SuzukiSavage.com - Front Brake Pads

Beagle Full Member Offline 1998 Suzuki Savage Posts: 217 Ohio Gender:	Front Brake Pads 05/26/14 at 22:32:27 I see that there are a lot of brands, etc. of front brake pads. What's the big difference between them?
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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28771 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Front Brake Pads Reply #1 - 05/26/14 at 23:54:26 where you buy them from.
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Re: Front Brake Pads
Reply #2 - 05/27/14 at 00:31:58

Do you want Chinese, Taiwanese or British made? I looked at the falling apart front pads on mine (EBC FA106) the other day and couldn't believe they were EBCs. Pure junk, the edges all have razor thin shards peeling off of them. Buy whatever is cheap, the front caliper would have been state of the art in 1969... in 2014 it makes a decent paperweight. I'm already looking for another Suzuki Titan 500 or GT750 front drum for my 2003 to match the Titan drum on my 98.

Have your rotor drilled and chamfered regardless of what pads you plan to run. The stock front brake needs all the help it can get, it's really primitive...

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Re: Front Brake Pads
Reply #3 - 05/27/14 at 00:33:56

Mine came from Australia... cheap!...
They work great in reverse... Grin

..
Jus' kidding...

Type and brand are mostly a trade-off...
Longer lasting, will be weaker, or wear rotors faster...
Quieter, will wear pads faster...
Better braking, will wear faster, and eat rotors faster...

You are just balancing... time, vs. efficiency, vs. rotor, vs. pad...
No magic... just balance... Huh

...

I go organic... because pads are cheaper and easier to replace than rotors... and when I panic,...
I have have the grip strength of a gorilla...

No brag... just fear... Grin

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jgrandmont

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Re: Front Brake Pads
Reply #4 - 05/27/14 at 04:18:45

I just replaced mine (after only getting 5500 miles out of the originals!) with Sumo brand organics. So far, they seem okay, but I had trouble getting them to fit over the rotor. Luckily, my riding buddy works in a tool/machine shop and he ground them down a bit with a surface grinder. I would stay away from Sumos unless you want to do the same. Sad

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Re: Front Brake Pads
Reply #5 - 05/27/14 at 05:37:41

jgrandmont wrote on 05/27/14 at 04:18:45:

I just replaced mine (after only getting 5500 miles out of the originals!) with Sumo brand organics. So far, they seem okay, but I had trouble getting them to fit over the rotor. Luckily, my riding buddy works in a tool/machine shop and he ground them down a bit with a surface grinder. I would stay away from Sumos unless you want to do the same. Sad

Some ATV's use the same shape pad - but their pads are thicker when new. Not all suppliers/manufacturers know about the thickness difference and supply the thicker pads for our bikes.....and they have to be sanded/machined thinner to make them work.

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Beagle Full Member Offline 1998 Suzuki Savage Posts: 217 Ohio Gender:	Re: Front Brake Pads Reply #6 - 05/27/14 at 06:54:06 LOTS of good information from everyone. Thanks again all!
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Re: Front Brake Pads
Reply #7 - 05/27/14 at 07:11:59

A trick to use when you have bought some "too thick" pads is to buy just one set of the same stuff in the Savage standard "thin" thickness (once you figure out how to identify it that is).

Take a thick and a thin and they will just fit in your caliper (barely) and the caliper will auto adjust to accommodate them just fine. This causes no issues at all, actually. I have done this for the last 6 years with zero issues at all.

Put the thin on the fixed side (two arms) and the thick on the caliper side (circular caliper face). You can see the thin pad's thickness easily just by looking down the rotor so you can easily watch it wear totally out over the years. Your goal is to wear the thin pad totally out.

Once the thin is totally worn to the steel, the thick caliper side is now a thin and it moves to the 2 leg side. A new thick goes on top of the circular moving caliper.

When you run through all your thicks, the last factory thin goes into place to exactly balance out the last remaining ex-thick pad.

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engineer Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 872 Gender:	Re: Front Brake Pads Reply #8 - 05/27/14 at 07:52:27 EBC Organics worked fine for me.
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Re: Front Brake Pads
Reply #9 - 05/27/14 at 07:59:45

EBC has two colors, black and red.

I use the EBC red (they called them Kevlar back in the day, but the compound and the advertising have changed since then several times).

I believe the blacks are the standard organic and will last somewhat like a standard Suzuki pad, while the longer life / higher abuse taking reds will last a lot longer, eat your rotor relatively more and will actually require a little bit more lever pressure.

Your mileage will vary, as my 3 sets of pads were bought on close out for less than half price (and that was half the going price back then).

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Rembrandt Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 107 Peterborough, Ontario, Canada Gender:	Re: Front Brake Pads Reply #10 - 06/02/14 at 19:34:11 How many miles are you guys averaging on brakes?
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