Second brake pad change at 29k miles.

[CigarSki®]

The front brakes started chattering, I pretty much figured that I needed new pads.

The stock pads were replaced at 13k miles with EBC HH pads. The stock rear pads were down to about 20% material. Right front, inside, worn down to baseplate, outside down to 10%. Left front, outside and inside, down to about 30%.

 Today, at 29k miles, replaced all pads with same EBC HH. The stock rear pads were down to about 75% material; much less wear than the stock ones. Right front, inside, worn down to baseplate, outside down to 25%. Left front, outside and inside, down to about 50%.

 The big change was the rear with very little wear in 16k miles. The front right, nearly the same as stock, front left, at 50%, better than stock. Really weird wear on the front right pads, but, not too much different than the first change.

[VirginiaJim]

You gonna frame that?

[twowheeladdict]

Do you track that bike? 

No brake changes on any of my bikes yet and mileage ranges from 45000 to 19000 miles except the little dual sport which only has 1500 miles.

[B.D.F.]

Those are some fine lookin' pads ya' got there Wayne :-)

The Gen. 1 OEM's are considerably softer than either the Gen. 2 OEMs or EBC's  But I believe all brake pads for this bike are HH so even the 'bad' ones will be quite good. My own choice is Gen.2 OEM- they have less initial bite like the EBCs but do not have that hissing noise that the EBCs seem to have.

As to the uneven wear, some people will call it sacrilege but when my pads wear unevenly, I swap them around to get 'the rest' of the wear out of the pad. They are quite expensive for the pad thickness and I try to use all of it.

Brian

The front brakes started chattering, I pretty much figured that I needed new pads.

The stock pads were replaced at 13k miles with EBC HH pads. The stock rear pads were down to about 20% material. Right front, inside, worn down to baseplate, outside down to 10%. Left front, outside and inside, down to about 30%.

 Today, at 29k miles, replaced all pads with same EBC HH. The stock rear pads were down to about 75% material; much less wear than the stock ones. Right front, inside, worn down to baseplate, outside down to 25%. Left front, outside and inside, down to about 50%.

 The big change was the rear with very little wear in 16k miles. The front right, nearly the same as stock, front left, at 50%, better than stock. Really weird wear on the front right pads, but, not too much different than the first change.

[VirginiaJim]

I wasn't being funny about framing it..looks like art to me the way they are positioned on the paper.

[CigarSki®]

I wasn't being funny about framing it..looks like art to me the way they are positioned on the paper.

I could shadow box it. 

[Rhino]

Those are some fine lookin' pads ya' got there Wayne :-)

The Gen. 1 OEM's are considerably softer than either the Gen. 2 OEMs or EBC's  But I believe all brake pads for this bike are HH so even the 'bad' ones will be quite good. My own choice is Gen.2 OEM- they have less initial bite like the EBCs but do not have that hissing noise that the EBCs seem to have.

As to the uneven wear, some people will call it sacrilege but when my pads wear unevenly, I swap them around to get 'the rest' of the wear out of the pad. They are quite expensive for the pad thickness and I try to use all of it.

Brian

Interesting idea. I got about 30,000 miles out of my pads. Some were far more worn then others. 6 of the front 8 could have gone another 10,000 or more. What's the down side of swapping them around? Would that cause more wear on the rotor?

[B.D.F.]

There are those who believe that pads have a significant 'bedding in' process and therefore, once a pad conforms to the face of a rotor, it either cannot be broken in again or it would take too much pad material to re- bed the pads. I believe that that might have been true about a million years ago when pad material was soft and no rotors or drums were either round or flat (across the contact surface).

But anything made in our lifetime is well machined, quite flat (bearing surface) and there really is no bedding in process anymore. Sure there are a couple of thousandths of an inch that will wear off new pads but that is about it. The pad is flat when new or old, as is the rotor face, again new or old. So there is no downside, IMO, to taking a flat, 1/2 worn out pad and putting it on the other side of a flat rotor. I would just note where the thicker pads are, remove all of them and put the thin pads where the thickest pads used to be.

As a test, swap pads all around between both calipers / rotors on the front of a modern bike and go for a ride; see if you notice any significant decrease in braking ability. Betcha' you do not.

It is usually linked brakes that cause a dramatic difference in the wear of different pads on the same wheel. Swapping the pads around is merely a method to spreading that wear increase across all the pads so that more of the entire brake pad set can be used.

No, there won't be any increase in wear on the rotor. Rotor wear is merely a result of braking use, the thickness or newness of what pad is where won't make any difference in rotor life or behavior. In fact, there is a bit of an advantage to swapping pads before they are shot; if a pad spends all of its life on one face of a rotor, they tend to wear together and form very small grooves. Swapping the pads changes the relative location of these grooves (the signature of the pad actually) so that they will not get as deep. Put another way, it puts the high spots on the pad in contact with the high spots on the new rotor face and tend to cancel them out.

Brian

Interesting idea. I got about 30,000 miles out of my pads. Some were far more worn then others. 6 of the front 8 could have gone another 10,000 or more. What's the down side of swapping them around? Would that cause more wear on the rotor?

[Son of Pappy]

So, my pads and rotors were flat, eh?

[B.D.F.]

If not, maybe it is because you are not shifting their positions often enough (easy boys!).

Yours were pretty bad, at least the ones hanging on the wall like some trophy from the nether regions. And of course, I am talking about across the rotor face (from center to outer diameter) flat, not round flat.

Brian

So, my pads and rotors were flat, eh?

[Son of Pappy]

So, my story starts with "Do you remember when"?  A place on the ocean, some nut who just completed a wee ride the longish way.  he first thing said nut asked was if I had ever experienced warped rotors (this from the warped nut)?  No, why do you ask I say.  Well, they look kinda worn (they resembled the ocean in motion).  This nut then went on to demonstrate some kinda cat joke.  See the Media section for graphic examples under the SOP file.

[B.D.F.]

And that's what you get for meeting up with known miscreants.   

Another cross- country ride ending with 1) Chet  or 2) hospital visit...... give me a minute to think that over, I wanna' make the best choice. 

Brian

So, my story starts with "Do you remember when"?  A place on the ocean, some nut who just completed a wee ride the longish way.  he first thing said nut asked was if I had ever experienced warped rotors (this from the warped nut)?  No, why do you ask I say.  Well, they look kinda worn (they resembled the ocean in motion).  This nut then went on to demonstrate some kinda cat joke.  See the Media section for graphic examples under the SOP file.