Monaco Blue 172
I changed the front discs and pads on my 172 last week as the discs were heavily scored. Once I'd got them off I could see that the inner faces of the discs were only worn in the centre of the swept area of the pads, the rest of the inner face was very rusty and pitted. The inner pads were also very hard to remove - I had to take off the caliper mounting bracket and yank them out with pliers.
Putting the new ones back in was similarly very difficult. In fact initially I couldn't get them to sit within the profile of the disc.
Having taken a further look, my best guess was that corrosion and cack had built up behind the shiny metal plates that sit against the edge of the pads, and this was forcing the plates to 'clamp' the pads. I also wonder if this was at least partly to blame for the condition of the discs i.e. if the pads have not been moving properly within the caliper, although I would have thought that the force from the piston would be enough to overcome the resistance.
In any case, my approach was to file the mounting bracket behind those shiny metal plates, and eventually I got it to the point where the pads could be inserted with relative ease (similar to the outer pads). The brakes seem to work fine, alhough it's too soon to tell if they are wearing better.
Has anyone else seen this sort of thing when changing front pads? Are the inner pads generally more difficult to remove/replace? Any alternative solutions to the issue?
Putting the new ones back in was similarly very difficult. In fact initially I couldn't get them to sit within the profile of the disc.
Having taken a further look, my best guess was that corrosion and cack had built up behind the shiny metal plates that sit against the edge of the pads, and this was forcing the plates to 'clamp' the pads. I also wonder if this was at least partly to blame for the condition of the discs i.e. if the pads have not been moving properly within the caliper, although I would have thought that the force from the piston would be enough to overcome the resistance.
In any case, my approach was to file the mounting bracket behind those shiny metal plates, and eventually I got it to the point where the pads could be inserted with relative ease (similar to the outer pads). The brakes seem to work fine, alhough it's too soon to tell if they are wearing better.
Has anyone else seen this sort of thing when changing front pads? Are the inner pads generally more difficult to remove/replace? Any alternative solutions to the issue?
