Brake pad life - what's to be expected

fac191

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Jun 22, 2016
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LOL You can not compare mileage regarding brake pad life its a guide at best. Think of it this way if im in America for example i could ride a 1000mls and not come to a bend or a roundabout. Come to the U.K and there are bends and roundabouts everywhere. I got the same mileage out of my rears as Bimota and we may well ride similar roads.
 

mcycle-nut

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Aug 20, 2018
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Noticed a scraping noise when rotating the back wheel when the bike was on it's stand. Hmmm. Disc looks a wee bit funky. Surprise, surprise! Paper thin pad on outer and metal on metal inside pad! Checked fronts immediately! Lots of meat on them. My bike only has 26,000 km on it! I would have thought the fronts wear quicker than the rear, but I guess not as I see by this thread. Measured the disk, shot. Oh joy, get to buy pads AND a disk! :rolleyes:
 

Sierra1

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Honda ST 1300: Front-5k miles; Rear-5k miles, and had linked brakes. BMW RT 1150: Front-28K miles; Rear-10K miles, and had independent front/back brakes. Now, the wonderful Tenere has linked & rear only brakes. I have to assume individual pad life is going to vary wildly, from rider to rider. Training, experience, and as fac191 mentioned. . . . where you're riding. Oh, and I almost forgot. . . . engine braking. I use the hell out of it, as many do. But, many have flashed their ECU, and reduced it. So. . . . pad life? Keep an eye on them. :)
 

bimota

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Noticed a scraping noise when rotating the back wheel when the bike was on it's stand. Hmmm. Disc looks a wee bit funky. Surprise, surprise! Paper thin pad on outer and metal on metal inside pad! Checked fronts immediately! Lots of meat on them. My bike only has 26,000 km on it! I would have thought the fronts wear quicker than the rear, but I guess not as I see by this thread. Measured the disk, shot. Oh joy, get to buy pads AND a disk! :rolleyes:
no my fronts were still ok at 26000 miles but i have been through 2 sets of rears, my rears are only doing 12000 miles

rob
 
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Sierra1

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I wear out a set of rear brake pads about 35k, rear rotor lasts 70k, front pads went 100k and both front rotors still look good at 160k kms. All replacement parts are Yamaha.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!! Apparently you don't slow down very often. :)
 

Checkswrecks

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Noticed a scraping noise when rotating the back wheel when the bike was on it's stand. Hmmm. Disc looks a wee bit funky. Surprise, surprise! Paper thin pad on outer and metal on metal inside pad! Checked fronts immediately! Lots of meat on them. My bike only has 26,000 km on it! I would have thought the fronts wear quicker than the rear, but I guess not as I see by this thread. Measured the disk, shot. Oh joy, get to buy pads AND a disk! :rolleyes:
As you note by mentioning prior people posting in this thread, wearing through a set of rear pads at around 15-16,000 is not that uncommon.
Now that more people know, more people know to check the pads more often on this model.

Sorry you had to learn the expensive way.
 
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ballisticexchris

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I just checked mine for the 6,000 mile service and they were looking good. I have a brake routine with all my bikes that I live by.

Bi annual fluid flush and brake check/service. It consists of completely disassembling and removing the pads, cleaning and re-lubing caliper guides, sanding/polishing pins and pad springs, and scotch bright the rotors. I measure and document pad thickness and rotor runout. I also do full brake check/service when changing tires.

Some guys like to swap the inner/outer pads when they wear uneven. Not a bad idea if you are on a budget.

Before each and every ride I look at the pads front and rear to make sure there are no leaks, strange wear patterns, and well within the wear limit. I do not agree with .8mm rear/.5mm front replacement. I change pads between 2-3mm thickness. Why? because the pad itself acts as an insulator helping prevent brake fade.

