Front brake grabbing/binding

Heylerds

Heylerds

Well-known member
Front brake was grabbing/binding on my 01 F4i and it was time to replace the pads anyway so...

I replaced the brake pads with EBC and flushed the fluid, cleaned the calipers as well but the binding is still very noticeable after a few hundred kms of riding. Took out the pad and cleaned the calipers again but same thing, still grabbing.

Pushed the pistons by hand and a few were pretty hard to push in and some were easy enough. Does this mean it's time to rebuild the calipers? When you rebuild, do you have to replace the all the piston and dust seal?

Thanks.
 
Heylerds said:
Front brake was grabbing/binding on my 01 F4i and it was time to replace the pads anyway so...

I replaced the brake pads with EBC and flushed the fluid, cleaned the calipers as well but the binding is still very noticeable after a few hundred kms of riding. Took out the pad and cleaned the calipers again but same thing, still grabbing.

Pushed the pistons by hand and a few were pretty hard to push in and some were easy enough. Does this mean it's time to rebuild the calipers? When you rebuild, do you have to replace the all the piston and dust seal?

Thanks.
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Can you better describe this "binding"
 
djltoronto said:
Can you better describe this "binding"
Click to expand...

So basically the front wheel doesn't spin freely. If I push the bike with the engine off I can hear the brakes griping the rotors and when I put the front on a stand the wheel wont even spin one full rotation and I can hear the excessive noise from the caliper. Does that help? thanks.
 
Just out of curiosity, do you have aftermarket levers installed?... More specifically the ebay ones??
 
Are the caliper pins lubed and moving freely?
You may also have a caliper piston starting to seize up.
I have seen many times in car brake
lines guy crimping the brake line to avoid loosing brake fluid during repairs. This sometimes collapses the line internally.
The brakes will still apply due to pressure from the master, but in turn this will restrict fluid from returning in the line during brake release.
You didn't crimp line anywhere or it didn't crimp on the bike along the forks or anything?
 
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boooya said:
Are the caliper pins lubed and moving freely?
You may also have a caliper piston starting to seize up.
I have seen many times in car brake
lines guy crimping the brake line to avoid loosing brake fluid during repairs. This sometimes collapses the line internally.
The brakes will still apply due to pressure from the master, but in turn this will restrict fluid from returning in the line during brake release.
You didn't crimp line anywhere or it didn't crimp on the bike along the forks or anything?
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Pins are ok and I did check the line and I didn't see any crimping.
 
push the pistons out as far as possible (not too far of course) and get in there with some brake cleaner and q-tips. I'd also grease the slides for the pads. If your still having issues, sounds like the pison(s), how many miles on it?

EDIT: also, can you spin the wheel at all freely by hand? Just for reference, on my 08 CBR1000RR i can spin the front wheel around maybe once before the drag stops the wheel, but its always been like that
 
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JUST rebuild everything, calipers aren't hard to rebuild.

Are you SURE your rotors aren't warped?

PM ME...im more than happy to help out
 
JUST rebuild everything, calipers aren't hard to rebuild.

Are you SURE your rotors aren't warped?

PM ME...im more than happy to help out
 
smergy said:
push the pistons out as far as possible (not too far of course) and get in there with some brake cleaner and q-tips. I'd also grease the slides for the pads. If your still having issues, sounds like the pison(s), how many miles on it?

EDIT: also, can you spin the wheel at all freely by hand? Just for reference, on my 08 CBR1000RR i can spin the front wheel around maybe once before the drag stops the wheel, but its always been like that
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Bike have about 16K clicks. I can spin the wheel but it will do 1 rotation then it stops and you can hear the pads. I'll clean and lube the pistons and see how it goes.
 
frekeyguy said:
JUST rebuild everything, calipers aren't hard to rebuild.

Are you SURE your rotors aren't warped?

PM ME...im more than happy to help out
Click to expand...

I'm not really sure if the rotors are warped but I don't feel any vibration when I brake, any other way to check the rotors? I'll do one more trouble shooting and if it doesn't work then I'll contact you, thanks.
 
I would buy a set of seals. The bike is now 10 years old and it is a good practice to replace them when you clean/dismantle the calipers and pistons.

/rs
 
rsilk said:
I would buy a set of seals. The bike is now 10 years old and it is a good practice to replace them when you clean/dismantle the calipers and pistons.

/rs
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I am contemplating on doing this. Went to the dealer to price out what I'll need; piston, dust and joint seal only will be around $183 + tax :eek:. Searched the net and the cheapest I've seen is on eBay, around $85 all seals plus bleeder and banjo washers

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Nissin-4-pis...89?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item2567cd6981
 
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If you end up rebuilding the calipers, make sure you check the grooves in the caliper that receives the piston seals. I had an issue once where the calipers were hanging up and they were rebuilt. Pulled everything apart and found some corrosion in the grooves which compressed the seals against the piston causing the brakes to hang up. Cleaned them up and problem solved.
 
bubbaloo said:
If you end up rebuilding the calipers, make sure you check the grooves in the caliper that receives the piston seals. I had an issue once where the calipers were hanging up and they were rebuilt. Pulled everything apart and found some corrosion in the grooves which compressed the seals against the piston causing the brakes to hang up. Cleaned them up and problem solved.
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+1. Had the same problem. Corrosion in the groove caused excessive pressure of seals against pistons, preventing the pistons from retracting that miniscule amount necessary to properly free the rotor (there will always be some drag). It just happens with age and use. 10 year old bike; wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. Easy fix.
 
If you clean up your pistons and lube the pins etc .. and your sure the rotor isnt warped, next thing id check is your wheel bearings.
 
Ok, the rotors are warped.

So I took out the pads and spun the wheel, bearings are smooth. Not precise way of checking (I don't have precision tool) but I secured a flat screwdriver against the fork leg and the tip touching the rotor. Spun the wheel and I can eyeball the 'wave' on both rotors and it doesn't look good. The runout is about 1mm on the brake side and about .5mm on the clutch side and that's way over the tolerance, again not precise but good indication that the rotors are warped.

Any idea where to get rotors? I don't trust the rotors from China but I'll ask anyways, are they any good?

Thanks.
 
if your rotors are warped you would feel your brake lever pulseing when you aplied the brake, also rebleed your brake lines to be sure that your not compressing any air trapped in the system.
 
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