LilBeaver Posted March 27, 2011 Share #1 Posted March 27, 2011 Popped off the ol calipers today doing my routine checks (I also changed the spark plugs, shielded my audio wiring and did a few other minor things) and realized it was about time to change the pads. Once I got down to about half worn I started checking them every week or two and I am absolutely amazed how quickly these things wear when they get close to the end... This is only about 17k miles but since my bike is used as my primary vehicle it does get its fair share of stop and go. I did realize that some of these didn't focus all that well - oops. Next time, I will just change them out when they start to get thin!! This was a bit too close for comfort for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scarylarry Posted March 27, 2011 Share #2 Posted March 27, 2011 Looks like mind at about 6k miles the front looks great but the rear was shot no more EBC brakes for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friesman Posted March 27, 2011 Share #3 Posted March 27, 2011 ya didnt have too many smooth stops left on those. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan52577 Posted March 27, 2011 Share #4 Posted March 27, 2011 Looks good for another 5000 to 10000 or more miles,........................................................ If you never had to use them. Bryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flb_78 Posted March 27, 2011 Share #5 Posted March 27, 2011 Are those the front or rear pads? Im assuming rear since there is only 1 set showing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilBeaver Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share #6 Posted March 27, 2011 Are those the front or rear pads? Im assuming rear since there is only 1 set showing. The ones shown in the first post (for now anyways) are one of the front sets. The other set was almost identical, I just didn't feel like washing my hands again to take another picture. I'll get A few shot of the rear pads up too. I actually still have about 10% of the rear pads left and that was with ~23k miles of wear (on the rear). I changed those anyways - since I was there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilBeaver Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share #7 Posted March 27, 2011 Looks good for another 5000 to 10000 or more miles,........................................................ If you never had to use them. Bryan Or didn't care about my rotors! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilBeaver Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share #8 Posted March 27, 2011 Looks like mind at about 6k miles the front looks great but the rear was shot no more EBC brakes for me What kind do you use? These are the EBC 'Organic' (Not the 'double sintered HH' ones) When I bought my bike it had the yamahaha metallic crap on there that squealed like a pig- they are almost brand new but I replaced them because I couldn't stand the noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddlebum Posted March 27, 2011 Share #9 Posted March 27, 2011 What did you take them off for ? up here anything over 1/32 of an inch on a bonded lining (1/64 over the rivet on a riveted lining), still passes a ministry safe vehicle inspection. I too had the squealing on mine so bad that they became unsafe so I put a coating of permatex brake quiet on them and put them back on. Why unsafe , do you ask. The niose was so irratating that I became dangerously gentle on applying the brakes, just to avoid the noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainJoe Posted March 27, 2011 Share #10 Posted March 27, 2011 Anything at or below 1/16"th bonded and I'm changing mine. I also use the non-metalic pads as they don't squeal or "distort" the rotor. Use to be you could get car and bike rotors turned, as from factory they were thick... Nowadays I wouldn't count on it... not only are some to thin to turn but you'll be hard pressed to even find someone to turn them in this throw away world... I only know of one person in this whole area that does it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muaymendez1 Posted March 27, 2011 Share #11 Posted March 27, 2011 It akk depends on what you paid for them. If you paid hafl the doubled price of cheap ones Id say you got your moneys worth. I have a trick that allows me to get more miles outta my bike. Very simple so pay attention. here it goes. DONT STOP!!! Find roads with no lights and just keep going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddlebum Posted March 31, 2011 Share #12 Posted March 31, 2011 Anything at or below 1/16"th bonded and I'm changing mine. I also use the non-metalic pads as they don't squeal or "distort" the rotor. Use to be you could get car and bike rotors turned, as from factory they were thick... Nowadays I wouldn't count on it... not only are some to thin to turn but you'll be hard pressed to even find someone to turn them in this throw away world... I only know of one person in this whole area that does it. We still have a machine at work for turning drums and rotors but shop labour cost has gone up so much that it is cheaper to replace them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twigg Posted March 31, 2011 Share #13 Posted March 31, 2011 Nice, even wear on those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilBeaver Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted March 31, 2011 Oops, I haven't put up the shots of my rear pads yet. There