At the 4 year mark I'll be "thinking" of changing out the brake lines to steel braided ones. As soon as the lines start to swell when brakes are applied, it's time. I measure swell as close to the caliper as possible. That's where most lines start to degrade. Because my bike is not being ridden much I will hopefully stretch out the line replacement to quite a few more seasons. Guys that are good on brake fluid replacement will be rewarded with lines , MC piston/seals, and caliper pistons/seals that last longer.
 

gv550

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Winner, winner, chicken dinner!! Apparently you don't slow down very often. :)
Thanks, I'll take you up on that free dinner! :cool:
I am quite anal about brake service, I flush and replace fluid 3-4 times a year and I remove the calipers and pump the pistons out to clean all the crud off them. I do rotate the front pads around to even up the wear. I have never replaced original hoses or seals, even on my 700,000 km Kawasaki. I do downshift a lot and use engine braking.
 

WJBertrand

Ventura Highway
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Jun 20, 2015
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Ventura, CA
Speaking of brake wear, I noticed there was quite a large ridge around my rear disk, enough so that I actually had to push the piston back a little to enable sliding the caliper off. I went ahead installing the used but still useful rear tire and put everything back together but I kept thinking about that ridge. I decided to mic it and got anywhere from 4.1 - 4.2 mm thick from various places around the disk, then I looked up the minimum thickness specification in the service manual - 4.5 mm, oops! I've got a replacement disk on order. The bike has 72,000+ miles on it and I am on my third set of rear pads, which are still relatively new (<5,000 miles). Seems like I should have been checking the disk thickness much earlier, perhaps around 50,000 miles? Upon ordering I noticed there is a superseded part number; 23P-2582W-01-00 replaces 23P-2582W-00-00. I wonder if Yamaha has improved the disk material for better wear? This is the first time I've worn out a disk on any of my bikes, including my previous ST1300 which was still in spec at 150,000 miles and also has linked brakes. I also put about 150,000 miles on my previous, previous ST1100, though it had first gen independent ABS brakes.
 
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ballisticexchris

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You know Jeff, the wear limit on mine is really close at just under 6,000 miles. It will be interesting to see just how long the OEM discs last.

Front's are 4.46 and 4.43

Rear is 4.97
 

WJBertrand

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What's the limit for the fronts? I didn't check them because they look normal and a lot smoother than that rear disk. Your rear sounds like it has plenty life left. I tried measuring the thickness of the ridge to see if I could figure out the original thickness and got around 5 mm. I'll measure the new one when it arrives to check that though.
 
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ballisticexchris

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Fronts wear limit is 4mm. I don't have a reference to go by as far as life of these things. I can't remember burning through a motorcycle rotor before. I can only imagine what a set of full sintered EBC pads would do to these.
 

Boris

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midlands. UK
Fronts wear limit is 4mm. I don't have a reference to go by as far as life of these things. I can't remember burning through a motorcycle rotor before. I can only imagine what a set of full sintered EBC pads would do to these.
I’m just onto my second set of front EBC HH pads. I’ll see if I can get hold of the right tool and measure them. There is however, no noticeable lip on the disc edge.

The rear however, has a noticeable lip, but has spent almost all of its 32k miles on OEM pads.
 

PhilPhilippines

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Philippines
Fronts wear limit is 4mm. I don't have a reference to go by as far as life of these things. I can't remember burning through a motorcycle rotor before. I can only imagine what a set of full sintered EBC pads would do to these.
A driver of a friend I know here in Manila had a disc/rotor explode on him on his Honda 175. I was concerned as it was something I had never read or heard of. So I went outside to check, and - there was the culprit - a disintegrated disc with an edge that was so thin you could shave with it!!

Thing was, the guy said he was a trained mechanic... smh
 

fac191

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Something to consider. I changed my rear pads today for EBC Organic. Caliper was good. Pumped out the piston and gave it a good clean. Rotated it with piston pliers to clean allround and spun it to make sure it was freely moving. When i was putting the new pads in i noticed that the pads which came out which were dealer fitted so i imagine they are genuine had 2 protruding points on them. I assume this is to help determine wear. However if you allow the pads to wear right down they will rip into the disc big time. Genuine pads are at the bottom.20200728_145601_HDR.jpg
 
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