new brake pads

[Ron-M]

I replaced my front and rear brake pads with CLs from Beemer Boneyard. My problem is the front wheel does not spin as freely as I think it should based on past performance. The back wheel spins freely. When I have the front wheel off the ground and spin the wheel, it only rotates about one quarter turn, maybe less. It appears the brakes are to tight against the rotors. I pushed the pistons in prior to installing new pads and then pushed them in with the pads on and still have the same result. This is the third set of pads so I have an idea of how things should be. Suggestions?

[JayW]

Try taking the pads back off, push the pistons back in, thoroughly clean the area where the pad ears slide back and forth, put an appropriate lubricant in those areas, then reassemble everything. This will help the pads to move away from the disc after you release the brake lever.

 

Jay

[Ron-M]

Thanks Jay. What would be an appropriate lubricant?

[BerndM]

Your local auto parts store will have a variety of disk brake lubricants.

[Bernie]

Did you flush/change the brake fluid with a set of old brake pads installed? You may have too much brake fluid in the handlebar reservoir. The CL pads are a little thicker then the factory pads.

[Hall Vince]

I would add, remove pads and clean the exposed pistons and surrounding areas before pushing pistons back in.

Then again when they are fully retracted. They should slide in under thumb pressure pretty easily. They are a sort of nylon so I used a brake cleaner and a trimmed down toothbrush or childs toothbrush (just make sure they have finished with it!)

 

I used various hex (Allen) keys to space out the pads on one caliper while I worked on the other.

 

Agree, to much fluid will lock out the pad to disc. If you run it like that and the disc expands you run the risk of the wheel locking in extreme cases.

 

Annoyingly I had to bleed a little out of mine when I fitted new pads, the dealer when they did the recall, just topped the fluid off with worn pads in. I understood they should have the proper spacer block in place before topping of resivoir (hence my Allen key to keep pads spaced back when servicing the calipers).

hth

\v/

[I812]

I had the same experience on a few of my oilheads. For the front: Loosen the pinch bolts. Bounce the front end a few times and re-tighten. Worked for me on three different bikes.

[Ron-M]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will give them all a try. Not being a mechanic, will I have to bleed the lines to extract some fluid or can I just remove some fluid from the reserve?

[Paul Mihalka]

There may be better ways, but to remove fluid from the top I just use paper towels and let it soak up. I even do that when I am going to flush the brakes, removing all old fluid from the top and wipe out the container.

[Nomad Indy]

Leave your lights on, the battery may be overcharged.

[Hall Vince]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will give them all a try. Not being a mechanic, will I have to bleed the lines to extract some fluid or can I just remove some fluid from the reserve?

 

Be aware the screws on the res top can be difficult to remove unless you have the precise fitting screwdriver.

 

I just carefully cracked open the bleed nipple a tad, and pumped a little out with pressure from the lever and tightened (not to tight by the way) the nipple back up while lever pressure was still being applied.

 

This is on a post 07 bike btw, not a servo powered braked bike.

\v/