Rear brake Pads - Asymetric wear

[ednowicki]

I have a 2003 1150RT.

 

This weekend I did my 18K service + control/wheel circuit fluid replacement + fuel filter replacement. Thanks to all for taking the time to post helpful instruction and great guides on performing these maintenance procedures. You saved me countless hours. The information is a great compliment to the 3rd party service manuals and the BMW CD.

 

When I removed the rear pads from the caliper, I noticed excessive wear on the inside (non-piston) side brake pad. It is 2-3x more worn than its mate. The guide pin was a little corroded. The pads are original with 18,300 miles on them. Fortunately I had an extra set of rear pads. Per your collective advice, I sanded and applied anti-seize to the pin.

 

Attached is a ‘poor’ pic of the pads. I read the posts on excessive rear pad wear. Any speculation on the problem, or is this normal?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Ed

[KER]

i believe that this is completely normal wear. Why it does it, i cannot explain, but all of the brakes that i have replaced they all looked as yours does.

[Haynes]

The wear rate of a pair of pads should be similar. Perhaps the shafts and bushes need cleaning and lubricating. The caliper body needs to float freely to prevent uneven forces on the caliper and pads.

[Ken H.]

The wear rate of a pair of pads should be similar.

While I agree with you Keith, they should be, the majority of BMW bikes I've done rear brakes on wore unevenly.

 

It's pretty much a TADT thing.

[Firefight911]

This is a normal wear aspect of brake pads when they are in a caliper that has the pistons only on one side.

 

The different wear comes from the caliper. The piston side "floats", therefore, it is able to retract away from the rotor face when not in use. The non piston side is more at the mercy of the caliper, etc. because it is the caliper. It has been 'pulled' into the rotor face by the piston so it tends to drag ever so slightly on the rotor face for a longer period of time than the piston side.

 

As you noted, a little corrision can impede things moving as well.

 

I would just ensure that you have all the corrison removed and everything is aligned as it should be. Then ride baby ride!

[bmweerman]

Looks like everybodys pretty much already chimed in, but just will go along with the rest..every pair of rear RT pads I've every replaced looks like that.

 

Just stick another pair of those suckers on there and keep riding.

[ednowicki]

Thanks for the feedback. I suspect it's what most of you say.. an artifact of a single-sided piston design.

 

Ed

[pepper]

I had the same occur on my 1150R. I replaced the pads but I also serviced the rear caliper using this link:

 

http://advwisdom.hogranch.com/Wisdom/BFDRear2.1.1.pdf