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Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet with the UCE engine => Topic started by: singhg5 on October 17, 2010, 11:40:44 pm

Title: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: singhg5 on October 17, 2010, 11:40:44 pm
The front wheel brake on my G5 was squeaking.  Had a look at the front brake caliper and brake pads.   First tied a cloth around front mud guard, then hung a coat hanger wire on the frame of left turn signal, took off caliper from the fork and hung it on the hook-shaped free end of hanger wire, so that there was no pull on the brake fluid line.

The whole thing was pretty dirty, black dust everywhere inside, and definitely needed cleaning.  The pad touching the brake pistons is 3" long and 1" wide - curved of course.  After cleaning, lubed the pin bolts as recommended by RE with silicon and put whole thing back together.  

No more squeaking.  Any ideas how long these front brake pads will last ?  

Pictures are worth a hundred thousand words - so here we go.
Title: Re: Front Brake Pads on G5
Post by: gashousegorilla on October 18, 2010, 12:10:24 am
 Hard to tell from the pics singh. You need a side view. How thick is the pad? The old rule of thumb is if their thinner then a Nickle, Its time to change them. But I don't usually wait that long. Some times scuffing up the surface of the pad and rotor with sand paper,will get rid of squealing to.
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: singhg5 on October 18, 2010, 12:44:59 am
@GHG:

Here is a top view of the caliper that shows the thickness of the pad.

The friction material is slightly thicker than the metal plate to which it is glued.  The metal pad-plate is thicker than the thickness of a nickel.  I think the pad is ok for some more time but need to keep an eye on it.  I wonder if there is any indicator on these pads that tells when to get a new one ?

I want to find a good quality equivalent to these pads if you know any, let me know or post it here and if I find it I will do the same.
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: gashousegorilla on October 18, 2010, 01:01:15 am
 Yea, they look OK from here singh. Check the book for minimums, if they list any.Some of the old pads had a red line around them as an indicator, I don't think these have any. I think Ducatiscotty found a good after market equivalent, check with him or scooterbob. I seem to remember them talking about it. It Looks like you still have a few miles to go though.
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: singhg5 on October 18, 2010, 01:25:24 am
@GHG -  r80rt and ducati had discussed  but their conversation was that r80rt THINKS that RE has same brakes as rear brakes of Bonneville - r80rt had also said he had NOT checked to be SURE.  Then ducati posted a link for the brake pad for Bonneville.  

I checked that link -  the shape is the same but the dimensions are questionable.  e.g., the width is 42 mm in that link.  The width of friction material of RE is only 1 inch = 25.4 mm and even if I include the width of whole of metal plate (tip of hole on the metal pad plate to the far end) it does not come near 42 mm.

That is why I started a new thread so that there is no confusion of RE with Bonneville, since the authors were not sure if RE has the same brake caliper as Bonneville.  For the same reason, I am not putting that link here.  No point in sending someone on a wild goose chase  ;).   

Need to verify how the measurements are reported by the manufacturers.
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: ScooterBob on October 18, 2010, 01:43:24 am
Yea, they look OK from here singh. Check the book for minimums, if they list any.Some of the old pads had a red line around them as an indicator, I don't think these have any. I think Ducatiscotty found a good after market equivalent, check with him or scooterbob. I seem to remember them talking about it. It Looks like you still have a few miles to go though.

I got those brake pads nailed - the Bonneville rears were too thin for the job - Check with Tim for the parts number - or wait 'til the new catalog is in your dealers showrooms! I got about 650 rotor-smoking miles out of the OEM pads before they were at the wear indicators - top THAT ..... ! Abuse testing? I haz it!
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: gashousegorilla on October 18, 2010, 02:55:36 am
 Singh, what ever your running on there now, looks pretty damn good for 10K Miles. I would stick with what you got. There the original stock ones, right?
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: Ducati Scotty on October 19, 2010, 01:36:45 pm
Your pads look good, plenty left on there.  You can run them pretty thin but when they get to just a few mm you're in danger of one wearing through and then you get metal on metal and destroy the rotor.  My last set of Ducati rears was paper thigns on both pads when I changed 'em  Yikes!  Often the slit in the pad is the wear limit marker.  The material at the bottom of the slit is just a few mm thick.  When the slit is gone it's time to change them out.

Another good thing to do whenever you have the pads out is 'deglaze' them.  Just put a little 220 grit sandpaper on a flat piece of glass and sand the pad.  This breaks the glaze that often occurs over many miles and gives the pads more bite.  Also, you can sand a little angle into the leading and trailing edge of the pads.  This helps limit squeal too since you don't have a sharp edge meeting the rotor.  Finish off by scrubbing the rotor with a green 3M ScotchBrite pad and brake cleaner.

Scott
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: qgolden on October 19, 2010, 04:23:53 pm
IMHO,  I change them out before they get to the slit.   I believe the slit is to allow water to escape when you brake in the rain.....
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: singhg5 on October 19, 2010, 05:29:00 pm
1.  Another good thing to do whenever you have the pads out is 'deglaze' them.  Just put a little 220 grit sandpaper on a flat piece of glass and sand the pad.  This breaks the glaze that often occurs over many miles and gives the pads more bite. 

2.   Also, you can sand a little angle into the leading and trailing edge of the pads.  This helps limit squeal too since you don't have a sharp edge meeting the rotor. 

3.   Finish off by scrubbing the rotor with a green 3M ScotchBrite pad and brake cleaner.

Scott:

I like your above 3 ideas - especially, smoothing out the leading and trailing edges of pads ! 
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: Ducati Scotty on October 20, 2010, 04:16:43 am
That and a little silicon grease in all the right spots are my standard procedure whenever I have the caliper off.

