i recently bought a 01 se with 157k on it, the rear wheels get covered in brake dust before the fronts. never seen that on a car before. do i just have better pads in the front and cheap ones in the back?

and has anyone changed their own belt tensioner?

 

ive never seen that before, my only guess is the differece in the brake pads. Where did you get the car initially?
I know with my hawks, the rear does dust, BUT NO WHERE NEAR AS BAD AS THE FRONTS, and it really shows up badly after rainy days

I had my belt tensioner break off on me. Its relatively easy, i replaced both the belt as well as the tensioner (because i couldnt find it)

 

Ceramic pads have minimal brake dust.

Just a assumption, you probably have semi-metallic rear pads and ceramic pads in the front. Replace the rears with ceramic and you should see an improvement. Ceramic also cost more.

 

Are the back wheels equally dirty, if not you might have a problem with the one of the back brakes.

 

yea they are equaly dirty. i dont have a clue what kind are on them. i just got it 3 weeks ago. i figured a brake upgrade with rotors is in the future. thanks for all the help.

 

get ceramic break pads and make sure they r balanced

 

looks like that will be the first line of defense

 

could have seized rear calipers?

 

on both sides?

 

with that kind of miles, I wouldn't doubt it....both of my rear calipers have been replaced and I'm only at 125k....

Probably not "seized" but possibly sticking a bit due to ripped boot and rust on the piston.

Or...your ebrake could be over-tightened and dragging.

 

thanks for that one, never would have thought of the e brake