Brake pad life - what's to be expected

[cb0802]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

Just for the sake of comparison, I did my first rear pad change this weekend at 17,750 miles on the OEM pads. I commute almost daily in northern Virginia traffic, have about 1,000 miles off road, and only use the hand brake. The front pads are a little under 50%.
I went with the EBCs based mostly on dcstrom's earlier posts.

 

[autoteach]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

21k miles, still the originals.

 

[Mark R.]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

You might be dragging the rear brake unconsciously. I have rotated the rear brake lever WAY down and even ground off some of the master cylinder shaft so it would rotate down further. I did this because I could not keep my foot on the peg and cover the brake lever without burning up the rear pads. I ride off road and drag the rear brake to help in steering, so I have to be able to get control of the rear brake while sitting, so that is what I ended up doing. You might give it a try.

 

[Ramseybella]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

Put the bike on the centerstand and spin the rear wheel hard by hand, in neutral. If it is really hard to spin and it won't even make a full rotation, there is something wrong with the brakes. If the wheel spins one to two rotations, the problem is you...

May want to pull the caliper Clean the pistons as they get mucked up fast and bleed the fluid.
My fluid was nasty at 1200 miles.
Check you clutch fluid as well that was worse..
Break fluid is cheap and doing the job is easy, just watch that clutch slave it drains quick and then you get a big gulp of air.. :-[

 

[Sckill]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

Put the bike on the centerstand and spin the rear wheel hard by hand, in neutral. If it is really hard to spin and it won't even make a full rotation, there is something wrong with the brakes. If the wheel spins one to two rotations, the problem is you...

Thanks for all of the replies and a reminder on this simple test. With the bike on the center stand and in neutral, I can hear the pad / rotor dragging and get half a rotation from spinning the wheel. Looks like it's something with the brakes.

I'm bringing in the bike to get the headlight harness replaced on Monday and they'll be looking at the brakes also. Hopefully I'll find out what's causing it and get it fixed by next week.

 

[528Hz]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

Thanks for all of the replies and a reminder on this simple test. With the bike on the center stand and in neutral, I can hear the pad / rotor dragging and get half a rotation from spinning the wheel. Looks like it's something with the brakes.

I'm bringing in the bike to get the headlight harness replaced on Monday and they'll be looking at the brakes also. Hopefully I'll find out what's causing it and get it fixed by next week.

You could take the rear caliper off, remove the pads and look at the pistons. They may be somewhat stuck in a closed position. You can clean them up and save yourself some hourly dealer rates.

 

[Ramseybella]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

You could take the rear caliper off, remove the pads and look at the pistons. They may be somewhat stuck in a closed position. You can clean them up and save yourself some hourly dealer rates.

::026:: Wah He Say!

 

[toompine]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

Just replaced the original rear pads at 36,000 miles. They were quite done but not enough to score the rotor

 

[scott123007]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

. I spun it and could hear the brakes and the wheel only spun half a turn or so.

Someone hasn't been eating his spinach...

 

[markjenn]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

It's probably tough to spec brake drag by how far the wheel rotates when spun by hand. If I really give it a hard shove, it might make it around a full turn, but if I'm at all half-hearted about it, it stops in a half-turn or so. And I'd bet the main drag in a normal system is from the final drive and transmission, so it probably matters if the gear and transmission oil are cold.

I guess over the years one develops a sense for this sort of thing (particularly when spinning wheels while lubing chains on chain-drive bikes) and I can tell my brakes aren't dragging. I think you can tell more just by turning the wheel slowly and sensing whether there is undue resistance and brake noise. You may hear a very slight scraping noise, but nothing very pronounced or loud.

On non-linked-brake bikes, a simple brake drag test was to go ride, not use the rear brake, and check to see if the disc was cool after riding a bit. Perhaps on the S10, one could simulate this by riding awhile and coast to a stop without using the brakes. (Obviously, an uphill stopping zone would be optimal.)

