Rear Brake Pad Laterality

CARRisma · Post by **CARRisma** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 7:13 am

My 5th gen has suffered a rear brake pad failure - post coming soon. In my box of spares, I have two sets of OEM rear near-side brake pads.

My question is - is it possible to fit these two sets of near-side to both sides? Is it physically possible? I can see that the inside pad has the low level brake pad indicator screwed on. I think that's the only issue which can be overcome by simply unscrewing it.

Post by **Vtecmec** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 7:34 am

I'm pretty sure that the pads are symmetrical barring the indicator tabs, so I'd say yes.

Scott560 · Post by **Scott560** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 10:07 am

They are the same, with the exception of the wear indicators. I seem to recall (having done mine yesterday in the rain/hail/thunder) that there is a slight notch on the carrier to accommodate it, but they fit both ways, and are not marked for one side or another.

I found I had to file (not even 1mm total) my rear carriers to get the right fit - accumulated crud/paint on the carrier prevented the new ones going in easily even though they got the brake clean and wire brush treament and cleaned the retainers (old pads came out fine, musta filed them last time).

CARRisma · Post by **CARRisma** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 11:34 am

Right, having tomorrow off work as annual leave to make the most of the forecasted dry weather before the rain arrives this weekend. Gonna fit my spare brake pads and lube the sliding pins while I'm at it. Fun, fun, fun.

CARRisma · Post by **CARRisma** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:34 pm

Job done. I can confirm that I was able to fit my two pairs of near-side rear brake pads to both sides. And I didn't need to remove that low level brake pad indicator tab thingy, the pads just went straight in and the caliper had no problem being refitted.