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Author Topic: Disintegrating brakes  (Read 3707 times)

Offline Mal

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Disintegrating brakes
« on: April 25, 2012, 03:55:46 PM »
Coming home from a day ride and heading up an on-ramp I tried to use my rear brake and the pedal went all the way to the stop without effect. After I got home I did a quick visual check and could see nothing wrong. I thought maybe I had heated up the rear and the brakes were spongy because of that, suspected some air bubbles or something so I bled the system. Afterwards there was still nothing so I removed the caliper. Dust, flakes, and fragments fell out and into my hand, the brake pads looked like they had disintegrated! The backing plates were bent backwards at both corners and some 'tin' plates fell out that were mangled. I've got some new pads arriving today or tomorrow, but I wanted to ask if anyone else had encountered this.   Did the pads just fail spectacularly or is this a symptom of something more sinister...

TIA

Mal
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Son of Pappy

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2012, 05:16:57 PM »
Stockers or some other brand?  I wore my Carbonne Lorraines to the point of being beyond bad, I had just checked them about 2000 miles earlier and I thought they were about %50, boy, was I wrong.  How does the rotor look?  And FWIW, my fav pads to date are EBCs, Galfers were OK, CLs once broke in were awesome at street speeds, but almost worthless at track speeds, stockers (08)?  OK if you like extra deposits on the rotors I guess.
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Offline Mal

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2012, 07:56:25 PM »
Quote from: Son of Pappy on April 25, 2012, 05:16:57 PM
Stockers or some other brand?  I wore my Carbonne Lorraines to the point of being beyond bad, I had just checked them about 2000 miles earlier and I thought they were about %50, boy, was I wrong.  How does the rotor look?  And FWIW, my fav pads to date are EBCs, Galfers were OK, CLs once broke in were awesome at street speeds, but almost worthless at track speeds, stockers (08)?  OK if you like extra deposits on the rotors I guess.

I don't know SoP, they were on the bike when I bought it. You're right about the deposits, the holes in the rotors were full of smegma. The rotors themselves look fine...
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`09 ZG-1400
Western Colorado

"It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others" —Henry George

Son of Pappy

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2012, 08:12:12 PM »
Try the EBCs, I think you'll like em, break in period was shorter than any of the others.  Happy to hear the rotors are OK.
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Offline jjsC6

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2012, 08:31:29 PM »
You don't say how old the pads were.  When is the last time they were checked?
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Offline Mal

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2012, 10:07:09 AM »
Quote from: jjsC6 on April 25, 2012, 08:31:29 PM
You don't say how old the pads were.  When is the last time they were checked?

Ummm...  :-[

No noise from them at all, so I've never checked them. They worked fine during the ride up and down the Grand Mesa, it was on the off ramp from I-25 that they failed. I had zero indication that there was anything wrong before the failure.
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`09 ZG-1400
Western Colorado

"It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others" —Henry George

Offline Cold Streak

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2012, 11:48:29 AM »
Sounds like there was a previous owner?  Maybe they had the rock stuck in the linkage issue and didn't realize it right away.  If you ride very far with the brake engaged the pads will overheat and say goodbye.  All the resin will cook out of them.

I can't imagine why you'd use the rear brake enough to wear it out otherwise.
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Offline Mal

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2012, 01:44:57 PM »
Replaced the pads and bled the system. Pedal responds as it should now, will take it for a test ride this weekend hopefully. I guess if this set disintegrates I'll know something else is going on...
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`09 ZG-1400
Western Colorado

"It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others" —Henry George

Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2012, 02:21:47 PM »
I'd also check the expiration date on them.
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Offline Mal

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2012, 08:28:22 AM »
Quote from: Cold Streak on April 27, 2012, 11:48:29 AM
Sounds like there was a previous owner?  Maybe they had the rock stuck in the linkage issue and didn't realize it right away.  If you ride very far with the brake engaged the pads will overheat and say goodbye.  All the resin will cook out of them.

I can't imagine why you'd use the rear brake enough to wear it out otherwise.

And this is exactly what happened... Either it was a rock in the linkage, or one of the cylinders failed to release. Either way the brakes way overheated. The bluing on the rotor is a silent testament to how hot they got...

What say you Braintrust? Should the rotor, the caliper or both be replaced? How can I check the caliper operation and be confident that it didn't stick, or won't stick again?

Thanks in Advance...
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`09 ZG-1400
Western Colorado

"It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others" —Henry George

Offline stevewfl

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Re: Disintegrating brakes
« Reply #10 on: May 29, 2012, 08:57:52 AM »
Quote from: VirginiaJim on April 27, 2012, 02:21:47 PM
I'd also check the expiration date on them.

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