I think we've had a few instances on this forum of premature rear brake wear but I don't recall what the final outcomes were. My experience when I taught MSF was that many students, particularly experienced riders, were heavy rear brake users without even realizing it. And given the relative sizes of the discs on a bike like the S10, it is very easy to overheat the rear disc if you start asking for it to provide the majority of the stopping power and an overheated brake will wear very quickly. So the tendency in these situations is to immediately chalk it up to rider error, but you never know.... something could be wrong. In any event, with the S10's linked system, there really is no need in normal conditions to use the rear brake pedal at all. Yamaha has this pretty well-sorted and except for an unusual circumstance (e.g., going down a steep gravel driveway), I don't see a good reason not to just let the system do its thing.

- Mark

 

[Sckill]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

Update: rear brakes are fixed. Took it to the dealer on Monday and they cleaned the piston and changed the pads. I was able to keep the rotor and they just scuffed it up a bit to let the new pads wear in. The rear wheel spins a lot more freely now and the bike rides fine. I hope this is the end of the brake troubles.

 

[Ramseybella]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

Update: rear brakes are fixed. Took it to the dealer on Monday and they cleaned the piston and changed the pads. I was able to keep the rotor and they just scuffed it up a bit to let the new pads wear in. The rear wheel spins a lot more freely now and the bike rides fine. I hope this is the end of the brake troubles.

"I hope this is the end of the brake troubles."

Most likely not as they get dusty and grimy you if you can do your own breaks do so!
It's not that of an issue just don't pop the pistons out and bleed them from time to time.

I love these Yamaha Calipers Sooo easy to work with. the rear is a 5 minute deal.

 

[markjenn]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

I love these Yamaha Calipers Sooo easy to work with. the rear is a 5 minute deal.

If you can remove the rear caliper, pop the pistons out, clean everything up, put it back together and bleed the brakes....in five minutes, you're missing your calling on a F1 pit crew. And routinely introducing this much air into a linked ABS system and hoping to always be able to bleed it back out is asking for trouble in my book.

- Mark

 

[frez]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

Replacing my tyres today at 5.2k miles (bike bought in February) I noticed the rear pads need replacing very soon. Looks like the wet weather and gritted roads have taken their toll. No sign of brakes dragging.

 

[cosmic]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

20k mls, i guess I'm good for 5 more.

©

 

[EricV]

Re: Rear brake pads toasted - 2K miles???

If you can remove the rear caliper, pop the pistons out, clean everything up, put it back together and bleed the brakes....in five minutes, you're missing your calling on a F1 pit crew. And routinely introducing this much air into a linked ABS system and hoping to always be able to bleed it back out is asking for trouble in my book.

- Mark

No doubt. However, many folks don't feel the need to pop the pistons out for minor cleaning. Less risk of air in the system and damage to the seals around the pistons.

I replaced my front pads today for the first time. Could have let them hang in there for longer but one pad was getting pretty close and obviously the pistons were gunked up so it was uneven with the other pad. Cleaned everything up with a soft toothbrush and brake cleaner, then put in new pads. Not bad for 73k. Not as good as un-linked on the FJR Gen I, but acceptable to me. I kept one set of pads for emergency use, as they still had more than enough meat and were even. Probably 1/4 or a little less meat on them.

Back pads were changed at something like 49k and are about 50% now. Seems fairly uniform wear. No commuting, not much city riding. Mostly going places.

 

[Tony99]

Re: rear brake pads

Just replace rear rotor and pads 17000 miles. Now I have no rear brake with the handle bar brake lever but it does work with the rear foot lever brake

 

[EricV]

Re: rear brake pads

Just replace rear rotor and pads 17000 miles. Now I have no rear brake with the handle bar brake lever but it does work with the rear foot lever brake

Did you bleed the system? When you spread the old pads or push the pistons back into the caliper, it pushes fluid back into the reservoirs. Too much, you get issues. Dirty fluid can also carry crud back up the line to the reservoir, causing problems.

Simplest first step is to suck out all the old fluid, (if you didn't already), clean the reservoirs, then top off with fresh DOT 4 brake fluid and bleed the system carefully until you're sure you have fresh fluid thru out the lines.

Odds are that will cure your problem.

 

[markjenn]

Re: rear brake pads

Now I have no rear brake with the handle bar brake lever but it does work with the rear foot lever brake

How are you testing this? I recall from an earlier thread that just applying the front brake with the bike stationary (engine running or not) doesn't apply the rear brake.

- Mark

 

[Tony99]

Re: rear brake pads

Bleeding is my next step but why does rear work with the rear brake pedal