djtnut

I just did one side of my rear brakes on my 2003 Allroad. I pressed the brake pedal in a few times to reset everything after changing out the one side. Then I went for a short test drive and the brakes felt like they were dragging. Sure enough, I got out and saw some light smoke coming from the pads/rotors. I pulled the wheel back off and it looks like maybe the pads didn't quite seat themselves fully and are at a slight angle. The rotor has a wear in line along the outermost circumference about 8-10mm wide.

Any advice on what to do? When I was tightening the wheel back on originally, it felt like the lug nuts were grabbing very early and kept getting loose when I tightened others. i.e. tighten one, do the opposite lugs all the way around and then come back to the first and it was very loose again as if the wheel and rotor weren't seating properly.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks, David

dcsat

SOunds like you answered your own question. The Capliper is not seated correctly, so it is interfering with the rotor.

allroaddave

You put new pads on an old rotor, which has a worn area and an unworn area, the pads are dragging on the unworn area. Have your rotors surfaced, then reinstall the pads.

Do these rear calipers require that you turn the piston as you push it in? If so, you'll need the tool that does that - Harbor Freight sells the kit for about $20 - I had to buy it to put rear pads on my MINI Cooper and have used it on a number of other cars since.

djtnut

it turns out that GermanAutoParts sent me the wrong rotors, as they're about a centimeter smaller diameter than the stock rotors that were on the car. I put all my old parts back on and I'll call G.A.P on Monday morning.