I recently replace my brakes. The front pads looked good. They looked to be about 25% worn. So I put them back on. The rear shoes were pretty worn down, almost to the metal, I would say about 95% worn. I bought the vehicle new, and the shoes and pads are the originals that came with the vehicle. Also, about a year ago, my ABS light came on and has been on ever since. My question is; what is causing the front to rear wear difference on the pads/shoes? Could this be something with the ABS system that is doing this?This is on a 1999 Isuzu Rodeo, with 112000 miles. Manual Shift, 2.2 L engine.
Have your brake system checked. Most braking is done by the front brakes. The front brakes have to be changed twice as often as the rear. Pads usually have to be replaced every 30,000 miles, and the shoes every 60,000. I would check your service records, the front probably have been replaced at some point, and the back are the original. The ABS light can be as simple as a fuse, check that, and then you may need to look as the sensors.
This is unusual. On any car I've ever worked on, it's always the front pads to go first because most of the stopping force is applied there due to the weight transfer when stopping. Not to mention that usually the self adjusting mechanism on the rear drum brakes usually doesn't work like it should so as the rear brakes wear, they won't be wearing at the same rate as the front brakes. They wear slower. The only thing I could think of would be that maybe a valve in the ABS unit stuck or malfunctioned causing the rear brakes to stay engaged making the rear brakes wear out prematurely. I've NEVER EVER seen ANY brake pads/shoes last 112,000 miles.
This is not normal, as the front pads generally wearout about 3 to 1 as compared to the back. Therefore if it has parking brake activated on rear axle, - I would assume they drove around a lot with parking brake on! Or possibly the shuttle valve) on brakes has shut off one circuit, - causing all the braking to be on rear wheels! This can happen if there was a leak in brakeline somewhere - this is supposed to prevent the 2 circuit brake system from failing completely,- so that you can't stop at all! (has been around since the 60s)! This should be obvious, if it is pretty hard to stop from road speed! However I would assume that the front pads had already been replaced a coulple times by the time you got the car! I get a bout 100K out of front pads in std. trans vehicle, --because I do most of the slowing down using friction and downshifting. Which means I do not arrive 50 feet from stopsign doing 40mph! I start shifting down 150 - 200 feet before stop, and am only going 10 mph or so which doesn't take much brake to stop all the way! The ABS light might just be telling you the the brake fluid is low, - or the the shuttle valve is stuck,- or that the system actually has other problems. Ther newer ones have electronic ABS systems, and can be a real nightmare to fix (moneywise),- when they get fouled up!
