Hello people I have just completed cleaning my front brakes and I have the procedure recorded in video. The main reason for it was the quite extreme vibrations I had when braking. I believe that nobody took the time in the past to do a good cleaning. So I hoped that the vibrations would go away by making the pistons in the calipers work as they should. Unfortunately I haven't tested the bike in high speeds (I've only done 3-4kms in town. It's pouring for two days now). So I'm yet to witness the results of my efforts. Nevertheless, I'd like to share the experience for those of you that want to do something similar and don't know where to start. The idea was to do as much cleaning as possible without disassembling the calipers and the pistons. I didn't want to spend two months old RBF 660 fluid nor the time I've devoted in bleeding the system (it is rock solid now). In the videos I explain pretty much everything I did. You may see the appearance of the pads to be a little "glazed". I didn't feel it needs attention so I didn't even sand them, since I didn't have any problem with the "bite" of my brakes. However, you could argue that they will perform even better if I did. You can also see the result of the cleaning of the retaining pins (before and after pictures of the cleaning with a Dremel wire brush). I also cleaned the button rivets on the rotors following the procedure I've seen on other videos and using only brake cleaner (not oil as some people suggest). First video is the removal of the caliper and the cleaning while the second is the montage. I will update about the result as soon as the weather lets me carry some speed... Enjoy
Don´t use Brakecleaner inside of Caliper because it will dry and destroy the Seals, use Brakefluid. Fixing the Caliper: before fastening the Bolts, add the Brakepads and apply and hold the Brakelever to center the Caliper. Then at first fasten the upper Bolt (see Arrow on Caliper) after that the bottom Bolt.
I've been using brake cleaner for this job for years. Never had a failure of a seal. The stuff says it's safe for gaskets and seals. And it's so volatile, I can't imagine staying on the seals for enough time to do any damage (which it says it doesn't anyway). As for the centering of the caliper, the tolerance that the bolts allow is very small. Even if I don't tighten the bolts (just screw them by hand), it's impossible for me to move the caliper sideways. I don't feel or see any anyway. And I thought that the disc is the component that floats, not the caliper. Although I can understand it as good practice.
I use brake cleaner and a toothbrush then apply red rubber grease to the sides of the pistons before pushing them back in again.
I've read many different versions of this but I couldn't decide on the type of grease. Dry/wet, copper/lithuium, thin/thick. You name it. And another thing that troubles me is that at the beginning it would be good for the pistons, as they would work more freely, but it would be a dust/grime accumulator. I don't know really. I'm divided here.
I used red rubber grease because that's what's recommended for lubricating the seals. I see your point about dust sticking to it but I don't really think that it's a big issue. The pistons are pushed fully back after application and I wipe off any surplus.
This is the exact product. However, I didn't get the effect I expected. I still get this terrible noise when breaking at very low speeds. Maybe it needs some time to spread on the piston face. I haven't done any proper miles yet.
I also get a horrible screeching sort of noise when breaking at very low speeds. It seems to be same sort of resonant vibration that is set up in the discs and it doesn't happen all the time. It seems to need the right set of conditions of temperature and dampness to set it off. It has always done so I gave up bothering about it a long time ago.
Mine isn't really screeching. It's more of a low tone. But it resembles the resonant vibration you describe. And it happens all the time, irrespective of the temperature. It's more of a bugging question now rather than something that troubles me. I just had to try the grease. If anything changes with time, I'll post here.
tzoykas, it's not warped discs by any chance causing the problem, because you mention vibration which makes me think it could be warped discs. Going by another thread oh here it seems to be a common problem (warped discs that is).
When I stripped and rebuilt my brakes, I still had the groan for a little while and then it went. One thing I noticed is that sometimes, under emergency braking, the throttle is still on a tiny bit and when combined with braking it makes the groan. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I don't think it's warped discs, no, although I did all this to make sure it isn't, before I go and invest cash on new rotors. Firstly, the feel is much better now (but as I wrote earlier, I haven't really tested it) and secondly, the rivet buttons were really stuck before cleaning. So, hopefully it was just bad maintenance and reversible damage. I will answer my (and your) questions fully next week. I have a trip planned this weekend and I expect to do about 600km. Maybe it needs time. Hopefully, I'll know next week. Enviado desde mi Nexus 7 mediante Tapatalk
Have you checked that all the disc bobbins are free to rotate. Multistrada and Diavel bobbins are notorious for seizing. Easy fix, M5 nut and bolt through the bobbin centre and use a battery drill to spin the assembly up. I have a very thin silicone oil left over from my model car racing days and I use the tinyest drop to lubricate the bobbin making absolutely sure none of the oil gets on the disc. Andy
They are free now . I used exactly the procedure you describe, minus the oil. I'm sure that oil would do a much better job, however, there are two dangers: the oil getting to the discs/pads (you need to be VERY careful with the quantity used) and it will collect dust much more quickly and it will seize the rivets again. I would try this only as an ultimate solution before changing the rotors. The rivets are not oiled when installed anyway. No, it's way past the warranty unfortunately. And I also got it second hand. It would be even more difficult to persuade the dealer. Did you order a tub? Wow! You're not gonna bathe in it, are you???
Well, I have completed a three day trip and since I survived the heat, I thought it would be good to share the feedback. The vibrations are gone. I'm a happy man. I can't really be sure if it was the cleaning of the pistons or the rivets on the discs but I can brake now without having my mind on the vibrations. So, final thoughts on that are: don't go swearing to your dealer without trying to clean the whole thing first. It takes some time to get it cleaned properly but the peace of mind it offers is worth it I believe. The sound from the pads is not totally eliminated but it has significantly diminished. I didn't do a lot of low speed braking anyway so this might prolong the time it takes for the grease to settle on the piston face, as @JH_1986 suggested. Maybe I should have applied grease on it as well and not only on the back of the pads. Will do it next time. Bottom line is, try cleaning before changing your rotors.
