front brake pads are severly touching dics

[shok47]

1 front disc brake is heavily touching the disc. I replaced the pads and did some light cleaning but the new pads make even more friction because they are thicker. it is the outside brake pad that is touching.

I think this started when I came down on a wheelie with the handle bars turned a bit. Any ideas?

[mooseracerX]

I'm not sure, I know earlier in the year mine kept hanging up and we had no idea what it was. We finally found out that it what the pin on the plate that holds the caliper to the spindle was bent.

[shok47]

So I replaced one of each sides of the pads, the one that the piston pushes on. (bad idea?) I had to bleed the brakes and everything, but once I finished bleeding them and tried them out, the brakes where WEAK. I continued to bleed them, draining the fluid from the reservoir about 4 times but they are still weak.

I did the basic pump 3 time, open, close, and release. Whats going on here!!

[leasureryan]

it's obviously not bled. Did you ever let the fluid level drop in the master cylinder, because once it suck air in the top, it has to be drained all the way out the lines....which takes about 10 min of constant pumping and bleeding.

Piston in your caliper may be sticking, and need to be replaced, seals too ofcourse. Or your rotor is worn beyond spec

and no....changing just one pad per side is not good, but do what you must if you can't afford a set of pads. I always say anything worth doing is worth doing correctly....the first time, otherwise....

[shok47]

I did let it the level drop to low but I did bleed all the air out, I remember a big stream of bubbles just randomly coming out. I continued bleeding after all the bubbles were out too.

I did a search on google and found this:
1) Your master cylinder has air and needs to be bled. Basically it is the same process but this time, pump the lever a few times and hold. While compressing, loosen the nut at the master cylinder and repeat a few times till the air is out and then bleed from the wheel itself as you did before.

Before all of this my brakes where working fine. They wouldnt endo me while I was sitting, but they did the job good. My friend said the brakes werent working to their fullest when he tried to so maybe a rebuild like you said?

[coryatver]

400ex brake pads from a lot of company's are made too thick. I had this problem all the time when I changed pads. After riding for a while the pads wear down and it works correctly.

One time i changed my front brakes before a gncc race and didn't ride it before the race and it was a mud fest and one of my front brakes was rubbing hard it wouldn't even let my wheel turn in the slick mud causing me to spin out a couple times. After a lap the pad wore down and it was fine.

[shok47]

when I put the new pads on one side, they were very sticky, thats why I replaced the worn one on each side. I wil be getting more pads on ebay after I check my checking account for sufficient funds.

[coryatver]

not sure what you mean by one side but changing only one pad on one caliper is a bad idea so is changing only one side of the front end. Put new pads on all of them at once.

And I would definitly stay away from ebay specials like I said before a lot of 400ex brake pads are made to thick and are a pain in the rear.

[katch26]

did you compress the piston on the caliper?

[shok47]

I did for sure on 1 side. maybe/maybe not on the other. Should I unhook everything, compress them and start from there?


I got some EBC pads coming to!

[katch26]

yeah start from scratch and do the whole thing over again. Check the new pads cause that might have scrapped them but if not compress, assemble bleed and youll be back on it again in no time

[shok47]

Well I installed my new pads. There was no more fluid in my cylinder so I filled it up and bled until I saw fluid coming out, then I continued to bleed them making sure the level did not drop. My brakes are still mushy, it wont lift the end up at all, when I pull the brakes it takes like 5 feet to stop. I compressed the pistons too. ahh, whats going on?

when you bleed them without speed bleeders if they are open and your pumping the brake you will suck air into the system through them. Best method is to tie the brake lever to the bars and let it sit. Make sure it had enough fluid in the resevoir and wait a few hours or even over night. The air bubbles will work their way up into the resevoir with the cap off. Release the lever and see if it feels firm. Then begin pumping the brakes, hold the lever down and crack the bleeders so fluid comes out. You should see more bubles come up and the fluid level goes down make sure it always has plenty of fluid. Then close them back up and repeat the pumping holding the lever and opening them. You will notice it gets better each time until your brakes wont be any firmer no matter how much you di it and you know your good.

[shok47]

well I still went riding twice on them and they seem to be doing better now BUT when it gets wet it will become WEAK, and they will squeak. Why is it? still a bleeding issue?