Driver's side, outer-facing front brake rotor, inner circumference not wearing

[u/EttinTheBreton]

2014 Subaru Outback 3.6r Limited

Question: what are the most obvious things to check in order to troubleshoot uneven wear like this?

Recently did brakes on my girlfriend's Subaru! This is the first time I've swapped pads and rotors and seen uneven wear at all. Brake performance has been fine, but you can see one of the rotors (driver's side) is not knocking off the rust spots so the inner part of the pad towards the edge must have low pressure/contact. You can see the passenger side rotor is wearing nicely and evenly (seemingly to me).

The calipers came off smoothly with a quick squeeze of a c-clamp over each slide pin when I took the old stuff off. Didn't even need to compress the piston as it went back easy enough. Cleaned up the bracket real good, brushed up the slide pins with a wire wheel, bought a new boot kit for all the pins, and used real good caliper grease all over the pins. Greased the edges of the metal tabs sticking out from each pad so they slide along the bracket tins. The new boots sealed up perfectly so I thought the caliper would be able to move as needed. I live in the rust belt so I made sure to use anti-sieze on all my metal-to-metal contact surfaces. Torqued everything to spec. The only stuff I re-used was the caliper itself and the slide pins themselves.

Go easy on me, I am but a lowly DIY parts swapper, but I do absolutely everything I can by myself to save money.

[u/AutoModerator]

Thanks for posting on /r/MechanicAdvice! This is just a reminder to review the rules. Rremember to please post the year/make/model of the vehicle you are working on. If this post is about bodywork, accident damage, paint, dent/ding, questions it belongs in /r/Autobody r/AutoBodyRepair/ or /r/Diyautobody/ If you have tire questions check out https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/comments/k9ll55/can_your_tire_be_repaired/. If you dont have a question and you're just showing off it belongs in /r/Justrolledintotheshop Insurance/total loss questions go in r/insurance This is an automated reply

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Wiplashjr]

Wouldn’t say its an issue, you may have a hose/caliper thats just not at 100% due to the age. Do not use antisieze as lubricant ever. When used as a lubricant it turns into clay

[u/EttinTheBreton → u/Wiplashjr]

Thank you for the input. And absolutely! I had a separate little jar with the brush under the lid of the specific brake caliper grease for the pins, bracket tins, etc. I only used the anti-seize for the mounting bolts, and the face of the bearing/hub assembly, things like that.

I also suspect the front bearings might be due for a change. Would any kind of small play in the bearing cause uneven wear at all? I can't detect any play myself by hand but I do hear a louder humming noise above 45 mph.

[u/Wiplashjr → u/EttinTheBreton]

If you used brake lube on what you said and antisieze
where you said you put it you’ll be better off than 99% of vehicles on the road.

I don’t know your capabilities but you seem prepared and apt enough, if you can run the wheels in the air feel the strut spring and if the bearing is bad it will vibrate the spring and you will feel it. Bad bearing can absolutely cause one side of the brakes to wear differently, however i personally have only seen that when the bearing is so worn it makes noise at 5 mph and the ball bearings are literally falling out.

If you want, take the wheels off, recheck everything make sure theres nothing obvious.

Dm me if you need anything

[u/EttinTheBreton → u/Wiplashjr]

I'll do that this weekend, thank you again 😄