Brake Pads

[Davidtav]

Right. So I took my bike for a service. And an MOT. And I have the bike back. And it passed the MOT but has an advisory for front brake pads. I would actually have liked the guy to have just done the pads. But he says they are probably ok for 2k miles. I’ve had a look. I can still see the wear indicator … basically I am considering just replacing the brake pads myself. Am I entirely stupid

[Fiddlesticks]

39 minutes ago, Davidtav said:

Right. So I took my bike for a service. And an MOT. And I have the bike back. And it passed the MOT but has an advisory for front brake pads. I would actually have liked the guy to have just done the pads. But he says they are probably ok for 2k miles. I’ve had a look. I can still see the wear indicator … basically I am considering just replacing the brake pads myself. Am I entirely stupid

I did both front and back pads on the XJR pro-actively recently. Easy job, and it's not like the pads cost a lot.

[Davidtav]

Yeah I might just do this. I am quite practical. Yeah appreciate the advice 

[Guest]

Do them yourself, generally pretty straightforward. Save some cash, buy some beers and a chocolate cake, pat on the back. Luvvly 

[MikeHorton]

I tnd to do my own pads as said cheaper and not time consuming. Just take the time to clean the calipers up whilst ur changing the pads. I opted for the orange organic ebc pads and demon tweets worked out the cheapest I've bought stuff from them before v good I even called them to check I'd looked at the right set 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Either have look at the Haynes manual or look for a YouTube guide. Brake pads are very straightforward to do. I always clean the pins and make sure the sliders are free. Be careful to keep the pads and disc clean, any grease on them is to be avoided.  

[Mick67]

Easy to do, have a go yourself. Might be worth borrowing or investing in a calliper rewind tool to push the pistons back in, just makes life easier. I had a look you can get a set for £20 on Amazon something like this.

Oh have a butchers on youtube bound to be something on there to help.

[husoi]

I use my woodwork clamp and a small metal bar for the pistons. It does the job perfectly.

 

Often the guy doing the MOT will know little about the original thickness of the pads and will judge on gut feeling.

Very often I'm told the Pan needs rear pads even if they are a few 1000s miles old and they are not even half worn.

 

Brake pads are one of the easiest thing to do on a bike and you will find a trillion of clips on YT.

I always give the calipers a good clean every time I change the pads for good measure and to make sure the new pads don't start to get sticky to the disks. Last thing you want is to have fitted new pads and a couple months later have to dismantle the whole thing because you didn't spend 1/2 hour cleaning the caliper.

A good quality brakes cleaner is a great help.

 

Any job on a bike is worth doing well and go the extra mile because I can assure you that you will be doing it twice...

[Fiddlesticks]

I suppose it depends what type of calipers you have, but I ended up putting the old pads back in place and used a large flat headed screwdriver to push against them and lever the pistons open.

[MikeHorton]

With the lighter evenings upon us its a g9od job to do after work. My front calipers need a good clean down

[Davidtav]

Thanks for all of the advice. Given me confidence to change the pads myself. So I’ve ordered some EBC sintered pads today … I’ve watched a couple of YouTube videos. And read the procedure in the workshop manual. It seems very straightforward actually. … I’ve changed pads on cars many times over the years. Yeah I think this will be ok. And thanks everyone for the good advice. 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

If you weren't using sintered pads before you'll find they make a significant difference to the braking performance. 

[Davidtav]

2 hours ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

If you weren't using sintered pads before you'll find they make a significant difference to the braking performance. 

Yeah I’m not sure if Kawasaki OEM pads are sintered or not. i suspect not but I don’t know.  I thought these EBC ones would be good

[John Metcalfe]

I do all my own servicing and repairs to my bike, yes fair enough it's not a modern computer controlled starship. It's a 1994 BMW K1100LT so pretty basic systems once you get the Clymer and read it. 

When I have to come back to the UK for the "dreaded" MOT I have a set of scrubbed in pads that are only used for the test. It may be sort of cheating but hey ho gets the test passed without problems. After the test these pads are replaced with the original set for the return trip leaving the test set ready for next time.

Changing the pads can be done on beemer in the time it takes to boil a kettle and make a cuppa. I've been told I'm mad for doing it this way but at least I know that the pads in for the test are scrubbed in and have plenty of meat left on them. Whereas if I left the pads in from the journey through Italy and France even when the pads were fitted new before leaving home in Tunisia they would have the best part of 2000 miles on them before getting on the tunnel and would probably result in an advisory just as yours did.

[Davidtav]

The thickness of new pads is 4mm. Now I’m sure that the thickness left is at least 2.5mm. Maybe more actually. Certainly not less. So not even 50% worn. Although definitely looks a bit thin I’m thinking the guy doing my servicing is right when he says they don’t need doing for a while … now my mate who takes his bike there tells me he has had an advisory for brake pads. Did nothing. And got another advisory a year later for same thing. He is the local vicar actually lol … anyway I’m thinking I’m going to fit these brake pads. Better on the bike than on the garage shelf I think. But I will wait until I’m going on a long trip. … I do note the comments about doing own servicing. I was intending to do my own servicing when the warranty finished. But I’ve been recommended a good independent. And I do want to know stuff has definitely been done properly to my bike. Although im going to do the pads. And probably replace chain and sprockets as well actually