SuzukiSavage.com - Print Page

SuzukiSavage.com
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl
General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> OEM front pad life
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1204336350

Message started by steely on 02/29/08 at 17:52:29

Title: OEM front pad life
Post by steely on 02/29/08 at 17:52:29

Holy crap, I don't ride that hard (well, not sport bike hard), but the OEM pads I bought 6 months ago are already gone. This is over the winter. Granted, we don't have very hard winters here in OK. I ride at least once a week (on average) from November to April. However, I have put less than 5,000 miles on the Savage, since replacing the pads, and they are gone. I mean down-to-the-metal gone. I am trying the Vesrah pads this time. I have the EBC shoes for the rear that are going on soon (when I get the time to replace the rubber on both ends as well). If the Vesrah pads wear as quickly, I will have to give the EBC front pads a try.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by SavageDude on 02/29/08 at 20:59:05

Uhm! I think that's normal. Mine only have 1 mm of thickness left after 4,000 miles. 70% of braking power comes from front brake and look how tiny those brake pads are :o

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by Reelthing on 02/29/08 at 22:16:06

3000-5000 miles on the front oem pads isn't bad - you have several options - soft ebc organic to pretty hard sbs ceramic you can use - it only takes 5 minutes to change the pads (if you stop to drink a beer :) )

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by thumperclone on 03/01/08 at 00:26:31

riding style??more stop than go??
got 8600 miles on my 06 with original pads and shoes,have a pair of ebc been in the saddle bag since last spring...

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 03/01/08 at 01:01:34

5,000 on the stockers was all she wrote. Maybe the stoppies arent such a great idea?

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by stinger on 03/01/08 at 02:29:49

Greg changed mine after 14,000 miles. getting pretty worn

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by azjay on 03/01/08 at 05:06:41

over 9000 miles on ours, and dad locked up the front wheel during his DMV test a couple weeks ago, sadly he dumped the bike, stretched his knee, got a ride to the hospital in an ambulance, and didn't pass the test, because of it :'(. in summary, the origional front brakes still work just fine.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by steely on 03/01/08 at 07:15:25

Well, it sounds like I am not the only one to burn through them in under 5k miles. I am used to getting more out of a set of pads, but these are pretty thin. I will just have to check them more often. Most of my riding is in town on surface streets; so, a lot of stop and go.

The front brakes grabbed last night and locked the wheel. It dumped me ignominiously on the street. Nothing major broken on the Savage, nothing damaged on me (I love my leathers). The right peg is toast, so I am down for at least a week while waiting for that to come in from the dealer. On the bright side, this is now the perfect time to get new tires front and rear, since I can't ride it anyway.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by verslagen1 on 03/01/08 at 07:32:35

I changed to EBC red's (ceramic) awhile back.
Can't tell you life yet, but have 5k on them already.

But one noticeable effect, it takes more squeeze to stop.
And no squeal either. ;D

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by steely on 03/01/08 at 07:34:04

No squeal would be fantastic. I hate the way the stock pads squeal.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by TheFid on 03/01/08 at 07:35:42

Since I started using the back brake a lot more in conjuntion with the front one, i`ve found the front pads last longer.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by skrapiron on 03/01/08 at 08:31:19

I put the EBC golds on mine at 6k. I have put over 15,000 miles since and I still have about 30% pad left. (can you tell I do alot of freeway riding?)

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by vtail on 03/01/08 at 11:06:28

Part Number: EBC-FA106, $27.36 incl freight @ CruiserCustomising.com (888-302-9789) Yep replaced mine just before 5k miles ;)

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by bill67 on 03/01/08 at 11:40:26

I put the ebc on at 80 miles because the ones on it squealed the ebc are better than stock ones. Ive's had a lot of bikes over the years the only brakes that ever squealed was this one and my 1500 intruder.I don't no why that for years the bikes never squeal then the last 2 i have did.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by steely on 03/02/08 at 06:57:06

After checking the bike over, I feel like the front caliper may be sticking. That would explain the short pad life. I will be rebuilding the caliper this week.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by steely on 03/02/08 at 12:53:59

After getting both wheels off of the bike this morning, I was surprised to find that the rear brake shoes were in surprisingly good shape. Here are a few pictures of the old ones with a new one next to them for comparison. I am seriously debating whether or not I need to change these shoes out at this time. I may wait until fall. What do you guys think?

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4019/pics040xg8.th.jpg (http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pics040xg8.jpg)
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4913/pics041cd6.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pics041cd6.jpg)

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by verslagen1 on 03/02/08 at 13:10:55

Oh yeah, you got alot of life left in those.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by steely on 03/02/08 at 18:55:30

Cool, thanks verslagen. I was thinking so, but I don't have a lot of experience with MC drum brakes. I found out that my front fork had no pinch bolt in it to hold the front axle in place. I don't think it is an incredibly critical part; but while I am ordering, I will order one of those as well. Does anyone happen to know the bolt size on that pinch bolt? If so, any socket head cap screw should work.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by verslagen1 on 03/02/08 at 20:08:16

I really don't think MC's are that much different than cages. As long as you have some material, you're good to go. The only danger that I know of is if you have less than 1/16" of material it can crack and come off.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by DanGill on 03/04/08 at 06:59:01

I get about 4-5K on a set. But I commute on my bike and it's almost all in-town stop and go stuff.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by joebothehobo on 03/05/08 at 11:56:27

I feel like I hardly ever use the breaks at all except coming to a sudden stop on the freeway and going from the bottom of first gear to a stop light. Engine breaking is typically more than sufficient for most around town riding for me. Then again, its probably harder on the engine than clicking into neutral and braking down to a light so... probably just depends on your habits.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by steely on 03/05/08 at 18:37:57

I do use engine braking quite often. I believe that my problem is a sticky caliper. I have parts on order for a rebuild and then I will flush the entire system. I just got my wheels back today with the new rubber on them. I can't wait to get all of my parts in and start riding again. However, the weather is supposed to be really cold for the next few days, I may be able to get some wrench time in on Saturday...

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by Rockin_John on 03/05/08 at 22:01:46

Hey Steely, Who you getting to do your tire swapping locally? They doing computer spin balancing?

I've called the two small independent shops on Pine street: Ron's Cycleland; and Tulsa Cycle Supply, and they both seem reasonable. Just wondering if you've found another reasonable alternative?

Also stopped by the former "Farr's" on Admiral today, and it they've been bought out by "Action Cycle" out of Broken Arrow.

I'm overdue for some tires; and might as well get into the brakes and bearings while I'm tearing in.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by steely on 03/06/08 at 05:46:04

I have had Ron's put the tires on my GS850 and my Savage, I don't believe that they are using computer spin balancing though. They are reasonable and they have always been helpful when I am looking for old parts to modify my GS. They usually just let me go wander around in the back (where all of the used parts are) and find whatever I want.

I don't believe I have ever been to Tulsa Cycle Supply. It is a little too far east to be convenient for me. Huh, I didn't know that Farr's had been bought out.

Title: Re: OEM front pad life
Post by barry68v10 on 03/09/08 at 05:11:52

2E2B21262B302C212C2B262B440 wrote:

Using the engine to brake won't hurt it at all, as long as your not downshifting to do it...that will wear out the clutch more quickly. But, I wouldn't consider the clutch part of the engine. :-/