a little bit on the edge but it is not interfering at all. the rust is not any higher than the surface of the rotor.

yes, it is definitely in all the way.
Looks like the new pads would fit if I were to pry the metal shims off the back, but that seems like a bad idea.

Here are pictures of how far the caliper goes on, and also how much lining I have left on my old brake pads (which I cleaned up and I now intend to put back on the car, I guess)

[IMG]local://upfiles/4155/8EC76885316A444BBD7352D0042D52D3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/4155/32F4A30D36724681ABECFE307C62BAA2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/4155/28A75767D8124C80B99D99E57B248635.jpg[/IMG]

 

Make sure that the pads are fully clipped into the pad retainer clips, and make sure the retainer clips are in the grooves in the caliper mounting bracket. And make sure you don't have the shims on like backwards or something stupid like that.

 

The shims were mounted to the new pads already, so that wasn't it. And as far as I could tell, everything was in there allllll the way. In the end it just wouldn't clear by about 1/16". If you look at the picture in my last post you can see where the caliper was just scraping the very edge of the outer pad.

I had three different people look at my old brake pads and they all said I had quite a bit of lining left. I cleaned all the crap off the back, remounted the shims, and cleaned out the inside of the calipers. Now I have the old pads on with the freshly machined old rotors. I'm about to put the wheels back on and go for a spin.

 

Try putting the old shims on the new pads.

 

Just got back from my drive, so you all can stop worrying about me now. The old pads settled into the newly surfaced rotors pretty well, there were a few little grooves and ridges in the pads but once those wear out I think I will have more stopping power.

Now I can write up my DIY on "how to do a half-assed brake job in only 3 days!"


oh, and some drunk guys on the corner told me I had a nice car. Yay.

 

If I'm reading you correctly, and bt looking at your pics, I have a question for you.
Did you clip the new pads into the caliper and then try putting the caliper on, or were you trying to put the caliper on with the pads sitting on the rotor? Looking at your pics, it looks like you tried the 2nd way instead of the first. You have to clip em into the caliper, then install it.

 

I don't understand your question. As far as I can tell, the pads clip in to the bracket part of the caliper, and then the caliper comes down over top of them.

 

sounds right. the brakes are touching the disc, right? then you slide the caliper over them?

 

are you sure you didn't mess up the right and left sides? You could tell that by the position of the wear sensor...

 

Yeah, the way you see it in the picture is also the way I reinstalled the old pads, which is the opposite of the way I uninstalled the old pads the first time.

do you mean inside vs. outside, or driver side vs. passenger side?