Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => The Bike - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: daneo on August 21, 2011, 07:32:52 AM
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I replaced my stock rotors with ebc wave rotors and the sugested sintered pads.After the 1000 mile break in the bike stops w
ell but have an annoying almost crunchy feel and sound.Also I have noticed what looks like some corrosion on the abs ring.
Any suggestions?
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No. But, I've got their rotors and pads and it's stopping pretty good now. Took a long time to break in though. Are you using their pads?
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Yes.They stop well but sound bad and have terrible feed back.Ive got 3000 miles on them now.I think I will emory cloth and clean the rotors and sand the pads slightly.Thanks for the reply
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I fitted em to mine 6 months ago after 5 OEM warranty sets in the hope of being rid of the dreaded shudder which always returned after 6-10,000km. I ride like the old granny that I am and where I live just LONG straight roads. Anyhow, after 10,000km on the EBC parts the shudder returned. I contacted EBC in England where they're made, to be advised that their 'latest' SD discs are now hardened. I noted that mine were quite scored when compared to the K discs after the same distance. So I had my old K discs bead blasted and then I rubbed em down with 80 grit wet garnet paper to remove all traces of pads material (which is reportedly the cause of the shudder) and fitted them yesterday with a set of cheap Kevlar pads. After bedding them in and a short ride, there is no shudder at all. I'll be taking it for a 350km ride today, again on long straight roads. The EBC discs have .006" & .007" warp, which is within spec and no worse than any of the K discs that I've had. Interesting?!
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Hmmm...
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After two set of oem front disks I installed the ebc rotors and HH pads 6 months ago.
Even after bedding-in aggressively there was some front shudder left. After 1500 km and some very hard use of the brakes two up in the alps the shudder went away.
So they probably need a long running in period, more so if you do not use your brakes very hard.
The front brake is at least as good als the oem, soundless, the only difference is a light sense of crunch in the brake-handle when the speed comes below 60 km/h while slowing down.
So maybe after all my dealer was right when he told me that the "warping" was caused by my, applying the brakes too gently.
At least for this bike.
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Could be, but both of my 'incidents' occurred after heavy braking events.
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Well I did that ride today and although it's far too early to draw any conclusions, the brakes are as smooth as silk again. I'd forgotten how good that feels. ;D
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Geez, I'm now a bit concerned seeing that I'm about to fit the EBC rotors and sintered pads. Still, the ones I bought are guaranteed not to warp so all should be OK if I follow the bedding in procedures. My bike was fitted with 2011 rotors and pads under warranty but they still shuddered on high speed stops (not the ABS operating - totally different feel).
Rob
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In my situation, my original rotors started shuddering after a panic stop in Wyoming. I lived with it until I got back home to the east coast. I decided to go EBC instead of fiddling with the stock setup (in retrospect I should have gone the warranty route). I put the EBC setup on the front and took it for a spin. They still shuddered like all get out and the front wheel rotors were very hot. 'This ain't right, mate.' I says to meself and then realized the reservoir was overfull :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: . My line of thinking at the time was that I couldn't have worn the brake pads that much on the trip out to warrant looking/adjusting the reservoir level. I also assumed the pads were the same thickness. I loosened the bleeder on the left side a bit and it came out under pressure. Interesting is that the lever was not being touched at the time. This can't be good. I adjusted the lever and bleed both sides. After that I could not get the shuddering to stop. After that I thought there must be some major deposits of brake material on the rotors.
Brian (BDF) had a very nice writeup on sanding/finishing the rotors to remove this material. I bought a brake rotor hone and finished both rotors. The shuddering diminished but was still there. What finally minimized/eliminated it was replacing the pads as well. They must have been glazed. I suppose I could have sanded them but I wanted to eliminate them from the equation.
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Geez, I'm now a bit concerned seeing that I'm about to fit the EBC rotors and sintered pads. Still, the ones I bought are guaranteed not to warp so all should be OK if I follow the bedding in procedures. My bike was fitted with 2011 rotors and pads under warranty but they still shuddered on high speed stops (not the ABS operating - totally different feel).
