New Pads are Touching Rotors
 

I have a 98 SLE and I just replaced the front pads, calipers, and rotors. The calipers were lubed from the manufacturer so I just put them on. After bleeding I am unable to keep the pads from making contact with the rotors. I moved the car a couple of feet and noticed that contact is being made only on the outer 50% of rotor. The inner 50% of the rotor has surface rust and the out 50% has been rubbed off. Do the rotors simply need to be turned? I was under the impression that a decent rotor was good out of the box. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

What do you mean by "just replaced"? Do you mean today, or you've been running the car for a couple of days?

Either way, as far as I know anyway, the surfaces should be parrallel (if the pads are in correctly), but there might be some "tolerance" issues that a day or two of use will take care of.

I just did the pads and rotors on my 98 SE (last weekend), and everything looks fine. No uneven wear/contact I've noticed, and no rust on anything yet.

Pads need to bed properly, and rotors need a break-in period. There will always be a little error that works out in a few days of use.

Concur with Will. IF your braking seems normal, drive it for a few days and hit the brakes hard on the freeway a few times. They'll seat.

Abnormal braking, tear it down and start over.

I have driven the car once since I did the job. It was about a 5 minute ride and my top speed was 40 mph. I did about 4 or 5 stops from around 30 to 5 mph.

When I pulled back into the driveway the drivers side rotor was smoking and there was some discoloration on that outer part of the rotor. When I replaced the caliper I lost about half a cup of fluid but that air should have been bled out.

Im not as worried about the uneven pad wear as I am about the contact with the rotors.

Could it be a deteriorated brake hose that I have read about?

When you installed the calipers, did you ensure they piston thingy was pushed all the way in? You most likely did, but I gotta ask...

As for the smoke, and maybe the discoloration, that was probably just "preservative" oil burning off the rotors.

I always wash fresh rotors and pads in hot soapy (dish) water to remove the oil they put on them to keep them from rusting.

Yeah I set the pistons back all the way and cleaned the pads and rotors with brake cleaner.

brake cleaner won't clean them all the way. it takes dish soap. just a fyi. won't hurt anything, just smoke a little.

why do you need to wash new rotors and pads?