[Shotimes] Rear Brake Pad warning! Design defect with some pads!

[David Rosicke]

I ran into an issue over the past few weeks.  The rear brakes were chirping and if you pressed them brakes lightly, the rear brakes clunked badly.  Extremely annoying, and I was concerned since I felt it wasn't safe.  Well, I replaced the pads (the ones on there were about 3/16" left with the vibration insulators falling off) and the chirping became worse!  After putting up with this for two weeks, I bought new rotors today.  As I put the new ones on, I found that the calipers didn't want to fit right.  I took the assembly back apart and carefully examined everything.  I found the 'tit' at the bottom of the brake pad was touching the caliper piston, preventing even contact/pressure of the inner pad.  I cut the 'tit' off, put everything back together and did not see any unevenness of the contact.  
Road test:
No more noises - NONE!!
 
Note:  This problem is not an issue on the outside pads, and your pad vendor may have already have a solution.  I did not find any vendor in Auto-Zone that had a large thickness vibration insulator or a no-tit pad.
 
Dave R.
 
'91+, lightly modified...