Need help on VFR800 brake pads

[derstuka]

Ok, looks like I found my brake noise problem. The left side caliper had the pistions pushed back far enough that the metal of the caliper was contacting the brake rotor, especially during braking. This frustrates me that the caliper would be made in such a way that this is even possible, however, I am going down to the local Honda shop today to buy some brake pads directly from Honda. Good thing I took the calipers back off and found this after only 50 miles of mostly easy riding.

Question, on the front brake pads, is one side of a set of pads thicker than the other? For instance, on the leftside from caliper, is the outside pad (pad contacting caliper piston) thicker than the inside stationary pad?? If this is not the case, I am puzzled.

Note to self: Don't buy anymore brake pads off of e-bay.

[dale-j]

If one side of your brake pads is worn more than the other, you may have worn out (or not properly lubricated) slide pins in the calipers that are keeping the caliper from centering properly under braking forces. VFR's have (somewhat inferior) sliding pin calipers that do not always transmit braking forces equally to the two sides of the rotor like a monoblock caliper would, and they can cock (get stuck a bit crooked) if the slide pins are not sliding smoothly. I like to periodically take the calipers off, block out the pads on a piece of sandpaper to deglaze them and take the grooves out (this will keep your rotors from grooving and can even straighten out mild grooving), lube the slide pins with a brake lube (I use sil-glyde but have also used anti-seize) and reassemble them. It's good to swap sides with the pads if they are not wearing evenly side to side when you are doing this.

Long and short, if there is enough meat on the pads you can sand them down and even out any tapered wear or grooving by rubbing them on a sheet of sandpaper on a flat surface, even with HH's it doesn't take long. You may also want to use some fine sandpaper to deglaze the disc surface.

Oh, the pads are not *supposed to be* of different thicknesses. A difference in thickness or tapered wear will indicate a caliper/pin problem

[derstuka]

Originally Posted by dale-j

If one side of your brake pads is worn more than the other, you may have worn out (or not properly lubricated) slide pins in the calipers that are keeping the caliper from centering properly under braking forces. VFR's have (somewhat inferior) sliding pin calipers that do not always transmit braking forces equally to the two sides of the rotor like a monoblock caliper would, and they can cock (get stuck a bit crooked) if the slide pins are not sliding smoothly. I like to periodically take the calipers off, block out the pads on a piece of sandpaper to deglaze them and take the grooves out (this will keep your rotors from grooving and can even straighten out mild grooving), lube the slide pins with a brake lube (I use sil-glyde but have also used anti-seize) and reassemble them. It's good to swap sides with the pads if they are not wearing evenly side to side when you are doing this.

Long and short, if there is enough meat on the pads you can sand them down and even out any tapered wear or grooving by rubbing them on a sheet of sandpaper on a flat surface, even with HH's it doesn't take long. You may also want to use some fine sandpaper to deglaze the disc surface.

Oh, the pads are not *supposed to be* of different thicknesses. A difference in thickness or tapered wear will indicate a caliper/pin problem

Thank you for your info. I just got back from the bike shop with some TRUE EBC pads, and they are thinner than the shit pads I bought off e-bay. To reiterate, the problem I was having was that the brand new pads were so thick (left hand side caliper was having the clearance issue, not the right) that the pistons were being pushed back inside the caliper so far that the caliper was making contact with the rotor because the metal on the caliper was parallel with the pad, making them both contact the rotor. Just wished I noticed this earlier when I installed them. These new pads (EBC) are not only thinner, but they look to be of different thicknesses, however, I have not taken them out of the package, and my eyes are probably playing tricks on me.

BTW, I already deglazed the rotors yesterday after I found out the issue. The thing that f''ed all this shit up was that the pads were thicker than stock (or they should be). I now have some EBC double H pads to install today after work....I actually had to drive my truck today! Man, it felt weird, first time in a month! I felt more venerable in the truck than on my bike.

[Spike]

still not sure exactly what is happening there, how is too thick leading to the caliper touching the rotor, too thin I could see as an issue, but too thick? Maybe I just have to go look at mine to see what you are saying.

I don't think buying the pads off EBay was the issue per se. Didn't you buy some no name brand? That is more to the issue IMHO, no matter where/how you bought them. They are your brakes, you need them, why screw with buying some unknown brand and risk failure.

[derstuka]

Originally Posted by Spike

still not sure exactly what is happening there, how is too thick leading to the caliper touching the rotor, too thin I could see as an issue, but too thick? Maybe I just have to go look at mine to see what you are saying.

I don't think buying the pads off EBay was the issue per se. Didn't you buy some no name brand? That is more to the issue IMHO, no matter where/how you bought them. They are your brakes, you need them, why screw with buying some unknown brand and risk failure.

Yeah, I just took the bait for some a good deal on some no-name kevlar pads that a motorsports place was selling. They had good feedback, and yadda, yadda, for some reason I bought them. I never usually buy no-name brand for stuff like that, however, I was thinking they were EBC for some reaseon, and they were generic. Like I said, lesson learned, no more no-name (well, I said e-bay, but I was implying no-name brakes). brakes, because of the quality control obviously.

I am not really sure what is going on either, I mean, why the caliper is touching. I would have to show you for it to make sense. Maybe I will try and click a picture to let you know what I am seeing. Very puzzling to me as well. I will let you know how the EBC brakes work out when I install them today.

[derstuka]

OK, I put the crack pipe away. It is not the pads (although the cheap ones were thicker). The problem looks to be that the caliper keeps floating over enough to contact the rotor. I am assuming that the slide pins that enable the caliper to float need to be cleaned & lubed. Thanks Dale-j, you were right. Question, are both slide pins easy to remove?

Still seems weird that the slide pins would allow the caliper to slide over enough to contact the rotor. Hmmmmmm.....