Uneven Brake Pad Wear - Need Some Advice

Busa Phil

Registered
Hey All,

I changed the front and rear brake pads a little less than a 1000 miles ago to the EBC HH Sintered Pads. They definitely have more stopping power. The fronts are great so far, but the rear brakes just the other day just felt strange all of a sudden like they were worn and scrapping the rotor. I examined them today and this is what I found. If you are looking at the rear caliper from the right side of the bike, the back pad was shot while the front pad was fine. These photos were right after I pulled the caliper off of the rotor so I did not move the pistons. Obviously, the front piston appears to be sticking. I have 15,000 miles on the bike, only owner, and I can say that I have never serviced the calipers as far as cleaning them in any way. The bike has seen rain, wind, snow, backroads, highways, grassy fields...you get the idea. What process should I go through with the calipers as far as cleaning them (I don't think I can handle a rebuild) before I reassemble with new pads? What should I use? I think the rotor is in ok shape. It has some grooves but I think it would smooth back down after installing new pads. What do you think? Thanks in advance for your help!

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Just make sure you put it back together right. I had a bike mechanic that got his butt kicked trying to figure out how to put the springs / keepers back in. Haven't had the Gen II apart yet.
 
yeah i put it back together the same way it came apart. They were working fine, or so I thought, until the other day when I braked pretty hard and noticed a sort of shudder in the rear brakes and then a metal on metal sound like they were worn out.
 
Yeah, it looks ugly brother. I did my own brakes after that experience. Looks like you might be rebuilding that bad boy. Not related to your issue ; I'd try the Galfer pads for the rear when you put it back together. Had EBC HH once and they were noisy on the rear. The galfers never gave me any trouble.

By the way we're not suppose to use the rear brakes anyway :whistle:
 
Either fix or rebuild that caliber. You are risking lock up if you don't.


Viper on iphone!
 
Both pads should be close in how much wear is on them. One of your pistons are not moving free. They also look real dirty and dirt will stop the from free floating. Give every thing a good cleaning, put a block between the pads and have some hit the break. See how they are moving or not moving. You may have to rebuild them, or at least change the break fluid.



1ibandit
88 ZL1000, 07 KaBusa
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
The brake fluid is pretty fresh. It was changed a little over a year ago when I put braided lines on the rear. They definitely are dirty. What would you clean them with?
 
The brake fluid is pretty fresh. It was changed a little over a year ago when I put braided lines on the rear. They definitely are dirty. What would you clean them with?

Brass brush and brake cleaner. Do not let the cleaner set on anything rubber to long. It will dry it out and cause cracking. You want to get the pistion unstuck first... I would use a c-clamp to hold the one piston from moving have something between the two pistons so the one that is stuck can't come all the way out. Press on the brake and get the stuck piston to move. Find where it was stuck and clean it good. Everything should be clean and free to move. If parts are pitted they should be replaced.


1ibandit
88 ZL1000, 07 KaBusa
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Wow that is not good. Definitely a good rebuild to clean her up. There is a how-to thread on the calipers lurking around. I plan on doing mine this winter just for regular maintenance. I am also going to powdercoat them though
 
Just my opinion, but they don't look all that dirty. I've seen allot worse. Could be you did not bleed the outer caliper enough when you did your brake line change. looks like the outer caliper was not working and all the pressure was on the inside caliper. If you don't bleed all the air out, it can cause the calipers not to push evenly. Just a thought. At this point I would clean them up, install new pads and bleed the system with a good brake bleeding kit.
 
Yeah I'm thinking a good cleaning, rebuild and I would check the rotor for excessive wear. Have it resurfaced when you
sort out the caliper and drop in some new pads.
 
The brakes were fine before. i had perfectly even wear on the prior pads. These in the pics have maybe 700 miles on them. I didn't think that I had to bleed after only changing the pads. I'll try cleaning and bleeding them and I'll report back.
 
The brakes were fine before. i had perfectly even wear on the prior pads. These in the pics have maybe 700 miles on them. I didn't think that I had to bleed after only changing the pads. I'll try cleaning and bleeding them and I'll report back.

Good luck Phil lets us know how it works out and what you found out!
 
