Brake Pads Dragging On My Front Rotors ???

[C14-Pilot]

Guys,

Is this normal?
It seems as though my font brake pads are dragging on my rotors as if
they are NOT completely releasing when I left off the brakes.

I put the bike on the center stand put a floor jack under the bike to raise
the front wheel of the ground. I can spin the front wheel but makes kind of
a buzzing noise as the rotors spin through the pads.

I have about 8k on these brake pads and they still look good.

Any thoughts?

thanks,
C14-Pilot

[lather]

If you can spin the wheel at least one revolution by hand you are probably ok. The pads are not going to fully retract away from the rotors by themselves unless the rotor is warped. Be thankful for that.

[Gsun]

Mine do the same. Actually, after sitting for a couple of months (no comments from the Floriduh crowd) the pads were stuck to the rotors and left a black mark. Gonna get it back on the road before making up my mind if this is a problem.

[feelergaugephil]

Go ahead and use some simple green or purple power, spray it on brakes/rotors 50/50 mix, and use a paint brush to get off the grubby areas, once you have scrubbed them, use hose pipe to wash it all off, this should clear up the issue you have.
It's a build up of road dust/crap around your pads/rotors....

[stlheadake]

I have posted with the same question.  Mine drag intermittently all the time.  I am convinced that this is what caused me to warp my rotors.  With the front wheel in the air, I can 'spin' the front wheel about one quarter of a turn.  I can hear them while I am riding.  I have flushed the fluid (this helped for a while), but now they are doing it again.  I ride my bike year round, so this isn't from sitting. 

I have taken it to the dealer twice, and both times they don't notice or hear anything.  I want to take the calipers apart, but I'm afraid if I do that, I will get blamed if there turns out to be something.

[stlheadake]

Just thinking, is there some sort of 'standard' or rule of thumb about how freely the front wheel should spin when suspended?  I'm pretty sure that 1/4 revolution is a bit shy.  Just asking....

[Steve Bell]

I have posted with the same question.  Mine drag intermittently all the time.  I am convinced that this is what caused me to warp my rotors.  With the front wheel in the air, I can 'spin' the front wheel about one quarter of a turn.  I can hear them while I am riding.  I have flushed the fluid (this helped for a while), but now they are doing it again.  I ride my bike year round, so this isn't from sitting. 

I have taken it to the dealer twice, and both times they don't notice or hear anything.  I want to take the calipers apart, but I'm afraid if I do that, I will get blamed if there turns out to be something.

I have posted this in the past and I hope it helps....
My stock Kawasaki brake lever preloaded the brake master cylinder slightly to the point that the pads always dragged and my front rotors warped. I purchased a set of Galfer roters and they warped as well after only 2000 miles actually!! Only when I purchased a set of aftermaket levers did I notice that when the stock lever was taken off I noticed that the Piston was getting depressed. To reinstall the stock lever I actually had to press the piston in a bit just to get the lever pivot bolt to drop in place and this is not right!! Now that I have drilled the hole in the lever slightly deeper so there is no pressure on the piston after installation I have absolutly ZERO drag on my rotors and I had a lot of drag ever since I bought the bike new. So go for a ride, get the brakes warm, push the bike around and feel the brakes drag, now remove the front brake lever and see if they still drag....mine stopped.
Let us know how you make out.

[stlheadake]

Steve, I seem to remember your reply to this a while back.  I think I'll give that a try.  Seems easy enough to try.  IF that is related to the problem, shouldn't Kawasaki have a fix?  I get that me dropping a few bucks for a lever might be cheaper and easier than wrestling with a dealer.  BUT it does seem like that would be a design flaw...

I have posted this in the past and I hope it helps....
My stock Kawasaki brake lever preloaded the brake master cylinder slightly to the point that the pads always dragged and my front rotors warped. I purchased a set of Galfer roters and they warped as well after only 2000 miles actually!! Only when I purchased a set of aftermaket levers did I notice that when the stock lever was taken off I noticed that the Piston was getting depressed. To reinstall the stock lever I actually had to press the piston in a bit just to get the lever pivot bolt to drop in place and this is not right!! Now that I have drilled the hole in the lever slightly deeper so there is no pressure on the piston after installation I have absolutly ZERO drag on my rotors and I had a lot of drag ever since I bought the bike new. So go for a ride, get the brakes warm, push the bike around and feel the brakes drag, now remove the front brake lever and see if they still drag....mine stopped.
Let us know how you make out.

