Hi Chaps, Sorry if this has been done before I did a search alright. I think my front discs are warped, so got a quote on the dealer for 748.56 euros (so thats two new front discs, 2 new pads and the bolts that you have to replace). So thats 600 quid roughly (+ fitting). Having a quick ebay I see discs for 160 each, bolts are 12 quid, pads I can see EBC HH for 50 quid. I can see OEM discs and EBC - they look roughly the same cost I think. Either of them better than the other? Any pads to recommend or are EBC HH okay dokey. So if I go with 300 ish for discs, 100 for pads, bolts - I'm saving 200 notes. I can fit them myself without any bother, I've done pads and disks before. Am I missing anything or is this usual OEM parts gouging? Also these are my original discs on a 2010 multistrada - I think they were prone to warping right? Cheers.
Check if it really is the disk first! If your calipers are dirty, and the pistons are not free moving, it will give the same impression as warped disks on a rolling brake test. Similarly if the disks have not been mounted properly then they could give the same impression. It's actually quite hard to warp disks these days, so confirm before shelling out lots for replacements. Also, I personally wouldn't fit EBC pads. OEM Brembo are far better, but there are cheaper (and better) alternatives. SBS or CL pads are better and cheaper than OEM: http://ducatiforum.co.uk/f41/brembo-sbs-pads-5050/
I never got the chance to - aka it was never offered. Plus the dublin dealer going belly up never helped...
Yeh I jacked the bike up at the front and rotated the wheel, it is definitely 'sticking' on various positions on the rotation. I've also given the area a good clean and it all seems to be moving freely enough... Interesting about SBS or CL pads I'll check them out - thanks.
You can check the disks are running true with a clock gauge, would be advisable to do this before splashing out on new discs!
Would love to if I had one. Gonna take it into the stealer for them to check - they maybe expensive but they are honest enough. So let them find out whether I need to, and then I think its DIY time. Thats way too much cash... OEM for me is working out at around 400 quid rather than 600.
Have a read of this sites recomendations regarding discs/warped etc http://www.blackshadow-uk.co.uk/Fitting.html
My brakes "grab" just as you pull up to a halt (kind of pulsing in the lever). Also, if you spin the wheel in a paddock stand, there is a definite contact point. Bike has done 15k and this has been apparent from 5k miles - it pees me off no end! However, dealer has checked them out with a gauge and they are "in tolerance" so no warranty replacement :-( I will replace when they are worn out, but with aftermarkets - at least half the cost of OEM !
Yeh I can imagine a big bun fight on whats warranty and whats not... Its peeing me off no end as well, just in the last 1000m its got bad. I'm taking it too them now, got 3 recalls outstanding including back brake, switch gear and handsfree sensor thingy bob - get them to do just an annual service and see what they think about the brakes. If they can't source aftermarket or do it for cheaper I'll do it myself. 600 notes + fitting, is just too eye watering to do. Thanks all for the replies - helpful.
*sigh* - yeh I'm guessing that'll be done too... There is no way I'd be first out the traps with the next bike regardless of what it is. New Beemer and New KTM just out... I think its worth leaving them at least a year to bed in!!
You really need to make sure that you're not throwing good money down the drain. Check the discs with a dial gauge. You can get a dial gauge off ebay for about £15 posted with a magnetic base about £25 posted. The gauge will be useful for a multitude of things over the coming years not just your discs. It will tell you if your discs truly are warped - because if they are not then the problem almost certainly lies with the calipers. Ingress of dirt - aluminium corrosion, broken caliper seals -- all produce a sticking caliper piston - they are designed to float back a little when pressure is released from the brake lever if they cannot move back freely they can give pulsing and judder from in-tolerance discs. dial gauge with stand - ebay
If you have a local tool hire company you may find that they will have dial gauges available, you should also be able to get a suitable mounting stand as well.
