SRAM Rubbing/Rotor Alignment Woes

[proletariandan]

So this is a new one - I've been dealing with hydraulic brakes for years now and haven't run into this. Maybe I was just tired and doing something wrong but spent 2 hours banging my head on what should have been an easy rotor replacement.

This is on my Crux with AXS Rival. It was riding fine except for a bent rear rotor I decided to replace because I couldn't get it straight.

When I put the new rotor in (also a 1.8mm), it would not align properly (you know, loosen the caliper bolts, spin wheel, hold brake, tighten bolts back down).

Just to be safe, I cleaned, reset, and relubed the pistons (even though I just did that a month or two ago). Still would not align properly.

I used a rotor spacer (below), which I've used in the past when having trouble aligning calipers. Still no dice.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It actually seems like maybe the pads (which I did not replace and are maybe 1/2 way through their life) are just too close to the rotor now but still nowhere close to evenly spaced between the pads. The old rotor was still at 1.7mm or so. Would the extra .1mm mean that I need to rebleed the system?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Dan