Uneven Brake Pad Wear

[Midicat]

Well, I changed the pads today and I noticed a considerable difference in the pad wear. Inside rear was worn more than outside which I understand is normal. Left front, both pads were worn but right front the pads showed very minimal wear. Almost new condition. Could there be something going on that needs to be addressed?

 

Thomas

[skydoc_17]

Hey Thomas,

The pistons on one side of your caliper are sticking. Considering that your caliper seals could be 30 years old, I'd say they did a REAL good job up to this point. These two piston calipers are a pretty easy rebuild. I use the Yamaha Seal Kits, the quality of the parts are much better than aftermarket. Your braking action will be much better after the rebuild as well.

Earl

[cowpuc]

Hmmm,, is this a "new" bike to you Midi? Maybe the previous owner never used his front brake.. I know it sounds crazy but there a lots of riders who actually fear the thing and use the rear brake for all stopping..

Another possibilty is that someone used different pads on the front only (right side) than on the rear/front (left side front) linked brakes.. Seems like Organics will wear a LOT faster than Kevlars or what ever..

If all the brakes are working (good stopping power for your style of riding), you find no sticking calipers or mushiness in the brake systems or fluid loss issues,,, sounds like you should just ride that puppy!!

Its funny you mention the uneven wear on the rear sets and how that is normal.. Until I got in the habit of always pushing the pistons on the calipers out just a little past new pad distance (just the distance of the pad itself), wrapping a brake fluid staturated strip of cloth around the exposed piston(s) one at a time and cleaning them, making sure that they were nice and clean, squeezing them back in and then repeating that until I got no visible lines on any pistons showing drag --- I used to get uneven pad wear. Since I have been doing that every time I swap out brake pads I cant recall the last time I got normal uneven pad wear.. I just replaced rear pads on Tweeks before Dons MD and they were absolutely perfect in there wear depth..

Another note about that though.. I got into a discussion with GeorgeS while we were out in Oregon last year.. He had asked me if Tweeks still had original calipers on her and I told him she did. I also told him about my process for cleaning pistons that I had been doing for years had, IMHO, at least been partially responsible for her still having stock calipers - pistons and seals.. He got telling me about some of our Ventures not being set up correctly on the rear pumpkin. Apparently, some of our scoots came missing 15 or 20 thou worth of material between the swing arm (the part where that incases the driveshaft) and where that swing arm attaches to the Pumpkin.. He said that he (or others?) have found that by resetting that gap (shimming it) - the uneven brake pads disappear.. I have never needed to do that on any of my 5 fairly high mileaged 83/84's to achieve matching pad wear on the rear but, I found Georges info and knowledge amazing and have no doubt that what he was discribing could cause such a malidy..

[djh3]

I knew the 2nd gens had the rear wear issue, but had not read that on the 1st gens, I just bought a pair of kevlars for the rear of my 2nd gen.

[MiCarl]

Left front pads are operated by the rear brake. Right front operated by the hand lever.

 

As Skydoc17 pointed out, if someone is under utilizing the hand brake the right front pads won't wear.

 

Pads on a caliper should wear evenly, if not something is amiss. In addition to making sure the pistons are free look carefully at the rear caliper. The pads tend to wear a slot where they press against the caliper when stopping. If they get hung up in that slot they will wear unevenly.