Rob
Yeah, mine were guaranteed not to warp too - and they haven't (beyond spec) but they still shudder. I bought my EBC SD discs & pads from Murphs in Sept last year (had em sitting under the bench for 7 months b4 fitting). Whether he's now able to supply the latest hardened ones, I spose you'd have to ask him. But the K discs are hardened anyway and they shudder. In any case, they're all good to the first few thousand ml/km. ;)
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I brought this thread back from the dead on account of I have a question about my EBC rotors. I haven't road tested it yet but hear this clicking when I spin the wheel. The ABS sensor has enough clearance and is not contacting the rotor. I marked the rotor on the part that the pads were touching and spun the wheel. The clicking does not happen on the same spot on the rotor.
I wonder if the pads need to bed in to make this sound go away?
Thoughts?
http://youtu.be/HaeSibOX2Xk (http://youtu.be/HaeSibOX2Xk)
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Have you pumped up the brakes yet? That almost sounds like the pads are wobbling. I also question the lack of free wheeling when you spin the tire, something isnt right there.
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Yes, the lever was pumped. I also bled the brakes at both calipers and the master cylinder. The brake lever feels normal (I bleed the brakes every 10k miles or so).
I saw a previous reference to a "spacer" between the rotor and rim. There is a plasticky circular doodad that could be considered a shim..but it's really thin (.1 inch or so). I don't think it is affecting my problem.
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Something is binding. I would start from scratch, pull the tire, put the axle in the tire, put on some stands and see if the bearings spin freely.
Insulting question not meant to insult, the 2 stepped spacers, they in and oriented properly? How long/how many miles on the current front bearings?
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Something is binding. I would start from scratch, pull the tire, put the axle in the tire, put on some stands and see if the bearings spin freely.
Insulting question not meant to insult, the 2 stepped spacers, they in and oriented properly? How long/how many miles on the current front bearings?
I did that before I mounted it and it spins relatively freely. The wheel bearings are near the end of their useful life (OEM, 65k). The spacers are installed correctly. And no, I would never be offended at someone trying to help by stating the obvious. We all overlook things from time to time.
I plan on replacing the bearings shortly but the sound I'm hearing is not bearings but probably a brake pad.
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I reckon the next thing I would try is pulling the calipers and giving her a spin. I know that at 50k (or something like that) miles my front bearings were beyond toast and made a world of differance. I discovered the noise/slop when I was replacing the rotors.
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The shooosh sound is a bit loud, but the click/knock ain't normal. Something is wrong. I run the EBC combination and have never heard that. It's not bearings from what I'm hearing. It's something in the caliper/rotor combo. Something mechanical is not installed correctly. Hard to tell from the noise though. For God's sake don't ride it like that.
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I probably wasn't clear about the status of the bearings. With the calipers off, the wheel spins several revolutions with a gentle tug. The bearings are good.
The clicking is definitely coming from the area of the caliper. I'll pull them off, disassemble and re-install....maybe I goofed up the pad alignment.
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I found the problem...
:o
(http://dolomoto.smugmug.com/Other/misc-photos-I-posted-to-the/i-ztsk8sd/0/XL/IMG_1785-XL.jpg)
Fixt. Wheel spins freely now. Tomorrow is bed-in time.
Thanks for the help and the advice to not ride it until this was fixt.
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EBC rules 8)
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EBC rules 8)
This. Been running them on My bikes as long as I can remember. Pretty sure the first set I installed was on my ZL900 Eliminator, back in 1985.
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I found the problem...
Glad you found the issue and thanks for giving the update. We see lots of calls for help and then no feedback as to what the problem/fix really was.
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Cheers!!!!!!
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Slightly off topic, but is there a recommended after market pad for stock rotors?
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Stick with the Kawa pads unless you have a some reason to change. I used EBC just because I always have, and went back to Kawa pads because of the noise, they make a raspy racket when braking.
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Slightly off topic, but is there a recommended after market pad for stock rotors?
I use the EBC HH pads with good results. IIRC the OEM front pads went about 25k, replaced by EBC HH pads which went until I changed them when I changed the rotors...so they went about 40k. The OEM rear pads went 56k and were replaced by EBC HH pads also. I change the brake fluid about every year (made easier with SpeedBleeders!)
As to the longevity, I do a lot of highway miles.