Front brake pads wont fit | GTAMotorcycle.com

Front brake pads wont fit

bigpoppa

bigpoppa

Well-known member
Got new front brake pads, removed old ones, replaced with new ones...everything looks good, i try to put the caliper on the disc and it just wont fit!

I know you have to push the pistons back, i tried to push as far as i can, and the gap got a tiny bit bigger(although some minute quantity of brake fluid started leaking from the 'master cylinder' at the top)

but the gap is still not wide enough for the thing to fit on the disc...the pistons arent really 'pushed in' they still stick out like 3/8"...

I can push one piston in all the way, but the other one just pops out, and vice versa, but i cant push both of them in entirely....which i suspect is whats causing this problem


I heard you can pull some brake fluid out of the master cylinder using an eye dropper or something and that should allow you to push the pistons back in..

Thoughts?
 
Take the cap off the brake fluid reservoir. If the fluid level is too high, suck some of it out and try again. Do it with the reservoir cap off, but keep an eye on the level so that it doesn't overflow.

Don't forget to spray the caliper pistons with brake cleaner to get as much of the accumulated crap off the pistons as you can.
 
As said above take the cap off and remove some fluid. If you try to push the pistons in witht he cap on and the fluid hits the top it won't let the pistons go any further.

Also put the old pads in and use something like a big screwdriver to push them apart to seat the pistons back in.
 
Yep, it worked, only thing is, a little bit of fluid did overflow (50 ml?)

I put the new pads on, everything fits in nicely, put the mastery cylinder cap back on, tested the new front brakes(without actually going on the road) and they seem to be working fine


The 50 ml overflow, is that something i should be worried about? I put the cap back on, and the fluid level still looks good


thanks
 
Brake fluid is great at removing paint and discolouring plastic.Rinse with soapy water...NOW!
 
Wingboy said:
Brake fluid is great at removing paint and discolouring plastic.Rinse with soapy water...NOW!
Click to expand...

x2, it makes great paint remover as some people find out the hard way.

As for what came out, don't worry about it - chances are a previous owner (assuming the bike was used?) noticed the fluid might have indicated low (which wouldn't be that abnormal with worn out pads) and topped it up. When you put new pads in and force the pistons back into their fully retracted position to make them fit that now unneeded fluid needs to go somewhere.
 
PrivatePilot said:
x2, it makes great paint remover as some people find out the hard way.

As for what came out, don't worry about it - chances are a previous owner (assuming the bike was used?) noticed the fluid might have indicated low (which wouldn't be that abnormal with worn out pads) and topped it up. When you put new pads in and force the pistons back into their fully retracted position to make them fit that now unneeded fluid needs to go somewhere.
Click to expand...


gotcha

The bike was used

I took it out for a quick ride (30 mins) the breaks seem to work fine(though i initially felt they lacked 'bite' but i strongly suspect was just my imagination) as the brakes did a decent job of stopping
 
bigpoppa said:
I took it out for a quick ride (30 mins) the breaks seem to work fine(though i initially felt they lacked 'bite' but i strongly suspect was just my imagination) as the brakes did a decent job of stopping
Click to expand...

It's not abnormal for brand new brake pads to not provide 100% stopping power right out of the gate. The more you drive it the more they will wear in, mirror any imperfections in the rotor, and their effectiveness will increase.

Making sure the rotor was clean after the job is important as well - any lubricants, grease etc etc on there needs to be removed otherwise it'll contaminate the new pads and can really hurt braking power - I'm trusting you made sure of that part. :)
 
I generally run a 100km bed in period. i.e. ride extra careful so you don't have to slam on the brakes. Ease them on and make varied speed applications as much as possible.
 
PrivatePilot said:
It's not abnormal for brand new brake pads to not provide 100% stopping power right out of the gate. The more you drive it the more they will wear in, mirror any imperfections in the rotor, and their effectiveness will increase.

Making sure the rotor was clean after the job is important as well - any lubricants, grease etc etc on there needs to be removed otherwise it'll contaminate the new pads and can really hurt braking power - I'm trusting you made sure of that part. :)
Click to expand...

Riceburner said:
I generally run a 100km bed in period. i.e. ride extra careful so you don't have to slam on the brakes. Ease them on and make varied speed applications as much as possible.
Click to expand...


Ah that makes sense.



I did make sure there was no grease or lubrication on the pads when i put them in, and just checked the rotor, its free of any lube/grease as well
 
The brakes seem to be working good now, only thing is they make an odd sound, another common theme with new brakes?

Almost like the old pentium processors while you used the computer...
 
Squeaking/squealing?

Did the original brake pads have any anti-rattle shims stuck to the back of them that were supposed to be transferred to the new pads? Did the calipers have any anti-rattle springs pushing against the edge of the pads? If so, did they get correctly re-installed?

A little bit of noise from brake pads can be normal.
 
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