Scott
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: donatelos on October 23, 2010, 01:00:57 am
IMHO,  I change them out before they get to the slit.   I believe the slit is to allow water to escape when you brake in the rain.....
No Sir the slit allong the pad is there to let you know your on the absolute max of wear and nothing to do with water so what you are doing by changing slightly early is good sense .Don
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: ace.cafe on October 23, 2010, 01:58:11 am
I have heard a rumor that the Pricol disc brake pads are the same as on a Harley Sportster between 1981-83.
Somebody might want to check that, and see.
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: Ducati Scotty on October 23, 2010, 03:42:37 am
No Sir the slit allong the pad is there to let you know your on the absolute max of wear and nothing to do with water so what you are doing by changing slightly early is good sense .Don

Also, they can sometime be put in to change the resonant frequency and deter squealing.

Disc brakes shed water quickly with the first application just by squeezing against the disc.  Far superior to drums that can fill with water and be useless until all the water leaks out and stops acting like a lubricant.

Scott
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: singhg5 on October 23, 2010, 06:29:20 am
@ACE:

Here is the Cross Reference for disc brake pads for RE.

These pads have been used in a number of SCOOTERS.  They are -

Kymco    - Agility 50, Agility 125, Like 125, People 250.
Peugeot - Vivacity 125, Geopolis 400, , Geopolis 500
Suzuki    -  AN 250,  AN 400.
Keeway  - Outlook 150
                                      
There are only a few motorcycles that have these brake pads -

Keeway  -  Cruiser 250,  Superlight 125.
Honda    -  Rebel old models
RE         -  Electra, Clubman, All EFI models

The brake pads are FA228 by EBC or its equivalent.  This is straight from the horse's mouth - from the manufacturer's catalog (picture below).  Ducati, your guess was right  ;) !
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: qgolden on October 23, 2010, 11:55:03 pm
No Sir the slit allong the pad is there to let you know your on the absolute max of wear and nothing to do with water so what you are doing by changing slightly early is good sense .Don

Thank you for the clarification. 
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: singhg5 on October 26, 2010, 06:27:59 pm
This is the picture of the spring inside the caliper, detailing the parts of disc brakes of RE, and to make this thread more complete.
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: enfield freddy on October 26, 2010, 09:09:27 pm
@ACE:

Here is the Cross Reference for disc brake pads for RE.

These pads have been used in a number of SCOOTERS.  They are -

Kymco    - Agility 50, Agility 125, Like 125, People 250.
Peugeot - Vivacity 125, Geopolis 400, , Geopolis 500
Suzuki    -  AN 250,  AN 400.
Keeway  - Outlook 150
                                      
There are only a few motorcycles that have these brake pads -

Keeway  -  Cruiser 250,  Superlight 125.
Honda    -  Rebel old models
RE         -  Electra, Clubman, All EFI models

The brake pads are FA228 by EBC or its equivalent.  This is straight from the horse's mouth - from the manufacturer's catalog (picture below).  Ducati, your guess was right  ;) !


agreed , the ebc fa 228 , are a lot better pad than the std inyun ones , i use them on my caf racer ,
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: clubman on October 27, 2010, 09:42:23 am
agreed , the ebc fa 228 , are a lot better pad than the std inyun ones , i use them on my caf racer ,

Thanks for this info. I just looked on the EBC website and see sintered pads are an option too. Has anyone tried these?
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: enfield freddy on October 27, 2010, 10:18:15 am
yup tried the sintered ,

ok my bike is basicly a 91 with the disk kit added , i feel that the forks are not strong enough to  handle the disk settup, your lower legs and your h/stock bearings have to be in 101% condition , otherwize you get a judder,

you never seem to be able to get the sintered pads hot enough to work proper,

the std EBC pads are a huge imptovement on the cardboard inyun ones ,


my 2 cents (after 5 yrs of agto and grief)

Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: clubman on October 27, 2010, 10:29:10 am
Very useful info, Freddy. Thanks very much!  :)
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: singhg5 on October 27, 2010, 05:36:24 pm
the std EBC pads are a huge imptovement on the cardboard inyun ones ,

@Enfield Freddy -

What does "inyun" ones mean ?  

My G5 disc brake pads were originals that came with the bike.  They have performed very well - over 11,000 miles - and still quite thick.  They will last several thousand more miles.  These don't look cardboard to me.

May be the newer UCE bikes have better pads than those in earlier models of RE.   
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: Ducati Scotty on October 28, 2010, 04:45:57 am
Thanks for the feedback Freddy.  I can tell the front end is flexing when I hit big bumps because the fender creaks but nothing is loose.  I figured stronger pads and/or a stainless brake line wouldn't be too useful without some front end upgrades first.

Do you think with some stiffer springs and an oil change for the fork it might be worth it or is there still the problem of not getting them hot enough?  I'm also thinking about for sidecar rigs that could use the extra stopping power.  Maybe the springs and oil with stainless line with the stock pads would be the best setup.

Scott
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: singhg5 on October 28, 2010, 05:10:32 am
Do you think with some stiffer springs and an oil change for the fork it might be worth it or is there still the problem of not getting them hot enough?
Did you not change the fork oil yet ?  
Title: Re: Front Wheel Disc Brake Pads on G5
Post by: Ducati Scotty on October 28, 2010, 05:17:55 am
Nope, been too busy :(  I just changed jobs and there's lots of other work to get done around the house before winter sets in.

Scott