is actually still a decent amount of 'meat' left on them but I'll hang on to thsoe as a 'back-up' set now... just in case. We still have a machine at work for turning drums and rotors but shop labour cost has gone up so much that it is cheaper to replace them I sort of figured that was the case. It is a shame really, it seems like such a waste to 'toss the old and buy new'. Oh well, I guess that way you don't have to worry so much about the warping that may occur from R&I. Nice, even wear on those. I do what I can In all seriousness I have been throughly impressed by it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7Goose Posted March 31, 2011 Share #15 Posted March 31, 2011 Did you get your money's worth? Not unless they were REAL cheap. Front pads on an RSV should go at least 30,000 miles (and I am a heavy front brake user) - even with stock Yamahaha pads. EBC HH pads much more. But you said those were EBC organic pads - I cannot say if the paltry 17K miles is normal for them or not - never have tried them. You may want to consider the HH pads. Goose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scarylarry Posted March 31, 2011 Share #16 Posted March 31, 2011 What kind do you use? These are the EBC 'Organic' (Not the 'double sintered HH' ones) When I bought my bike it had the yamahaha metallic crap on there that squealed like a pig- they are almost brand new but I replaced them because I couldn't stand the noise. They was the Organic, was in a hurry and that is all the dealer had in stock.. I have stock up a new set since then... No I did not switch them over and yes the inside one was shot, close but wasn't the metal.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7Goose Posted March 31, 2011 Share #17 Posted March 31, 2011 What kind do you use? These are the EBC 'Organic' (Not the 'double sintered HH' ones) When I bought my bike it had the yamahaha metallic crap on there that squealed like a pig- they are almost brand new but I replaced them because I couldn't stand the noise. FYI - brake squeal is generally not caused by the type of pad material - is is the pads vibrating against the pistons. A small amount of silicone RTV or any of the commercial anti-squeal stuff applied to the back of the pads will almost always stop it. Goose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilBeaver Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share #18 Posted March 31, 2011 Did you get your money's worth? Not unless they were REAL cheap. Front pads on an RSV should go at least 30,000 miles (and I am a heavy front brake user) - even with stock Yamahaha pads. EBC HH pads much more. But you said those were EBC organic pads - I cannot say if the paltry 17K miles is normal for them or not - never have tried them. You may want to consider the HH pads. Goose I suppose I could have been a little more clear with my post as it was more of a retorhical question than anything; although knowing that one might should expect ~30k out of the front pads is good info to have. I was surprised at how little brake pad material was left and when comparing them to a brand new set I had forgotten how much 'pad' is really there on a new set. I do a lot of 'around town' riding and am also very heavy on the front brake which is likely a culprit to the lower mileage than one might expect. I guess I should do some thread searching, but I thought I had recalled reading a thread about the abnormally high wear of the rotor due to the HH sintered pads. As I am writing this though I am questioning the rational behind it so I guess that is an open question I have as to the significance of the increase in rotor wear. FYI - brake squeal is generally not caused by the type of pad material - is is the pads vibrating against the pistons. A small amount of silicone RTV or any of the commercial anti-squeal stuff applied to the back of the pads will almost always stop it. Goose This too is good info but I can only speak from my experience. I had done everything short of rebuilding the calipers and nothing stopped the squeal from happening. I had used generous amounts of the 'brake lube' (or whatever the anti-squeal stuff is called) on the backs of the pads between the pistons and pads as well as the caliper bolts (to make sure that everything moved like it was supposed to). I replaced the 'springs' that are supposed to help reduce the vibration of the pads that put the pressure on top of the pads from the inside of the caliper and I still had the 'squeal'. I cleaned the rotors quite thoroughly and even did some sanding on the brake pads thinking that maybe there was something on the surface of the pads. The 'squeal' that I was hearing sounded more like what happens in a car when you get down to the 'squeal/wear bars' or maybe like something was lodged between the pad and the rotor than the squeal one would hear from lack of lubrication on the back of the pads. I realize that my description is lacking but for now I think this is the best I can do. The change from the OEM pads to the EBC pads was correlated with the elimination of the squeal that I was hearing (and the OEM pads that came off were almost brand new) so that is why I attributed the noise to the pads or the type of material that the pads were. My 'sample size' is clearly not large enough for any 'generalized conclusion' since it was just ONE set of pads but I guess I am not really interested enoguh to go spend money on a bunch of sets of brake pads just to test this as the EBCs work for