Brake Pad Replacement

[Wu-Viffer]

Has anyone done a front and rear brake pad replacement lately on a 5th gen VFR? If so, would you mind going through the basic steps? Should you replace the brake fluid at the same time?

Thanks,
Mel

[drewl]

how old is the fluid?

[Wu-Viffer]

It's about 1.5 years old, now. It looks a little discolored, I thought it might be a good idea to change it while i had everything apart, but wasn't sure if it was necessary.

[drewl]

some conservatives would say do it, but a year and a half is't that long. especially considering how much work it is...

[Wu-Viffer]

Yeah, I heard it was a real pain in the ass. I bought some speed bleeders hoping that might make it a little more tolerable. Have you ever used those things?

[drewl]

I have not, but alot of people consider them a necessity.
I have not done my brake fluid yet either. Not on this bike anyway.

[flameface]

replacing the pads first and replace the fluid later. Pad replacement: pull the right caliper. pull the wheel. Replace the right caliper. Unscrew the pad retention pins and the spring "clips" will almost eject the pads by themselves. Use Honda pads and they come with new spring clips. Install the new pads, compressing the spring clips. Reinstall the retention pins, torque them up. Remove the right caliper (again). Reinstall the wheel. Reinstall and torque the caliper. DON'T touch the brake lever while the wheel is out!!!

[Wu-Viffer]

So, I bought non OEM brake pads (their made by the Wave rotor people). Are the clips reuseable, or am I going to have to buy them, too?

Thanks,
Mel

[Joey_Dude]

Originally Posted by flameface

replacing the pads first and replace the fluid later. Pad replacement: pull the right caliper. pull the wheel. Replace the right caliper. Unscrew the pad retention pins and the spring "clips" will almost eject the pads by themselves. Use Honda pads and they come with new spring clips. Install the new pads, compressing the spring clips. Reinstall the retention pins, torque them up. Remove the right caliper (again). Reinstall the wheel. Reinstall and torque the caliper. DON'T touch the brake lever while the wheel is out!!!

You can do this even easier by not even taking the wheel off. I've done it and you just need a little patience to work the new pads in. Just slide the new pads in and slide the pin in and bam you're done.

As for the brake fluid if it's showing discoloration might as well go ahead and do it since you're doing the front pads anyway. If your brake lever feels spongy make that high priority. I did my front brake and it's much more responsive after replacing the brake fluid.

Get the service manual from VFRD - vfrdiscussion home (Register and go to the downloads section)

[mello dude]

Originally Posted by Wu-Viffer

Yeah, I heard it was a real pain in the ass. I bought some speed bleeders hoping that might make it a little more tolerable. Have you ever used those things?

Speed bleeders are great! Makes it much easier. Joeys right you probly dont have to take off the wheel. Dont know for sure, I have never replaced the stock brake pads.

MD

[flameface]

leaving the wheel on would be a total PitA. By removing the wheel, and having the calipers bolted up to the fork legs, they are "fixtured" so they aren't wiggling around in your left hand while you try to stuff the pads in with your right hand. believe me, you will find the job much easier if you pull the wheel and work on the calipers while they are bolted to something solid.

Yes, you can re-use the stock "clips", but whether they fit onto non-OEM pads is anybody's guess...

[flameface]

MD...you've never replaced your brake pads on a '98??? What do you do, coast up to stops?

[DANIMAL]

replaced my pads on my 6th gen.
1. compress pistons by pushing caliper wih your hands against rotor
2. remove pin
3. pull out both pads
4. slide in new pads
5. replace pin
took all of 7 min per side
do not forget to pump bralke levers to reseat pads or when you try to stop the first time you won't have any brakes. It'll scare the crap out of you. believe me! I know.

[mello dude]

Originally Posted by flameface

MD...you've never replaced your brake pads on a '98??? What do you do, coast up to stops?

Yup, never replaced the stock front brake pads on the '98. Ok that was a trick - I have RC51 calipers on the front - I've definately have replaced those.

MD

[Wu-Viffer]

I think I'll probably take the wheel off considering this is my first time, and I want to get a good look at everything. I'm wondering about these OEM clips and if they are going to fit on my new brake pads. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks for all of the advice,
Mel

[arch4ngel]

I just did mine last month, it took about 5 minutes per side.
Absolutely no need to take off the wheel.
The only hard part was holding everything in alignment until the pin slides into place.

I replaced my pads with EBC HH's and they fit fine with the clips.

[Wu-Viffer]

So, all you have to do is:

1. Hold the brake pads away from the rotor
2. Pop off the clip
3. Pull out the old brake pad
4. Put in new pad
5. Re-clip?


Seems easy enough. What about the back brake pad? That one seems more difficult without taking the wheel off.

Thanks,
Mel

[arch4ngel]

Not quite, the clips didn't even come out when I removed mine.

1. Push in the pistons (by pushing on the calipers) to make room for new pads
2. Unscrew the pad pin
3. Pull out the old brake pad (they really just pop out once clip is off)
4. Grease the back of the pad plate and the pin to prevent squeeking and binding
5. Put in new pad (make sure to align with the clip, do one side at a time so you can use the other side as a reference)
6. Install slide pin.

Also, use the brake pad lube they sell at auto parts stores, it's made specifically for the purpose.

Not sure about the rear, mine actually wore through very quickly and when I noticed they were gone, they were completely gone! I went to the shop (right next to my work) and had them throw the rear pads on for me, so I wouldn't have to drive home and do more damage to the rotor. From the looks of it though, no wheel removal is necessary. Pretty sure they didn't remove the wheel at the shop, labor cost was very small (i think they charged me a half hour for it).
If worse comes to worse, try removing the rear pads, if they won't come out remove the wheel and continue

[thinkreal]

Thought I'd throw in my recent pad change experience

Had the shop replace all pads on my '06 at the 24000Km service. Bendix pads were installed - they didn't have Honda pads in stock and reckoned all the racers were having good results with Bendix at half the price.

All seemed good for about a week, when I started to get shudders.

With light/medium pressure on the back brake pedal, the front would shudder, sometimes light vibration, others quite rough shaking.

Never happened using the front lever, or with heavy pressure. Didn't seem to happen above 60Km/h but I wasn't game to do a lot of high-speed testing. Stopping was otherwise good - plenty of grip, no squealing or grinding.

Got it back to the shop after about 10 days. They checked over the system, did more bleeding (found a bit of air) but couldn't find/make a difference.

We agreed to put Honda pads in, one consideration being the lack of spring plates on the Bendix. The Bendix came off with a weird coppery glaze on the back ones, the front looked more normal but also a bit silver shiny. Honda pads went in, and everything has been perfect since.

My mechanix used this to convince the boss to stock more genuine parts, at least for machines like the VFR - I'm happy to pay what it costs for my ride to be what I bought it for. It's not a racer, but it's not cheap transport either (it costs more to run than our CRV).

Anybody else seen this?

Ez

BTW - first post!

[mello dude]

Originally Posted by thinkreal