mjmilford

Ramin, hilarious . Im not much of a hockey fan so I didn't even know what the series was at. I'll be sure to relay your sentiment to my co-workers here at the office. Aflesch, that would work for sure... just a tad nervous about it haha.

I think you're right, I'll post a picture hopefully tonight. There literally is no room for two pieces of hardware on the driver side, the top of the pad hits the steel of the caliper bracket without the top hardware. It's crazy. I'll definitely try a few more pad sets, that's literally the only thing I can think of. You guys are great, thank you for the replies. If you think of anything else please let me know. I have truly never seen this happen (brake pad not fitting super easy) unless it was a half year vehicle(worked at Merlin's here in Chicago for 6+ months and did tons of brake jobs) so it's really perplexing.

I talked to their tech support, apparently 2002 is the first year for the Avalanche. Both the 2WD and 4WD take the same pads as well as the 2003 model. The only different one is the 2500, but it's certainly not that. I did have them swap out all four pads when I was doing the first wheel for the same reason. Was able to get that buttoned up but the inner on that one was tight as well. The pads are very similar to what came out, but the ones that came out were too tight as well. GOod idea though, I'll bring the old pads to a few places to see if I can see any visual differences. Ugh .

I was able to compress the pistons no problems, it's just the actual fitting of the new pads into the caliper bracket. They are ridiculously tight, like really really tight on the inners. There is no way there are going to budge or slide away from the rotor and I'm afraid I'll have premature wear again (the pads I replaced had tons of life left, just bad wear patterns..). I've done a lot of brakes (worked at a shop for a bit) and was always able to slide in the pads by hand and able to move them back and forth. Please help ! Thanks!

Hello all! Hopefully I am posting in the correct spot. I have a 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche that I am replacing the front brakes on. The front pads are EXTREMELY tight. I was barely able to get the right inner pad on (had to hit it with a hammer a few times), but the left side will NOT go on with both pieces of hardware... When I took off the old pads the inners were stuck and the wear pattern was odd (grove on the outside edges). My question is, could this be a half year and could I be using the wrong pads? I am using the Autozone duralast gold DG785 pads. Please halp! Thanks!