Got 19000 miles out of rear pads on my 2010 1200 adv. didn't like the price of o.e pads so fitted Ferodo .after 4000 miles including 2000 miles on trip to Spain pads almost down to metal. You pays your money and takes your choice.
Rear brake pads short life.
- Thread starter Bendy toy
- Start date
I do laugh at these "how long my brake pads last" topics without every mentioning how the bike is ridden.
If you commute, and do nothing else, I think you will be lucky to get 6000 miles with linked brakes. They seem to use the rear brake more than the front one. I have tried OEM, Brembo and Ferodo normal and sintered (I have been through a lots of rear pads in 60 000 miles) and the normal Ferodo ones do the job just fine.
My commute has changed in the last few years and I get about 8 miles of A-round every day along with a grind through London, gues what, my pads now last 10 00 miles.
I have recently switched to a 800GS without linked brakes, as I never use the rear I confidently predict I will get a 1 000 000 miles out of the rear pads
For reference I did get a seized caliper, pads lasted 80 miles!!! Beat that
Not sure your theory holds. The OEM pads i fitted wore down during a trip on open roads in about 3k miles, not around town.
Unlucky for me (sounds the same for you!) i do a lot of commuting in town, previous pads lasted ages. Now interested to see how the sintered Brembo pads do...and i paid my money as it were, so especially interested!
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Sold my 2008 non-ABS with original rear pads at 60k!
Bendy toy
Registered user
I thought my back brake must be binding as the disc was always quite warm (though never burnt to a crisp hot) though the fronts were cold. Nevertheless, I rebuilt the back clapper with new seals. The disc temperature didn't change.
Since buying the bike Ive done over 20K miles. 15K of largely long runs but they often included queue filtering so the brakes got used. The sintered pads lasted about 15K. For the last 5000 miles Ive done a lot more short runs at lower speeds and felt the back end felt over braked. So for reduced bite, I fitted OEM organic pads which have been shredded down to the metal in 4000 miles. Maybe less - I didn't keep an exact odometer reading. Obviously they chose to get noisy when I was 250 miles from home so I have shiny steel backing plates and some grooves in the disc.
Yes, I should have checked but the arses at BMW who design these quick wear brakes never thought to fit a caliper where you can actually see the pads without grovelling on the floor with a mirror. The rear brake calipers used on lower spec Yamahas really are rubbish but you can at least see the pads AND change them by simply pulling out the retaining pins.
On the BMW, you have to remember which way to drift the pin and then feck about finding a suitable pin punch. Only to find you've already removed the caliper, so have to put it back on again to drift out the pin. To be quite frank it's a w**k design with minimal thought for serviceability and even less thought about what riders need. BMW daddy bike designer knows best. Now there's a proper tosser. The tight fisted c**ts even chose to avid fitting a swivel hose bag so you have to twist the braided hose just to get sight of the pads and caliper pistons. Oh yes is well made and excellent quality but the design is still w**k.
Since buying the bike Ive done over 20K miles. 15K of largely long runs but they often included queue filtering so the brakes got used. The sintered pads lasted about 15K. For the last 5000 miles Ive done a lot more short runs at lower speeds and felt the back end felt over braked. So for reduced bite, I fitted OEM organic pads which have been shredded down to the metal in 4000 miles. Maybe less - I didn't keep an exact odometer reading. Obviously they chose to get noisy when I was 250 miles from home so I have shiny steel backing plates and some grooves in the disc.
Yes, I should have checked but the arses at BMW who design these quick wear brakes never thought to fit a caliper where you can actually see the pads without grovelling on the floor with a mirror. The rear brake calipers used on lower spec Yamahas really are rubbish but you can at least see the pads AND change them by simply pulling out the retaining pins.
On the BMW, you have to remember which way to drift the pin and then feck about finding a suitable pin punch. Only to find you've already removed the caliper, so have to put it back on again to drift out the pin. To be quite frank it's a w**k design with minimal thought for serviceability and even less thought about what riders need. BMW daddy bike designer knows best. Now there's a proper tosser. The tight fisted c**ts even chose to avid fitting a swivel hose bag so you have to twist the braided hose just to get sight of the pads and caliper pistons. Oh yes is well made and excellent quality but the design is still w**k.
JimVonBaden
Registered user
I do laugh at these "how long my brake pads last" topics without every mentioning how the bike is ridden.
If you commute, and do nothing else, I think you will be lucky to get 6000 miles with linked brakes. They seem to use the rear brake more than the front one. I have tried OEM, Brembo and Ferodo normal and sintered (I have been through a lots of rear pads in 60 000 miles) and the normal Ferodo ones do the job just fine.
My commute has changed in the last few years and I get about 8 miles of A-round every day along with a grind through London, gues what, my pads now last 10 00 miles.
