Disc brake pad placement

[Root Moose]

I've been plugging away the last two days building a rear disk setup for an axle. I made the caliper brackets "from scratch" and am at the point where I need to attach the pad carrier to the bracket itself.

I was going to place the pads such that they are level/even with the flat edge of the rotor. That is, not over hanging the edge bevel/chamfer of the rotor itself. I figured that was the way cars usually did it but I must admit with all the brake jobs I've done I've never really noticed this little detail.

I got to thinking, is that really the way to place them? So I pulled the calipers on a few vehicles I have here.

The first was a Jeep WJ. Hmm, the pads overhang the bevel.

The second was one of the Hondas. The edge of the pad is right up to the edge of the flat portion of the rotor, not overhanging. Also noticed that the pads are not the same outer radius as the rotor itself (smaller). Must be the Honda parts bin at play.

So... I haven't resolved anything and need to stew on this before I do final placement.

Any input? Any one have definite knowledge on this?

TIA

 

[gerroffroad.com]

I guess I would place them with the most pad contact on the flat of the rotor and in a place where they can maximize cooling air flow and leverage on the rotor. not much help but in all honesty right now I cant really picture in my head what your looking at

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Whatever fits good is fine in my opinion. If you hold them a little and the rotor rusts a bit on the edge it might be hard to remove the caliper/pads when the time comes, but that's really not a big deal either. Keep in mind that they need to fit within the rim, so you may want to try the rim over the caliper before final placement. Jeff

 

[Root Moose]

Thanks guys.

I ended up putting them right at the edge of the flat part of the rotor. The outer radius of the pad matches this outer edge of the flat part of the rotor so it must be what the OEM (Suzuki) intended. I'm running 16" wheels to clear the WJ calipers on the front anyway and the OEM for the rear disks is 15" so I'm not worried about caliper to wheel clearance that much.

I must say, it looks damn good. I'll post pictures tomorrow when the satellite dish isn't saturated (damn OS patches). It's a Scout housing (ARB, 4.56) with a WARN full float kit and Suzuki Sidekick LWB front rotors and calipers along with a Willwood spot caliper to act as the e-brake. WMS-2-WMS works out to ~59-7/8".

Now I need to decide if I should bolt or weld the main caliper bracket to the housing. You'll see how bolting is an option when I post pics.