[VirginiaJim]

You can add that one to the list...  It's still a very very good bike but there are still a few things that can be tweaked.

[Steve Bell]

Steve, I seem to remember your reply to this a while back.  I think I'll give that a try.  Seems easy enough to try.  IF that is related to the problem, shouldn't Kawasaki have a fix?  I get that me dropping a few bucks for a lever might be cheaper and easier than wrestling with a dealer.  BUT it does seem like that would be a design flaw...

Yes I would agree that it would be a design flaw, but I don't believe that all stock levers or piston lengths are the same. There has to be some quality control issues with either of these 2 parts because there is a bunch of C-14's that the brakes don't drag and don't warp rotors, mine just happened to be a bad one.
You mention buying a new lever to try but remember the problem may lie in the length of the piston that fits into the lever is too long, so another lever would do the same thing!
Good Luck.

[VirginiaJim]

That's a good tip.  I'm going to check mine.

[jimbob]

So go for a ride, get the brakes warm, push the bike around and feel the brakes drag, now remove the front brake lever and see if they still drag....mine stopped.
Let us know how you make out.

Good stuff. Just checked mine for the heck of it using your test. Mine were good but your test is well worth checking and a good starting point for diagnosing drag issues...

[VirginiaJim]

Ok, you drag queens.  I checked mine and I don't appear to have any clearance between the lever assembly and the piston.  I'm going to have to loosen it up a bit to see if the piston moves when the lever is moved away....  I'll let you know.

[Fretka]

Leave your brakes alone. The stock brakes on this bike are excellent. Pads should drag. Don't sand or scrub the rotors to remove any pad residue. Don't apply any substance to the rotors but high grade acetone. Even then....why? Don't try to make any adjustments to the master piston assy. The only thing that you should do is bleed them once in a great while (say every 6 K miles).

Do a search on this subject and you'll find all you need.

Fretka

[Steve Bell]

Leave your brakes alone. The stock brakes on this bike are excellent. Pads should drag. Don't sand or scrub the rotors to remove any pad residue. Don't apply any substance to the rotors but high grade acetone. Even then....why? Don't try to make any adjustments to the master piston assy. The only thing that you should do is bleed them once in a great while (say every 6 K miles).

Do a search on this subject and you'll find all you need.

Fretka

Pads should drag to the point of overheating rotors hey?? Maybe your brakes are perfect, mine were not and other people here may have problems as well. I have owned my fair share of motorcycles in the past and along with the other 2 bikes sitting beside the Concours in my garage right now NONE of them had the very noticeable front brake drag my C-14 had. Engineering tolerances are not the same on every bike and coming from someone that has turbo and engine building experience you should understand this.

[Wile]

Don't sand or scrub the rotors

Fretka

Took mine out this week for 2nd time this winter and I had a light squeal from the front. Gave rotors a light sanding with 240 grit and it's gone.  Not much just enough to show the high spots. And there were a lot of high spots, more than 15k should have.  I will be doing the test for sure

[Fretka]

Pads should drag to the point of overheating rotors hey?? Maybe your brakes are perfect, mine were not and other people here may have problems as well. I have owned my fair share of motorcycles in the past and along with the other 2 bikes sitting beside the Concours in my garage right now NONE of them had the very noticeable front brake drag my C-14 had. Engineering tolerances are not the same on every bike and coming from someone that has turbo and engine building experience you should understand this.

Yes, I do know that, but for every one person that has a real brake issue the other 99 just get upset and worried that theirs are also bad and then you get a raft of dubious drag measuring schemes that are at best half-baked and at worst, dangerous. Use a little common sense, understand how brakes operate, and then be mindful of the affect of what you post on these pages.

Fretka

[Fretka]

At the risk of repeating myself....
When someone checks brake drag they usually lift the front wheel off the ground, spin the wheel and listen and or watch to see how far the wheel spins, right?
Chances are that this person pulled into their garage the previous ride using their front brake to stop the bike, right?
So tell me, what's wrong with this scenario? Why will any tests that this person does be invalid?

Think and then you tell me. (This is not an attempt to bolster ego or show-off. So please lets treat this conversation with respect).

Fretka

[VirginiaJim]

I'd like to know...

[Conrad]

Had I known that there was going to be a quiz today I would have studied.