I have recently switched to a 800GS without linked brakes, as I never use the rear I confidently predict I will get a 1 000 000 miles out of the rear pads
For reference I did get a seized caliper, pads lasted 80 miles!!! Beat that
There are many factors that effect brake life. I commute in heavy DC traffic daily, year round. My rear brakes last 30K miles. At 130K miles my fronts were half worn. That appears nothing near normal in the UK. How you ride, heavy on the rear (bad practice with linked brakes and totally not necessary), lots of stop-n-go traffic, hard braker instead of maintaining a reasonable distance, and many other factors such as brake pad material, brake rotor material, maintenance and weather even effect brake life.
Jim
I drift mine out with the same 2mm flathead screwdriver I use to help remove the electric sensor clips to the coils! I agree with you Bendy, a PITA but if you read the manual...it says you can see the wear rate by the top of the pin (3 grooves) -hard as hell when dirty and covered in brake dust! And if you can squeeze your head close enough you can look through the hole to see if you see daylight, at which point it needs changing..But you know this already...I use ferodo supplied by Steppers. Rear gets about 8000 miles. Fronts still on original I think..
Your experience of the OEM pads matches mine (except for the groves in the disc
- but in all honesty I could have done the same had I not checked during a clean up). I'd say 4000 miles and the were done.Reading the posts here it seems sintered pads are the answer....
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alex_rsa
Registered user
4000 miles on OEM and 6000 on sintered sounds about correct....for anyone who has not experianced commuting in London on a daily basis there is a reason brake pads do not last...
Riding consists of accelerating away from all the buses and trucks while weaving between cyclists and watching out for pedestrians and then braking 10 metres later as one of the above mentioned has done something unexpected. We all manage to get along and without (for the most part) incident but you literally fight for every metre and you are either accelerating or braking. A 10 mile commute takes nearly an hour and 30% of that is spent on the wrong side of the road.
Riding consists of accelerating away from all the buses and trucks while weaving between cyclists and watching out for pedestrians and then braking 10 metres later as one of the above mentioned has done something unexpected. We all manage to get along and without (for the most part) incident but you literally fight for every metre and you are either accelerating or braking. A 10 mile commute takes nearly an hour and 30% of that is spent on the wrong side of the road.
Weekday Rider
Registered user
Many years ago I parked my 1150GSA in the city center for an hour or two. When I rode off the rear break did not work at all. The OEM brake pad had separated from the metal while I was parked and fallen off? It still had plenty of life in it had it stayed on, as it should. I went strait to the dealer and told them what had happened and was sold a new set of pads with no apology for the poor quality of the OEM parts which I think should have been replaced free of charge. Anyway, at least they had the pads in stock so I was able to fit them and was back on the road half an hour later. Another reason why I now ride Honda's.
Bendy toy
Registered user
There are many factors that effect brake life. I commute in heavy DC traffic daily, year round. My rear brakes last 30K miles. At 130K miles my fronts were half worn. That appears nothing near normal in the UK. How you ride, heavy on the rear (bad practice with linked brakes and totally not necessary), lots of stop-n-go traffic, hard braker instead of maintaining a reasonable distance, and many other factors such as brake pad material, brake rotor material, maintenance and weather even effect brake life.
Jim
I agree totally that excessive use of the rear brake is bad practice. If I had non linked brakes my rear pads would last almost for ever. The Yamaha 900 would need a rear caliper overhaul every year probably in part due to lack of use apart from its poor build quality. Pad life was measured in how well they coped with salt getting between the friction material and backing plate.
I only use the rear brake pedal for holding the bike on hills or maybe during a full on panic stop. I like to maintain smooth progress so slamming on the anchors at every bend just isn't my style. In town the back brake gets minimal use because I stop with right foot down - UK road camber in my favour and no drain covers etc.
But the bike has linked brakes that automatically use the back whether I want it or not. The sinters give a better braking effort so I can now feel the bike dip every time I use the front brake lever. The bike is probably using more back brake than it does front. The rear disc is quite hot to the touch while the fronts are barely tepid. Short town runs don't help as I suspect it brakes harder at the back at low speeds.
I would love to find a way to reduce the level of automatic breaking at the back. Even better turn off the linking and rely on the pedal. I do like the ABS but having it chop in at the back (on wet roads) if I even touch the pedal is a sure sign the linked system is already using a lot of rear brake.
Double check the rear caliper slide. 1200GS noted for sticking. Have had this problem on both my GS and silly low miles pads. Changed to a stainless pin and good clean last lot of pads still plenty of life at 15000k and that's mostly loaded touring on some nice twisty roads
Been asked about where I got the pin. Here's link to ADVrider thread on subject. A bit old now but still worth a read..
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/2009-r1200gs-se-seized-rear-caliper.816543/#post-22502178
The links to better pictures in the post still ok but you may need to be registered to see them..
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