There is a sequence I would check things out in order to see if you can track down the problem: With the front end up in the air using the dial gauge check discs both side for runout with the dial gauge. even if you find it's warped beyond tolerance - they may not be throw aways just yet...... The discs are full floating - this means that the disc is mounted in a non fixed way to the disc carrier. They are designed to float from side to side on the bobbins - like little cotton reels that hold the disc in place - this is to eliminate pulsing from calipers and pads that are not precisely aligned with the disc and also to eliminate uneven pad wear by ensuring that they grip the rotor as symetrically as possible right from the start - which is hard to do in a fixed system hence floating the disc enables the disc rotor itself to move and centre itself in the caliper and pads when pressure from the brakes is applied. The other benefit is that they allow the rotor material to heat up and expand without having to heat up the carrier as well and thus eliminate stresses there. some poeple think that floating discs eliminate the need to run in brake pads - I disagree with this - even though you get even clamping forces right away because of them the surfaces of the pad and the disc still have to go through an initial wear operation to get them to mate together perfectly. Some people don't understand why floating rotors are on road bikes at all - as the calipers pistons should be able to accommodate side to side variations. Well intially developed for racing where you go fast then stop quickly and repeat - this often warped discs simply through that cycle - by putting the rotor seperate from the carrier it allowed the rotor to get hot quickly and eliminate the warping that could occur. I suppose they chuck this onto road bikes because although we don't race like a MotoGP rider we still sometimes undergo heavy braking which "could" warp fixed rotors - so I guess they are playing it safe by putting floaters on the high performance or Heavy bikes to avoid warping as much as possible. It could easily be the fact that one or more bobbins have corroded and are not allowing the rotors to move freely. clean up the bobbins and ensure there is now free movement - you should be able to turn them on their axis by hand usually when the discs are cold. and then try the disc with the dial gauge for runout again. If the discs are still outside of their tolerance you know for sure know that they are warped beyond spec, and will need replacing. If the discs and within tolerance and the bobbins are all free moving I would be tempted to actually check the wheel itself for excessive runout - not on the rim but where the discs themselves are mounted. Wheel off - discs off - mount the wheel and check the carrier mating surface for runout. if you find the problem here - let's say it's just an errant burr somewhere from original machining - you or an engineer mate with a miller may be able to re surface the mating areas for you - cheap fix! Your rotors may have hot spots - or parts where the thickness is less than it should be and thus it gets hotter there under operation and expands ever so slightly causing a high spot OR the same phenomenon occurs due to inconsistency in materials in the rotor casting causing certain parts to heat up excessively and expand to the point where they hit pads sooner than the rest of the rotor surface - check the rotor thickness all over with a suitable thickness gauge - but bear in mind sometimes this problem has no outward symptoms until the rotors are hot. A dfifficult one to diagnose - eliminate everything else first before you consider this may be a problem requiring rotor replacement. if all this works out fine and your brakes are still pulsing it's time to look at your calipers and pads. Take out the pads and inspect the surface - do they look glazed? crucially does only a small area of any one pad look like it's worn and the rest untouched or glazed? This means you're getting uneven pad contact with the rotor - because of a caliper problem or a bad pad with incorrect leading edge characteristics making it grab the rotor unevenly. Excessive grab from uneven pad clamping forces can in some instances fool the ABS into thinking it needs to be engaged -especially with light braking at low speeds and the pulsing you're feeling could just be something as simple as the ABS engaging! Cheapest thing to do at this stage is replace with some good sintered pads and run them in properly as per instructions. I have had problems like this in the past which in the end turned out to be as simple as just a set of bad pads - they looked fine they behaved properly but changing them did the trick. Whilst you change the pads check for correct caliper piston operation with new pads in and everything in situ press the brake lever and check to see if each piston moves forward on braking and releases and drops back slightly when pressure is released - if not you need to clean up your calipers. bleed the brake system - accummulated water vapour or an air bubble could be causing one or more pistons to not engage properly and thus causing uneven pad application on the rotors. N.B. If you do end upchanging the rotors I recommend going for wavey's - not because they look cool but because they effectively remove pad material every braking operation through their design - PRO - no pad material build up on rotor - which can cause this problem sometimes CON - need to change brake pads more often - but that's a cheaper option!
Amateur question I see plenty of pads being offered for sale.... Sintered?...what does this mean? Then there's ceramic, but surely you need special discs for these? Alternatively won't ceramic pads chew up oem discs? Brembo make 3 different versions of pads it appears, which should I get for normal riding ie I ain't no Rossi and don't ride like Hayden either! I am happy to spend a bit more on my brakes, but don't want to damage discs, or spend good money on unproven marketing talk! What does one get? Any advice?
Brake pads come in a variety of different materials Early pads used to be Asbestos based - now largely un used due to environmental issues - but can still be found here and there - nowadays they are mainly organic - semi metallic or ceramic based. Organic pads are the cheap ones that don't cost an arm and a leg and the most common. The base material usually has glass, carbon or kevlar materials in it. Softer and make more dust and wear down quickly. Semi metallic pads are Sintered pads - just means that the base pad material is infused with metal compounds as a fine dust or fibres - these have better wear and strength characteristics and conduct heat away from the rotor better than standard pads - but cos they are harder they "can" be a bit squeaky - some makes of pads and some rotors will sing like opera sopranos! You'd need to suck it and see basically to see if you end up with a good braking setup and also a pair of squeakers on the front Sintered tends to come in two varieties - standard (or low metallic content) and HH (or double H which is just trade speak for an even harder pad material with more metal content). Usually give good braking but at the expense of increased rotor wear -they're not superb in the very cold weather either tending to work best when they're warmed up a bit. I tend to favour HH pads myself - being mainly a leisure rider I don't tend to go through discs very much if at all.. ceramic compounds are not as specialised as you may at first think - they are like sintered but now instead of metal fibres and dust flakes etc.. in the pad material, they use equivelent pieces of ceramic compounds - - they have better heat resistance (less heat fade under heavy braking) and actually generate less dust and don't wear the rotors as much as sintered pads do. Also ceramic pads can sometimes be the only cure to fussy rotors that squeak with other types of pads as the ceramic content shifts the resonant frequency and is much quieter under operation. I would recommend a good set of HH or Ceramic from a quality brand myself....
