I've just had the front calipers off and pads out to clean them,I noticed that one side is worn more than the other,is this normal? Also,how low do folk let their pads get before changing? The depth of the pads ranges from 3 to 5mm.
the leading edge normally wears faster but I also get one pad go down quicker. I generally rotate the pads to get the most of off them. I change when I can no longer see the wear indicators, the last set of OEMs i got down to under a mill!!
I had the same "problem" on my gs and that was because of the winter riding. I would suggest, clean your breaks after a shitty weather, if you ride in rain or all year round. I believe is the road grime and dust that does not allow the pistons to move freely.
Bike never gets used over the winter but does get used in the wet,calipers get taken off at least once a year for a thorough clean so everything moves nicely. Each individual pad has even wear across the surface,it's that one pad is wearing quicker than the other. I'll do as slick does and rotate the pads so they last longer,and with the most worn one at 3mm,should be good for a few(thousand) more miles
Is it just one pad that's considerably more worn than all the others and not mirrored on the other side of wheel? If so, you should really look at the cause to keep the braking even. It may just be the calliper piston(s) on one side showing small signs of seizing/binding and needing proper clean. As far as changing them is concerned, if it's purely a road bike then as long as you don't push your luck and run them right down you'll be fine.
It's still on original pads,Pistons got no marks on them and never been pushed back in,bikes only got 3.5k miles. Both sides similar but one more pronounced. I measured material thickness and its even across the pads. I'll rotate them and keep an eye and see if the wear evens out.
Hi Ross when you come to replace your pads I strongly recommend getting sbs excel pads they are awesome and at half the price of Honda pads it's a no brainer they give way more confidence! As you know mate I'm non ABS but they have transformed my brakes Anyway work your pistons in and out on the side that's not working right they should work independently and evenly! If cleaning doesn't work mate it maybe the inner seal and that one piston has weaker pressure (the thickest end of the pad) rather than a piston sticking and not going back in properly (the thinnest end of the pad)
I'm getting new tyres over the next couple of weeks so I'll be checking my brakes out I'll let you know how the sbs pads last mate and how even my wear is
Cheers Trev,I'll have a look at the SBS pads. It's not that one end of my pads is thicker than the other,the material is a uniform thickness across them,it's that in one of the callipers one pad is 3mm and the other is 5mm thick. There is a slight difference in pad thickness on the other side but to a much lesser extent. Everything cleaned up nice and the pistons slid back in with finger pressure,I'll keep an eye on it and hopefully pads last this season.
Sorry Ross I got it wrong again the reason there is different rates of wear is because the brakes a radial! If it's a floating caliper it slide back and forth but being radial fixed calipers because the Bango bolt is at the front of the caliper it will have the greater pressure and the rear lesser! Also when you tighten & torque the caliper bolts! (because of slight play) Cable tie the brake lever on to centralise the calipers on the disc stops them binding and probably help even the wear! Donno about swapping the pads over mate because they will be bedded for their side of their disc! Let me know how you get on mate
Normal wear on these bikes. Just changed mine today, the outer pads on both sides worn to where the wear line has gone, still around 1mm on the inner pads. Seen this every time I have changed them.
