Quick questions; I did my front brakes about 10k miles ago and left the rear pads alone because they had a bit of life left in them. But now it is time for the rears be replaced judging by the little that is left (@ 4mm's).

Does it matter if you put brand new pads on the rear while the front have 10kmore miles on them? I assume the braking system will compensate for the difference in thicknesses? (silly question I'm sure)

Also I replaced the Fronts with the EBC Ultimax's and have the same for the rear, Is there a reason not to use the EBC's on the rear? I've heard that they don't fit as well and some guys prefer stock pads?

Thanks for your help, I plan on tackling this this weekend.

 

I am no expert, but I can't think of any reason why it would matter.

As for different kinds of pads front and rear I would think that as long as they are not horrendously different in terms of performance, it won't matter much either (especially considering that the dynamics of the fronts vs the rears is so different to begin with any way).

 

Should be no problem especially since you are using the same pad type front and rear. The thinkness difference will not matter because the brakes always wear differently. For example, many people use big brake kits in the front (with different calipers and pads) and stock rear brakes/pads without any problems. If you have extreme differences between front and rear it can cause problems.

 

Thanks guys! I saw your thread (ofioliti) about those tricky rear calipers needing to be turned while compressed. Hopefully It goes smoothly thanks to your advice.

 

Yeah, they're tough. If you don't have the tool and are too cheap to buy one like me, I found that by using a squeeze-type clamp I was able to put enough pressure on the piston to compress it while also being able to use the friction of the rubber clamp-pads to rotate the piston via rotating the clamp to the side... It's tough to explain, but it worked for me where the "needle-nose" method failed.

 

The Harbor Freight tool is a cheap alternative to the OEM one.