Make sure your mounting bolts for the caliper are clean and lubed. I have a Gen 2 and the front bolt should be lubricated with brake grease. The caliper on most bikes needs to be able to float to allow for even brake wear. Also pull the pistons from the caliper and check for corrosion and ensure the seals are in good shape. If a piston is stuck a rebuild is in order.
 
Changing brake fluid will do nothing to address the main issue here, which appears to be that one caliper piston failing to retract off the rotor after a braking evolution. If I read this right, that photo shows a brand new EBC brake pad was worn to the backing plate in ~ 700 miles, is this correct?

If so... the pad was, likely enough, laid up against the rotor that entire 700 miles. I, too, have seen a lot WORSE condition of a rear caliper.... but I am not so sure a simple "cleaning" will truly fix this. It might. But... not so sure I would bet on a "might" condition. Me, I would take this caliper down and overhaul it properly.

If you are truly loathe to pull the caliper and do this correctly, follow the advice by others and try cleaning it with BrakeKleen and a small, stiff-bristled brush. It almost appears as if the piston shows signs of corrosion. If it is.... I wouldn't even bother cleaning; I'd just bite the bullet and pull the caliper, and do it right. If you're not up for this task, have it done right by some experienced techs. Seriously. Brake systems are too important to not have done right.
 
Lots of good, and BAD info in this thread.

First off, go read my thread in maintenance about how to rebuild your calipers.

https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/maintenance-do-yourself/129252-how-rebuild-your-calipers.html

It should not cost you anything other than time, and maybe a tool or two to accomplish this. You definitely have a piston stuck and a good cleaning inside and out will take care of this. This problem is not from bleeding the brakes.

NEVER grease anything on the brakes on your bike. I do not care what year busa you have, the caliper is solidly mounted and does not float, so you do not need to grease the bolts with anything than a small dab of antisieze. The caliper does not self center over the rotor, like a car does. You also cannot resurface your rotor. THey are too thin and not desidned for that. You may try to scuff that surface that is scored up some to remove anything that is imbedded, but if it is too bad, you need to replace it.

Good luck, let us know what happens.
 
Changing brake fluid will do nothing to address the main issue here, which appears to be that one caliper piston failing to retract off the rotor after a braking evolution. If I read this right, that photo shows a brand new EBC brake pad was worn to the backing plate in ~ 700 miles, is this correct?

If so... the pad was, likely enough, laid up against the rotor that entire 700 miles. I, too, have seen a lot WORSE condition of a rear caliper.... but I am not so sure a simple "cleaning" will truly fix this. It might. But... not so sure I would bet on a "might" condition. Me, I would take this caliper down and overhaul it properly.

If you are truly loathe to pull the caliper and do this correctly, follow the advice by others and try cleaning it with BrakeKleen and a small, stiff-bristled brush. It almost appears as if the piston shows signs of corrosion. If it is.... I wouldn't even bother cleaning; I'd just bite the bullet and pull the caliper, and do it right. If you're not up for this task, have it done right by some experienced techs. Seriously. Brake systems are too important to not have done right.

Yeah that's correct. The one pad wore down all the way in 700 miles. So you which piston is faulty, the one on the side with the worn down pad or the one with the fresh pad? My guess is the the one with the worn down pad didn't retract at all pushing itself again the rotor the entire time. Am I correct?
 
Lots of good, and BAD info in this thread.

First off, go read my thread in maintenance about how to rebuild your calipers.

https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/maintenance-do-yourself/129252-how-rebuild-your-calipers.html

It should not cost you anything other than time, and maybe a tool or two to accomplish this. You definitely have a piston stuck and a good cleaning inside and out will take care of this. This problem is not from bleeding the brakes.

NEVER grease anything on the brakes on your bike. I do not care what year busa you have, the caliper is solidly mounted and does not float, so you do not need to grease the bolts with anything than a small dab of antisieze. The caliper does not self center over the rotor, like a car does. You also cannot resurface your rotor. THey are too thin and not desidned for that. You may try to scuff that surface that is scored up some to remove anything that is imbedded, but if it is too bad, you need to replace it.

Good luck, let us know what happens.

Should I grease the pin that the pads slide on or no?
 
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