What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - stivvy

Daughter's car passed MOT with an advisory "uneven pad wear". For my benefit what could be the possible cause please ?

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - gordonbennet

I wonder if it refers to uneven wear on the same caliper, uneven wear between sides you would probably feel pulling to one side.

Possible sticking caliper piston or caliper slider if a sliding caliper design, worth getting a proper mechanic to service the brakes correctly, which almost no-one does now...strip inspect cleanup and the most important part, lube up with the correct brake grease.

If a slider is sticking it means one pad only gets pressed hard against the disc instead of a free moving caliper equalizing pressure between both pads, a piston sticking on a twin piston non sliding caliper will produce the same result.

Might be that poor quality pads were fitted at some point which won't perform well, never the most economical choice in the long run, and a remote possibility that some cheap skate replaced one side only.

Edited by gordonbennet on 28/09/2016 at 12:51

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - ERIC STEPHESON

As I posted I realised more info. is needed. Not availabe for the moment but many thanks for your comprehensive response. As soon as I get more precise detail I'll get back.

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - Cyd

You don’t say front or rear (nor if it’s side to side or one side). If front, then GB covered it. If rear it could be hand brake not fully releasing.

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - madf

Worn pads.

Worn disks - scored

Rusty disks

Worn slide, rusty slides

Sticking calipers.

Dirt between pad and caliper

Strip down and examine jobbie. If anything like my son's 318i, £££s..

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - ERIC STEPHESON

Now got detail from garage "advisory". The rear offside pads more worn than the others.

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - gordonbennet

We'll assume, unless someone knows different, that this is drum inside disc manual parking brake, in which case the calipers and pads operate on footbrake alone and parking brake is a stand alone drum brake, neither will have an effect on the other.

There are enough suggestions above to cover all eventualities and it should take a competent mechanic about half and hour to determine what the problem is.

To be honest an advisory like this would have seen me dismantling the brakes on return from the garage, they would not have been left this long.

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - ERIC STEPHESON

Thanks for your interest and info. I like to have a rough idea about the possibilities so that I can do a bit of "handholding". Passed on your comments and trust she makes an early appointment with her mechanic.

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - Cyd

To be honest an advisory like this would have seen me dismantling the brakes on return from the garage, they would not have been left this long.

I’m with you GB. If this had been my son’s car it would have been in bits the same afternoon. OK, I can do it myself, but for those that can’t there are these strange emporiums called ‘garages’.

I’ve learned the hard way that you don’t muck about with brakes. The slightest wiff of a problem and they get looked at. It might be something, it might be nothing, but check it out. There’s a chap in his 30’s now whose Mum will always be grateful my rally car’s brakes were in ‘tip top’ that day she took him to watch a rally for his fifth birthday.

It’s been a fortnight. It should have been sorted by now. Oh, and NO, I’m not “sorry to be so harsh”

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - ERIC STEPHESON

Update: inspection completed, nothing major found. Discs fine, calipers working ok, slightly sticky slide on o/s. Everything serviced and new pads fitted.

BMW 1 Series 60 plate - Uneven wear on brake pads - Cyd
Thanks for feeding back. Glad all is ok