does this particular chassis (the S-10 blazer) go through front brakes faster than say a S-10 pickup? dad did the brakes on this '97 back early in the year (not certian when, im guessing march) and only the left side got done due to a allen head braking off the slider pin on the right side. i got the '97 2 weeks ago and was able to get the caliper off and the broken slider pin out of the knuckle and then put things back together with the rest of the set of pads he originally purchesed some time ago. yesterday i pulled off the left wheel because we had heard some scraping while backing up in reverse, and found that the inner pad was wore down to the "scraper". pulled the right wheel and it was nearly the same way, after only 2 weeks! granted the rotors are pitted badly and need to be changed, it doesnt pull unevenly and i dont notice any hot brake smell after stopping. for the time being i threw in some new cheapie duralast pads in, i wish i could afford new rotors and calipers all at once, but its just not doable at this moment. slider pins are new on both sides now, with all new parts, about how many miles should i expect to get out of front brakes? and how good of rotors should i get? napa rotors start at 30 but there is side-spesific ones that go for 100 each. i dont see how mine could be so pitted, they almost look like junkyard rotors that were wire-wheeled and put back into service. dad drove this thing every day so its not like it sat for weeks at a time or more to get real rusty rotors. i havent been real impressed by the stopping power of this vehicle, but its new to me and every vehicle stops differntly.

 

If one pad was worn harder than another, it is a clear indication that the caliper is not floating/returning properly. Badly worn rotors can cause a similar situation, but...

I wouldn't say that these trucks use brake pads more quickly than any other particular vehicle in its class. I only did one brake job on my old '00 Bravada and I put over 60k miles on it. But cheap pads can and often do wear out more quickly.

 

If the inboard pad wears faster than the outboard pad, the caliper piston is binding in the caliper. If the outboard pad wears faster than the inboard pad, the caliper hardware is binding. If both pads on one side of the vehicle wear faster than the oposite side, most likely the flex hose is collapsed, (usually the vehicle will pull to one side while braking, but not always). If the rotors are not replaced, or at the very least resurfaced, when replacing the pads, you can expect shorter pad life and poor brake performance. If the rear brakes are not functioning properly and adjusted correctly, it will affect front brake longevity also.

 

at least the rears are good, all new parts and turned drums, i just need to do the fronts right, seems odd that both sides of the fronts are wearing the same (inside pad wearing much more quickly) usually when ive had a caliper piston hang up, its just one side or the other, but i 'spose one could have been bad for awhile and the other just recently started. im not even messing with having these rotors turned, i'll defintly spring for some fresh steel here, the insides almost seem concave, it looks like the pads are only touching the outside diameter of the rotors and the inside looks untouched and rusty, with that much out of ture, i dont see how they could be machined straight agian and have any thickness left. thanks for the help! Dave.

 

Take the front calipers apart and make sure you grease those slides liberally. Thats usually the biggest cause of brake wear issues. Also make sure you grease the caliper mounting brackets (where the pads contact them). Its easy for a pad to get hung up on that bracket and not retract after the brakes are applied. Then make sure your piston is moving freely in the bore. It shouldnt take much force to compress it with some pliers. If you really have to squeeze it hard, then there may be corrosion in the piston bore.