Alternative rear brake pads.

[blues n twos]

I called my BMW dealer as at 7800 miles the rear pads were down to 1.5mm. I was offered a new harder compound set at £65 or a set of K1600GT pads that were £41

They said the K1600 ones last well and they have been fitting them to R1200GS LC's for a while now

Well I fitted them today so can't really see why anyone would want to pay so much more for an identical set of pads.

So for those that don't already know the K1600GT rear pads are the same and much much cheaper

Jon

 

[madmartin]

Replaced my rear pads with ebc sintered. £15 ebay.

 

[blues n twos]

Replaced my rear pads with ebc sintered. £15 ebay.

Even cheaper still

 

[Sooty09]

Lots of alternatives available now below £20. I think anything which wears out quicker than the disk at this price must be an advantage. I find one side of the set wears out much quicker than the opposite side, so I have no worries at all about mixing up individual good pads to make a good set, have been doing it for years on all my bikes. No doubt this will be ridiculed by many as a safety issue but I have never had a problem. In many ways it may be a saftey solution, wet pads one side of the disk, dry pads the other? It will never cause a stability issue while gripping one disk, if it grips too much the ABS will sort it out.

 

[malcopopolo]

Replaced my rear pads with ebc sintered. £15 ebay.

thought the rear pads had to be organic as the rear disc is made up of a softer material? handbook states organic?
although i suppose it depends what the pads are sintered with?

 

[Nick V]

After the last load of grief I took for touting Goldfren pads, I've now put some serious mileage on the GS LC with a rear set installed.
Nothing new to report - not that I was expecting anything new. Just stopping power and feel as good or slightly better than the EBC sintered pads they replaced. Naturally, the two front sets of Goldfrens I have will be going on as soon as the original Brembo pads wear out.

Lots of alternatives available now below £20. I think anything which wears out quicker than the disk at this price must be an advantage. I find one side of the set wears out much quicker than the opposite side, so I have no worries at all about mixing up individual good pads to make a good set, have been doing it for years on all my bikes. No doubt this will be ridiculed by many as a safety issue but I have never had a problem. In many ways it may be a saftey solution, wet pads one side of the disk, dry pads the other? It will never cause a stability issue while gripping one disk, if it grips too much the ABS will sort it out.

Unless the ABS regulator fails.
Seriously though, I've also been doing the same for years. I do make some exceptions, in that:

• Any pads I use must have sufficient meat on them to go some distance (ooooooh er obviously) and must be free of cracks and friction-pad de-lamination.
• The pads on both sides of the disc must be the same make and compound.
• I don't use pads that have obviously suffered overheating (one telltale is paint burned off the backing plate).

thought the rear pads had to be organic as the rear disc is made up of a softer material? handbook states organic?
although i suppose it depends what the pads are sintered with?

Sintering isn't an additive. It's the process used to manufacture the brake pads (by compressing and forming a solid mass of pad material into a die, with or without additional heat, and without heating the mass of material to melting point).
You're right, the handbook specifies organic pads. But I'm now (presumably) on my third set of rear pads (second set of sintered pads after the original organic pads wore out), and I've noticed no undue disc wear.

According to my girlfriend, you should be able to buy organic pads in a health-food shop, after they've been grown on a farm using only sustainable methods.
Pads marked 'sintered' generally have a much higher proportion of metal and/or metal oxides in them than organic pads (which usually have a higher proportion of carbon-based compounds and/or ceramics).

 

[Marius in Africa]

Hi Nick

Which of the Goldfren brake pads are you using on the GS?

Regards

Marius

 

[Nick V]

Hi Marius!

2x G328 front, G106 rear.

Try Startline Accessories (across the road from the Full Throttle Clearance Store in Edenvale). They should still be R199 per set of two.

 

[Sooty09]

Just had my wifes F650GS MOTd, the tester asked if It had organic or sintered pads, Sintered was my reply and an MOT cert was issued with a caution. Pad thickness allowable is 1mm sintered 1.5mm organic.
New ones fitted when I got home and one thick pad added to the pile on my garage shelf.

 

[pistole]

my understanding is that "sintered" means that either aluminium/copper/brass flakes are embedded into the braking material.

 

[blues n twos]

I generally stick to OEM parts especially during warranty period. We all know how these bikes can sometimes throw a wobbly so don't want to give them an out.

For example... Excessive rear disc wear.... But sir, you are not using bmw brake pads. That will be £350 please

 

[pistole]

I generally stick to OEM parts especially during warranty period. We all know how these bikes can sometimes throw a wobbly so don't want to give them an out.

For example... Excessive rear disc wear.... But sir, you are not using bmw brake pads. That will be £350 please

good point , that

 

[FBF]

I called my BMW dealer as at 7800 miles the rear pads were down to 1.5mm. I was offered a new harder compound set at £65 or a set of K1600GT pads that were £41

They said the K1600 ones last well and they have been fitting them to R1200GS LC's for a while now

Well I fitted them today so can't really see why anyone would want to pay so much more for an identical set of pads.

So for those that don't already know the K1600GT rear pads are the same and much much cheaper

Jon

The pads on my GS LC were the K1600 variety and were worn out in under 3k miles and were replaced under warranty with a harder wearing variety.

In my case using K1600 pads would be a false economy when you factor in cost of pads and fitting.

 

[Paul S]

I generally stick to OEM parts especially during warranty period. We all know how these bikes can sometimes throw a wobbly so don't want to give them an out.

For example... Excessive rear disc wear.... But sir, you are not using bmw brake pads. That will be £350 please

Fit aftermarket pads -keep OEM Pads - if there is an issue refit used OEM pads before taking back to dealer - simple

 

[JJH]

I'd say it would be obvious that the wear on pads does not match wear on disk. They are not stupid. Jjh

 

[Paul S]

I'd say it would be obvious that the wear on pads does not match wear on disk. They are not stupid. Jjh

Really

 

[JJH]

Really

Well yes about the pads. My local dealer is not stupid. I can't speak for any others. Jjh

 

[tecman]

My bike went to dealer for 12k service and I was informed couple of hours later that my read pads are 2/3 worn and will not last till next service. I had them replaced at 2kmls ( approved bike delivery inspection) and on last service at 7k by BMW as good will gesture. This time they said that I can't get them replaced free of charge as I haven't paid for them before. It is silly that rear pads are going so quickly ( I do know about linked brakes, etc), I had front replaced on last service and rear ones are almost gone after 6kmls! It is definately wrong way round from my experienced with bikes...

 

[FBF]

The first set of rear pads on my K1600 lasted 6k mikes and second set lasted 10k miles.

K1600 pads on a GS only lasted 3K miles.

Could anyone who's more mechanically minded and has knowledge of the braking systems on these bikes shed some light on the possible reasons behind this weird phenomenon.

 

[JJH]

It's the same pad so it's either the disc or the way the system proportions the force between front and back or engine braking might play a part but from memory the gs has greater engine braking than the 1600 so that shouldn't matter. Jjh