Try to cut a long story short. I put new braided brake lines on at the weekend. I contaminated the brake pads with brake fluid I have a good solid lever, but not a lot of stopping power without trying the bend the brake lever. The disks are looking "well used" and quite deeply scored in places So, what are my options? Will the contamination wear away? Will I have to replace the pads? Where is the best place to get new disks and what brand? Genuine Honda is my first thought. Pads if needed I think I will get genuine Honda as they seem to be ok from what others have said on here. I don't do track days, but from time to time I do need to brake hard from "reasonable speeds" I don't need the best, but they are my life and I need them to be at least good. Your thoughts and opinion?
I can't comment on the disks without seeing them. If you've contaminated the pads then you need to change them as it will affect performance and soaks into the material and can cause it to breakdown and disintegrate over time (very dangerous). With the lines; confirm they are fitted correctly, theres no twists/obstructions and are bled correctly.
Confirmed the lines are fitted correctly, no twists or anything like, all bolted down where they should be but enough to have some movement. They were bled to within an inch of their life and the lever feels really good. Discs, I will have a look at later and try and get some pictures, not sure how well they will come out. Is it worth doing the caliper seals as the bike is 5 years old and has 8k on the clock and has clearly not been a dry weather only bike by some of the rust on some of the bolts. I personally think its worth doing them if I am doing pads and discs anyway, but have no idea if I would just be wasting time and money?
Disks don't look too bad and won't cause the issues to the extent you're talking about. If you don't have leaks, they're bled correctly and everything was working fine before you changed the fluid then it's likely to be the pads. to be sure though; remove the callipers and push the pistons back to see if they're moving smoothly.
There is no way you should have to replace the discs at 8000 miles - my pads last longer than that! If the pads are contaminated then definitely replace those. Make sure you thoroughly clean the discs before putting in the new pads. Pads are much cheaper than discs <£60 as opposed to £350+ (from what I can remember)
Yeah, I can get a pair of genuine Honda discs for £299, but would obviously prefer not to spend that sort of money if I don't have to. Brakes are well bled and firm, just ineffective and definitely no leaks. The pads are highly contaminated, my bad and I realised as soon as it happened. Great idea of removing the calipers and seeing if the seal move easily enough. I don't mind doing them, but again, don't want to waste time or money. If I can get away with some isopropanol and some new pads, then al is good I assume I am looking for one piston not moving while the others do??
Pads now paid for, pick them up in the morning, I have a LOAD of isopropanol so no worries there. So hopefully it can all be fixed for a little over £60. Thanks guys, saved me a fortune in time and money today
Hi Steves give the discs a good clean and get some sbs excel pads they are truly awesome way better than Honda's and a lot cheaper! I fitted Hel lines back and front last year also fitted sbs pads at the same time! What a difference I now have a lot more feel and way more power when I brake. It's night & day from the Honda set up.
He t He tells me this now after spending £65 on a new set of Honda pads, lol. If I had read this earlier, I would have got the SBS Excel ones, but its a bit late now I am afraid Next time
Make sure that you give the new pads a good spray with WD40 or similar, makes em lovely and quiet when braking for the first time. All you hear is the rider screaming. PS just in case, this was a joke and don't put WD40 anywhere near them. Phones lawyer just to check where i stand
Dam your quick mate there was only a couple of hours between our posts Awe well you can always get sbs next time I'll work on my ESP while you work on your brakes
