Brake Problem

Originally Posted by Scoobs

I would suggest cleaning the calipers and the pads. This time of year plays havoc with them. Get the pads out of the calipers and give the calipers a good cleaning. Clean the non friction side of the pads and get all the crap off. Goes without saying that you do NOT use any oily stuff on the pads! Clean all of the crud out of the groove on the pad with a screw driver. Rub the friction side of the pad on a bit of wet n dry to remove any glaze. Put a bit of copper slip on the back of the pad and on the etaining pin and reassemble. Make sure the disc are clean and free of grease and grime while the calipers are off.

had exactly the same problem with my transalp,i stripped the pads out of the calipers and gave the calipers a good clean getting all the gunk and **** out. cleaned the pisons using a small nylon brush (or old toothbrush) using a proper brake cleaner. i then gave the working side of the pads a quick rub over with sand paper and put them back together. pain in the **** to do but huge difference!

Thanks for the replies. Have since cleaned the calipers, they seemed pretty much ok, just a bit of corossion on the retaing pin. Is it ok to use silicon spray (or some other protectant) on the inside of the caliper as long you don't get it on the discs or pads? The brakes are back to normal strength but there's still a tiny bit of judder when pulling up. Someone mentioned head bearings but surely they should last longer than 8000 miles (i cant wheelie) and wouldnt you be able to feel it through the bars? I can only hear it.

i used to on my old bikes after a clean spry brake cleaner on the disc better get some and next week do my brakes a good clean

Originally Posted by andyaikido

Thanks for the replies. Have since cleaned the calipers, they seemed pretty much ok, just a bit of corossion on the retaing pin. Is it ok to use silicon spray (or some other protectant) on the inside of the caliper as long you don't get it on the discs or pads? The brakes are back to normal strength but there's still a tiny bit of judder when pulling up. Someone mentioned head bearings but surely they should last longer than 8000 miles (i cant wheelie) and wouldnt you be able to feel it through the bars? I can only hear it.

Correct IMO about being able to feel the head bearings through the bars, you get that big thunk-thunk feeling, and its not a juddery thing. But having said that, they can definately loosen up in less than 8k miles. Usually if you lock the front wheel, and rock the bike you can get the movement.
Judder can come from - crap on the the rotors | pads (crap can equal fluid or something), or the pads being too straight (or even further than straight) with respect to the disk. Ideally I think the pads should be hitting the disk at a tiny angle off straight so the drag themselves on flat, and then this torque load damps out vibration. This is what is happening when you hear brakes making a tone, the pad is sort of vibrating on the disk at a high frequency. If this happens slowly enough the tone might be a judder. I would think it is more likely there is just oil traces on the pads though, they are porus, so it is a bitch to clean them perfectly, and you have to clean the rotor at the same time each time.

To clean the last bit of crap off them might be to take it out to a straight piece of empty road, and brake fast from 80 a couple of times. Most things evap at a few hundred C. The logic being that if any shenanigans happens its better that it happens on a straight empty road. You will know you are finished when you can light a smoke off the disk.