I have seen this problem over the years and have never seen a satisfactory answer to the reason for it. Therefore I developed a method of dealing with it.
The first time I ran into this problem all four bolts on both sides had bottomed out and it allowed the backing plate to rock back and forth during braking and acceleration and ruined the backing plates as all the bolt holes were worn oblong.
There is a technical article on how to deal with it. Go to the web site of the Santa Anita A's of Arcadia, California at santaanitaas.org. On the home page put you cursor on "Technical Reference", my name will appear below, click on it. A menu of articles will come up, Scroll to "Rear Backing Plates" and click. The article is a pdf file. You are welcome to download it and print it out.
Tom Endy