Brakes! Hep me!

[Mister Tee]

Ok, 2010 C14, 22,000 +/- miles.

1.  How do you read, or where are, the wear indicators for the front pads?

2.  The front discs are worn down roughly a half a millimeter to a millimeter on each side. WTF?  Is that normal?  What is the tolerance?  The rear is less but still the rotor has a noticeable lip on it.

Looks like I'm in to new rotors as well as pads, at least on the front, yes?  I can see needing new pads already but new rotors at only 22,000 miles?  That doesn't sound right.  Never owned a bike that ground rotors down THAT fast.

Grrrrrrrrr.

[lather]

Ok, 2010 C14, 22,000 +/- miles.

1.  How do you read, or where are, the wear indicators for the front pads?

2.  The front discs are worn down roughly a half a millimeter to a millimeter on each side. WTF?  Is that normal?  What is the tolerance?  The rear is less but still the rotor has a noticeable lip on it.

Looks like I'm in to new rotors as well as pads, at least on the front, yes?  I can see needing new pads already but new rotors at only 22,000 miles?  That doesn't sound right.  Never owned a bike that ground rotors down THAT fast.

Grrrrrrrrr.

The wear indicater is a groove down the center of the pad, not easy to see on some pads but the pads are very easy to pull out for a closer look.
22,000-25,000  miles is just about right for pads. Check the rotor thickness with a caliper, I think the minimum is about 4 mm. I am at 85,000 (fourth set of pads) and I am at the limit. But the brakes still work great so I am not worried about it.

[jamiemac]

This thread I started a while back has a picture of the wear indicator groove. http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=9205.0

[bbhzx12]

Check the rotor thickness with a caliper

You should use a micrometer to check rotor thickness, a caliper would measure the thickest portion of the rotor; which would show less wear.

[fmwhit]

22,500 miles on my mine and the dealer ordered front rotors under the warrentee yesterday.  Seems insane to me to but I guess that after 50 years in the motorcycle buisiness Kawi is still learning braking systems.  Dealer told me that the rotors are $388 each.  I've been biking since 1970 and this is a first.


Fred

[VirginiaJim]

Are these stock pads?

[stevewfl]

22,500 miles on my mine and the dealer ordered front rotors under the warrentee yesterday.  Seems insane to me to but I guess that after 50 years in the motorcycle buisiness Kawi is still learning braking systems.  Dealer told me that the rotors are $388 each.  I've been biking since 1970 and this is a first.


Fred

My '10 has 60,000 miles on the rotors with no issues.  Went through  gazillion front pads though, but thats my fault.

[Cheesecake]

22,500 miles on my mine and the dealer ordered front rotors under the warrentee yesterday.  Seems insane to me to but I guess that after 50 years in the motorcycle buisiness Kawi is still learning braking systems.  Dealer told me that the rotors are $388 each.  I've been biking since 1970 and this is a first.


Fred

Point taken. I feel your pain in changing out tires, too. My old 750 Special only needed tires when the sides started cracking! Kawa is engineering close to the edge with these high performance sport touring Concours. Minimum weight and costs, maximum performance. That is their niche--not to duplicate the Honda ST1300. Brakes have to stop maybe 800 pounds, fast like a sport bike, some zip up to full speed between every stoplight. Brakes work hard and they are not built like the old bikes.

[Mister Tee]

This thread I started a while back has a picture of the wear indicator groove. http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=9205.0

Good post.  Ok, so I probaby don't need new rotors right now but they definately have some wear on them.  I'll go ahead and put in some new pads this weekend.  I felt a disturbing pulsating feeling and grinding sound as I pulled in to the garage last night, which was what prompted me to check out the brakes.

So, to replace the pads, one doesn't actually need to remove the calipers from the mounts, except to clean the pistons if I read correctly?

[Mister Tee]

Are these stock pads?

Yezzir.

[C1xRider]

I replaced the original pads on my 2010 at 24,463 miles, and they were just wiping off the last of the wear bars on a couple.

The rotors looked great though, no worries about wear on them at that time.  Definitely check them with a micrometer if you are concerned.

[Rhino]

Apparently I'm not pushing this bike enough or I'm using more engine brake then brakes. 30,000 miles on original pads.

Front




Rear

[lather]

You should use a micrometer to check rotor thickness, a caliper would measure the thickest portion of the rotor; which would show less wear.

Yes, thanks for correcting my error. I actually had those two tools mixed up in my Bourbon riddled brain.

[Rhino]

You should use a micrometer to check rotor thickness, a caliper would measure the thickest portion of the rotor; which would show less wear.

I don't dispute this at all as a best practice but I just looked at my rotors and the pads do sweep out side the edge of low points of the scallops. So it looks like if you used a caliper at the low points you would get a good reading.

[jamiemac]

Good post.  Ok, so I probaby don't need new rotors right now but they definately have some wear on them.  I'll go ahead and put in some new pads this weekend.  I felt a disturbing pulsating feeling and grinding sound as I pulled in to the garage last night, which was what prompted me to check out the brakes.

So, to replace the pads, one doesn't actually need to remove the calipers from the mounts, except to clean the pistons if I read correctly?

Correct. It is much easier to get them clean all the way around if You take them off the anchor though.

[fmwhit]

Well my rotors were bad enough that the tech after riding the bike after warrantee replacement of the Tire Pressure Sensor pulled back into the parking lot shaking his head.  I said "I guess you felt the warped Rotors"?  He laughed,  I said "I will be back next week put them on order."  So if all goes well Thursday morning I will have new front rotors.  I am going to replace the pads myself.  That should make her ride like new I hope.  Thank the Lord that I purchased the extended warrantee.

Fred

[lather]

What year is yours?

Apparently I'm not pushing this bike enough or I'm using more engine brake then brakes. 30,000 miles on original pads.

Front




Rear

[B.D.F.]

If it is possible, you might want to try and get the 2012 rotors. They have a substantial heavier carrier than the earlier types. There is no recall though so a normal warranty replacement would be the original type rotors; warranting the earlier bikes with the later rotors is kind of a favor that some dealers and Kawasaki may extend if you ask. Getting a new set of original rotors is fine and well, I am just suggesting that getting the revised rotors would probably be even better.

Brian

Well my rotors were bad enough that the tech after riding the bike after warrantee replacement of the Tire Pressure Sensor pulled back into the parking lot shaking his head.  I said "I guess you felt the warped Rotors"?  He laughed,  I said "I will be back next week put them on order."  So if all goes well Thursday morning I will have new front rotors.  I am going to replace the pads myself.  That should make her ride like new I hope.  Thank the Lord that I purchased the extended warrantee.

Fred

[Rhino]

What year is yours?

2010

[lather]

2010

Thanks, thought so. I noticed the the wear grooves on the front are not down the middle like the rears. I am certain the grooves were down the middle on the fronts on my 08 and wondering why the change. Maybe the rotor issue.