me. For ~$15/set, I cannot complain too much. I suppose a slightly different shape or size (variations in brand) affecting the 'snugness' of fit into the calipers could certainly allow for a different amount of vibration occurring between the pads and pistons within the calipers - that may account for the noise that I heard not being alleviated by lubing everything up. Anyhoo, thanks a lot for the input Goose. They was the Organic, was in a hurry and that is all the dealer had in stock.. I have stock up a new set since then... No I did not switch them over and yes the inside one was shot, close but wasn't the metal.. I was mistaken, I thought in your original post you were indicating that you had about 6k miles on your FRONT pads when they looked like mine. Sorry about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scarylarry Posted March 31, 2011 Share #19 Posted March 31, 2011 I was mistaken, I thought in your original post you were indicating that you had about 6k miles on your FRONT pads when they looked like mine. Sorry about that. still 6k on the rear is not good....Or I think ain't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flb_78 Posted March 31, 2011 Share #20 Posted March 31, 2011 still 6k on the rear is not good....Or I think ain't I've had as little as 8K on a rear set. I was a heavy rear braker for a while after acquiring my 99RSV, the front master cylinder felt "notchy" to me and I didn't want to rebuild it. Later, I did a flush and fill on the brake system and the "notchiness" went away and now I use the front brake more and the rear pads last quite a while longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7Goose Posted March 31, 2011 Share #21 Posted March 31, 2011 still 6k on the rear is not good....Or I think ain't You are right - 6K on rear pads ain't good, even with stock Yamahaha pads. However, rear pads do wear pretty fast on the RSV, with the original stock pads being down to metal between 10K-12K pretty common. So if you use the rear brake a lot, I can see them being shot by 6K. EBC HH pads on the rear will have triple the life of stock pads. In addition, most of us know that the inside rear pad usually wears at twice the rate of the outside rear pad. There is no logic to explain this, since the calipers have active pistons on both sides, but it is VERY VERY common - almost 100% of the bikes, in my experience (but a few people have said theirs wear evenly). In contrast, I have never seen front pads that did not wear evenly. As for the question of extra rotor wear from HH pads - I do not see it, nor have I heard about it. Goose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scarylarry Posted March 31, 2011 Share #22 Posted March 31, 2011 Thanks goose, I bought a few sets of yammy pads lot cheaper, dealer was closing and he had a few in stock still... They was half off for only 15.00 a set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7Goose Posted March 31, 2011 Share #23 Posted March 31, 2011 Thanks goose, I bought a few sets of yammy pads lot cheaper, dealer was closing and he had a few in stock still... They was half off for only 15.00 a set Just keep a close eye on them - cheap pads get REAL expensive when they bite into the rotor because they wore faster than you expected! Goose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainJoe Posted April 1, 2011 Share #24 Posted April 1, 2011 "Anything at or below 1/16"th bonded and I'm changing mine. I also use the non-metalic pads as they don't squeal or "distort" the rotor. Use to be you could get car and bike rotors turned, as from factory they were thick... Nowadays I wouldn't count on it... not only are some to thin to turn but you'll be hard pressed to even find someone to turn them in this throw away world... I only know of one person in this whole area that does it. " he got the squeal thing from me...oops the squeal does come form the area betweem the brake pistons and the back of the pad thats why most car brake pads come with anti squeal lube... As far as the hardness of the pads, the harder the material the pads are made out of the harder it is on your rotors. Napa sells two or three grades of brake pads. The harder ones end up grooving your rotors... I found this out on the front end of a chevy spectrum and i threw those pads in the garbage. Now, I purposely buy the soft as I'd rather buy the pads than buy the pads and have to take the rotor off to be turned...if thats even possible on a bike... Are the HH pads as hard as the hard car pads? Thats a good queestion. Has anyone had to get their rotors turned on their bikes? At how many miles? Or do you have to buy new rotors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter Bob Posted April 1, 2011 Share #25 Posted April 1, 2011 What V7Goose said about the rear, down to metal in 10k-12k on factory pads is right on. Since then I have been using EBC pads, not sure the grade, but they cost about $30, and I just put a new set on every time I change the rear tire (about 16k) and they always have some meat on them, but not much. I too, must be a heavier than some user of the back brakes. I still have the original Yammy pads up front, with almost 81,000 on them now. For that kind of life, I think I will pay whatever Momma Yamma wants for another set. Ya, they've been out a couple times to grease up the back sides for the squeal issue, but that's it. Just my , Scooter Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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