Technical Uneven Front Brake Pad Wear on Active

[doctorchris]

Just renewed the front brake pads on my daughter's 1.1 Active at 41,000 miles.
The old pads are not uniformly worn. Both inner pads are only a little worn. The outer pads are worn to a greater extent but only on the driver's side is the wear at the limit where I feel replacement is required.
I don't post this as a problem. No part of the calliper is seized on either side. I suspect that it is a characteristic of a fairly simple brake calliper that is used on this model. The advantage is that the pads were the easiest I have ever had to replace and cost £19 for Mintex pads. In addition, a pleasant surprise on modern cars, the discs were nowhere near to their wear limit and perfectly serviceable for the lifetime of another set of pads.
It does show how important it is to take a look at all 4 brake pads across an axle when servicing the car.

 

[Decron]

Not uncommon in a lot of cars.

The outside pad will get far more exposure to dirt etc as well as this side of the disc more exposed so susceptible to more corrosion. This will wear the pad quicker as these are all abrasive.

 

[David Bliss]

Uneven brake pad wear is quite common and is not a problem, providing the pads are all checked at the regular service intervals. If the brakes have been neglected for a while, especially after a winter, the pressure bearing areas of the pads may move less freely than they should. It is surprising how much wear this lack of free movement can cause.

Oddly enough, as I do not use my brakes hard (as a rule) the discs do not keep clean in the winter so if the pads got a bit sticky they would keep the discs cleaner, but neglect still isn't the way to go!