2nd Gen Rear brake life

[SpaceMan]

Hi:

 

I am wondering if anyone could give me their experiences on rear brake life. I have an awful rough scraping sound going on in the rear when applying rear brake. No squealing or anything just the scraping sound. I don't recall it being there last fall when I stored the bike. I had a look at the caliper and it looks liket there is still plenty of pad on the outer side of the disc. I could not get a good look at the inside though. The rotor feels a bit torn up on the inside surface as well, especially around the holes. I now have about 23,000 kms (or about 15,000 miles).

 

It may be that the brakes are worn out already, but i thought they should last longer than that. Any help or comments from other 2nd gen riders appreciated!

 

Cheers

spaceman

[GeorgeS]

The Inner pads on rear, always wear faster.

 

If you think its worn out, it most likley is !! Been many discussions on this point.

 

I've been replaceing mine about every 15K since bike was new, 73K on it now.

[Eck]

Spaceman,

I promise you that your inside pad is GONE...

 

If you have 23,000 miles on your bike and you have never changed you rear brake pads, then the INSIDE one is shot, gone, and needs replaced now.

 

It is a known occurrence that the inside rear brake pads wear very fast on all RS-ventures...

 

You may also need to replace the rotor now...best get it check fast..

[Beau-Kat]

Yup.

 

15K or so is about right for replacing my rear pads too.

 

Haven't let them get to the scraping point yet. OUCH!

[V7Goose]

All the responses are dead on - sounds like your rotor is shot now too. In my experience, stock rear pads rarely make it to 15,000 miles even for riders who use mostly front brake. EBC HH rear pads will last over 30,000.

Goose

[Sunman]

Just flipped my rear pads for the first time with 12,000 KM on them. I was over at Dragerman's place where I stopped in during a nice ride. We decided to swap out my old saddlebag bolts for his new hand bolts. While we were doing that, we started talking about the rear brakes. Well, since the bolts were out, figured we could take the bag off, and have a look at the brakes. Lots of pad left, but definately more wear on the inside pad than the outboard. I got a great lesson on how to change the pads, and swapped them in to out. I also learned a good lesson on trying to keep that spring in place when pulling the pins. The thing jumped up and scared the crap out of me. I did notice a greatly different feel in braking after the swap, and I attribute that to the pads being switched over. The wear was always in one direction previously, now it is the opposite. Also, if the pads wear on an angle, then there will be less of a contact area untill they wear to the point that maximum pad is making contact with the rotor again. Just going to take it easy for a while, and make sure they seat well again. And soon I am off for another day of riding.

[SpaceMan]

Well thanks for all your information.

 

It sounds like I'm in for a new rotor too.

I guess I had hoped my dealer would be giving me a bit of a warning about pad life since I take to them regularly for the scheduled inspections and services exactly by the book. They say they are doing (and charge me for) a complete inspection so I had hoped they would at least say how much pad is left and warn me if it looked like I may be out of pad by next service interval.

 

But.... nothing at all was said. I may have to have a talk with them when I take it in on Monday. If they don't warn me about a few things like this, then why am I paying them to check it over?

 

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

Spaceman

[Monty]

I'm glad that swapping the pads around works for so many. I don't think I will try that, as I was always taught that it's not good to reverse the direction of the pads. After spending so many miles with all of the heat and pressure forcing the pad material in one direction, and then forcing it the other way can possibly break the pad loose from the steel backing plate. I have seen this happen on cars, and I am not willing to take that chance on my bike. Just my .

[Sunman]

Has anyone ever had this happen to them after reversing the pads? If so, I would be interested to hear about it. This is something that I never considered. But I did figure that if the members here reccommend something, that none of them have had bad experiences with it. I don't think anyone would ever suggest something that is unsafe.

[RandyR]

I have read that sintered metal pads, which the EKC HH are I believe, cause shortened rotor life. How often have riders had to replace rotors? any experience?

 

Here's one manufacturer's FAQ sheet on brakes. http://www.braketech.com/faq.php

Edited April 20, 2009 by RandyR

[N3FOL]

Well thanks for all your information.

 

It sounds like I'm in for a new rotor too.

I guess I had hoped my dealer would be giving me a bit of a warning about pad life since I take to them regularly for the scheduled inspections and services exactly by the book. They say they are doing (and charge me for) a complete inspection so I had hoped they would at least say how much pad is left and warn me if it looked like I may be out of pad by next service interval.

 

But.... nothing at all was said. I may have to have a talk with them when I take it in on Monday. If they don't warn me about a few things like this, then why am I paying them to check it over?

 

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

Spaceman

 

Most safety inspection places would write on the inspection sheet how much brake pad is left at the time.

 

Visually looking at your rotor, did it look damaged?

[RedRider]

I have read that sintered metal pads, which the EKC HH are I believe, cause shortened rotor life. How often have riders had to replace rotors? any experience?

 

Here's one manufacturer's FAQ sheet on brakes. http://www.braketech.com/faq.php

 

I had to replace a rotor, but not because of the HH pads. It was because I didn't have the HH pads and the ones I had wore out too soon. Well, maybe it was because I didn't check them as often as I should. It was an expensive lesson.

 

I seem to learn most of my lessons the expensive way.

 

RR

[N3FOL]

With this thread, it started to make me wonder how much more do I have left on the rear. Mileage on my bike is at 4K miles and I mostly ride highways, so I don't use a lot of brake most of the time. Perhaps at 10K miles, I should go ahead and pull out the pads.

[Long Tall]

Check out the pixs I included on the below post of my pads....Inside pad all but GONE..Got to them before damage to rotor........I also would be adding a new rotor had I not checked these MYSELF....Added the EBC Sintered HH's and road 250 miles on them this Saturday...Twistie Blue Ridge Pkwy roads...NO PROBLEM....Going to go ahead and add same to front in a couple of weeks....

 

Go to this Thread.. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=33832

 

George In Virginia

[Dusty]

I happened to be changing my rear tire this spring and found my rear pads to be in bad shape. I do check them regularily. Not sure if I inadvertenly changed my braking habits or something else changed because the rear inside pad seemed to go pretty quick after it got down to a certain amount of wear?

From what others have posted, I guess I did alright for wear on an 07 RSV with 36,000 kms on it and never switched pads around. A lot of those kms are pulling a trailer also.

[BradT]

I guess I had hoped my dealer would be giving me a bit of a warning about pad life since I take to them regularly for the scheduled inspections and services exactly by the book. They say they are doing (and charge me for) a complete inspection so I had hoped they would at least say how much pad is left and warn me if it looked like I may be out of pad by next service interval.

 

But.... nothing at all was said. I may have to have a talk with them when I take it in on Monday. If they don't warn me about a few things like this, then why am I paying them to check it over?

 

I would tell him they owe you a really good deal on a rotor.

 

Brad

[Eddie Fulmer]

OK I'm a heavy front breaker. However I've got about 37k on my bike with the original brakes all the way around. Just another opinion.

[N3FOL]

Eddie,

 

You must ride a lot of highways that is why your brakes last longer than others.

[MAINEAC]

I just did my rear brakes in a Motel 6 parking lot... I had plenty of meat when I left FL but the Mountains here in CA, the traffic here, and pulling my trailer ate them up fast... I tried 4 Yamaha dealers in CA and none of them had them in stock... I finally found them at a Cycle gear place... By the time I got the brakes both pads were down to metal... I'll probably have to do the rotor when I get back home.. This is one of the downsides of using the bike for a work vehicle... If it runs ya gotta keep on truckin...