Hi everybody. I am brand new to this site so any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I bought a 1990 Hatchback some months ago and immediately had to replace front rotors and pads. In less than 5000 miles replaced pads again...down to metal on both sides. Am almost there again and really need to fix this problem. Rotors are now warped and car is not worth taking to a mechanic, I am mechanically inclined and have no problems with taking it apart and putting it back together, just have never encountered this sort of problem on any of my previous vehicles. I assume at this point it is the master cylinder due to the fact it is both sides, but need some advice here...help please?! P.S. it is a base model 4 speed manual. thank you in advance for your input.

 

Im gonna say its calipers. If it was the master cylinder the breaks wouldnt work as good. The master cylinder is just a simple pump.

What is happening is the piston is being pushed out and sticking so the pistons never retract and that causes unwanted pad wear.

 

I would not put it past certain drivers to use up a set of brake pads in 5000 miles of "normal operation." If the brakes are dragging they would get noticeably hot after driving a few miles without touching the brake pedal.

 

Did you grease the caliper pins when you did the brake change? They need to slide freely when you have the calipers out. Otherwise it sounds like the calipers are shot.

 

Replaced the calipers and bled the front brakes. All good in the braking department now. Still have a couple issues that need to be addressed though. Tires are in need of replacement and severely out of balance...which leads to a fairly bad rattling on right front at speeds between 45 and 65 mph. no probs on left side thus far. Would like to figure this out before replacing tires for the upcoming winter. Also...where to get cheap gas hatchback lifters? It gets a bit annoying to have to shove a 2 x 4 in there to hold it up. Any ideas? Thank you in advance for your help!