Help my rotor is eating my caliper! '04 ABS

[OttawaGeorge]

I changed my front tire and noticed a grinding from the front wheel after I bolted it up. I kept hearing a light scuffing/grinding noise at low speeds. I pulled the caliper off and found a slight shelf ground into the caliper. (see pix)
Pulled it apart to verify all the parts were installed correctly per the shop manual, it looked ok so reinstalled and same noise was present. Next stop my mechanic, he's known as one of the best mechanics in Ottawa and works mostly on sport and race bikes but couldn't find anything wrong.
Third stop...VFR World
I found a post that looked similar,

Grinding noise from Front, 2002 VFR

but thought I'd check and see if anyone else had any ideas.
Thanks for any help you can provide and sorry for my first post being a cry for help!
George...in Ottawa. Go figure!

[captb]

I've allways centered the front wheel in the fork legs as manual states and measure caliper clearance.

[dizzy]

Yes...you must center the rotor in the caliper on the side that you push the axle through. Loosen the axle pinch bolts on that side, carefully stick a large screwdriver or pry bar (I go for a rotor mount bolt and the fork inner) between and you will see you can quite easily slide the fork lower on the axle out. If you need to move the fork bottem in, tap on the outside of the fork with a soft hammer. This should be the last operation on nearly any street Honda front tire install. It's referred to as "aligning".

[02 VFR Rider]

^^^^ agreed
even with the spacers in the correct location you need to center the rim via the axle, also note the axle has a line on it to mark how far the fork tubes need to be spread.
If you reinstall the wheel and spin the tire and the rotor rubs, loosen the pinch bolts and realign the frot rim.

[derstuka]

As others have stated, you need to check for proper alignment/spacing of your fork legs. If you have the spacers in correctly, I can just about guarantee that your left fork leg (left as you sit on the bike) is not spaced out as far as it should be. There is a line on the axle shaft to the left of the left fork leg. Loosen the fork bolts, and make sure that the fork leg is at least to the line (or maybe covering it) on the axle shaft. I had this same issue once when I first got the bike and didn't space it quite far enough.

[Knife]

I must just have been stupid lucky. I took my wheels off, had tires put on, and put the wheels back on, without doing anything more than spinning the wheel to see if anything was rubbing. I've done about 2,500 miles or so since then. Am I hearing that I should take a closer look at the spacing anyway? Thanks!

[captb]

Originally Posted by Knife

I must just have been stupid lucky. I took my wheels off, had tires put on, and put the wheels back on, without doing anything more than spinning the wheel to see if anything was rubbing. I've done about 2,500 miles or so since then. Am I hearing that I should take a closer look at the spacing anyway? Thanks!

Better safe it's the front wheel. I've seen 2 of these, front brake installed wrong or left loose (not good).

YouTube - Yamaha R1 STOPPIE CRASH

[dizzy]

Knife...sometimes you luck out. I've installed hundreds of front wheels...about two out of three times everything is aligned just fine...but there's always that third one that requires a little 'tweaking'. 'Eyeballing' the rotor to center it in the caliper bracket is adequate. Spinning the front wheel, as you said you did, would make 'interference' pretty obvious. Not to mention the noticable grinding at low speeds.

[OttawaGeorge]

Awesome guys, that's a pretty overwhelming consensus...and better yet it makes perfect sense. :) I'll pass that along to my mechanic and post results.
Appreciate it!
George

[NorcalBoy]

This is all news to me.....I have had my front wheel off at least 20 times and I never had a problem. I install the axle, torque the axle nut, make sure the axle clamp bolts are free, grab a handful of front brake and aggressively pump the front forks, repeating 5-6 times, then re-torque the axle clamp bolts. Of course I do make sure I get the spacers in the correct locations and that the caliper is free to float like it is intended to.

[dizzy]

If the thick part of the axle is a tight fit or binds in the fork lower, it tends to 'bring the lower along with the axle' when the axle is installed/axle bolt torqued...moving the caliper bracket such that it can interfere with the rotor. Or...some models the 'fit of everything' just isn't very good. If so, I also check the mounting of fork sliders in the upper clamps...once in a while you find that (for whatever reason) they aren't equal side to side...making the axle machined holes on the bottem not match each other, causing a binding when the axle is installed.