

i cant really see that much, but it sounds like the shim has moved from where it was supposed to be. that can happen.. fairly common. my green truck did that once but on the driver's side. when i replaced pads/rotors on this truck i got the wagner pads because they have the shims molded into the back of the pad... that way they cant move like that.

More than likely you may have loosened the shim during installation, and over time it vibrated downwards to the rotor hat. Check the pad support for the locater pin, and make sure it's still in good condition. Definitely time to get a new set of pads! I doubt that score mark on the hat is severe enough to require replacement.

Just some more info: When I had the brakes all done, I had them done at the local Firestone place. Well, 3 trips back to them to get them so that they wouldn't make noise or cause any damage to the rotors later, and they said it was fixed. I know one of the times the guy that did them said that the pin had moved or something. I had them done at 50,000 miles, and the truck now has 80,000 miles on it, and it looks to be about 1/4" left on the pads, on both sides.

The score on the rotor I am not too worried about, it isn't really doing anything, just made the rust look a little lighter than it is.

Should I just take that piece out, and replace the pads when they need to be done, or would taking that piece out warrant a replacement now?

well you could go to autozone or one of the crappy auto parts stores and get a small tube of the brake pad anti squeal junk and you can disassemble that side and kinda reglue the shim in place and that should hold until the next pad chage or you can go for broke and go to a real auto parts store and change the pads now and get it over with i mean 1/4 is only going to buy you a few months at best ( at least the way i drive it does)

Those flat plates should have clips on either end to hold it in place, if thier gone you need to replace them. Or maybe you don't need them at all, aren't they just a silencer?

It is just a noise/vibration reduction agent. Gluing it in place is a joke. The excessive heat and vibration the brakes experience would cause ANY glue to give way almost immediately.

Also, from my experience, these shims are riveted into the brake pad back plate. If you remove the pad from the caliper, you should be able to determine how it was mounted pretty easily.

Either way, my opinion stays....since you've got the wheel off, ya might as well invest in some new pads!

Well I tore the front apart this past weekend and removed the shims from all 4 pads. The shim looked to be sliding down on the inner pad on the drivers side as well, so I figured well I was looking to do it. After that I've heard no squeaks at all from the front brakes, so it appears to be fixed. The shims were just glued in place (I think) so when i went to take them off, they popped right off.

I also greased the ball joints and greased the heck out of the sway bay, and now the front doesn't sound like a dying walrus when I go over speed bumps.

lol good job that works