2007 XC-70 front brake job pad too tight?

[twooldvolvos]

volvoXC.com,

I did a front rotor and pad job on my 2007 Volvo XC-70 yesterday and I ran into an issue I have never experienced in prior brake jobs on this car. I was using Akebono pads. Passenger side went fine. But the driver's side outside brake pad would not fit in the caliper. It was very close but a bit too tight. So I carefully scraped the casting and blew it clean. Still too tight. So I put some layout fluid on the pad and tried tapping it into place. The tight spot was on the bottom of the steel part of the pad. So I carefully ground the high spot and eventually got the pad to fit squarely. But it is tight with no giggle in it. Is this a problem? Does the outside pad need to float freely? It seems to me that leaving it tight should not be a problem since the outer pad's movement comes only from the iron sliding part that it is in, and not from the pad itself sliding like the inner pad. Any thought? BTW, the car seems to brake very nicely.

Thanks in advance. Dan.

[goldxc70]

I always make sure that the pads move freely but, like you, feel it's more important on inners than outers. Having said that, I just had to replace a rear outer pad which was worn excessively (almost to the metal) and could see no clear reason why it would be worn like that while all other rear pads were evenly worn.