Brake Pad Life

[ShinySideUp]

While doing my 6000 mile service, I noticed the internal rear brake pad had about 0.1 mm of pad remaining.

6K seems a bit soon for pad replacement? And, no, I don't ride the rear brake pedal.

In pursuit of greater pad life, I switched to sintered (HH) pads. After finding that BMW wants $84 for theirs, I went after-market: EBC pad No. FA363HH from http://www.cyclebrakes.com, on sale for $30.69.

Their salesperson said my rotor wouldn't be unduly worn by these pads. We'll see.

Anybody else having early pad failure? Causes? Remedies?

[taosports]

Bay Area Bill,

I replaced mine at 39,000 miles...the fronts are still in good shape. Like tire life, everyone will have different mileage but only 6,000 miles on a set of rear pads tells me something is not right.

[deilenberger]

Bay Area Bill,

I replaced mine at 39,000 miles...the fronts are still in good shape. Like tire life, everyone will have different mileage but only 6,000 miles on a set of rear pads tells me something is not right.

Michael - I suspect your 04 R1150R has different rear brakes than the R1200R..

Mine are still fine at 10,000 miles - probably 1/2 the pad material is left as best I can see.. but - I almost never use the foot brake, I let the integrated brakes take care of the proportioning for me.

[taosports]

Michael - I suspect your 04 R1150R has different rear brakes than the R1200R..

You're probably right right Don but still, a 6,000 mile lifespan for a set of brake pads tells me something is not right.

[hirsty]

Seems short to me too - my rears were 75% worn at my 12K service, whilst the fronts were only 25% worn... My bike isn't a 1200 either, but from the above it sounds like I don't go fast enough to warrant one!

Do you do a lot of town / slow riding? I steady the bike on the back brake a lot.

[NeilS]

I rented an R12R from California Motorcycle Rentals in San Diego a few weeks ago. They have a small fleet of them. When I returned the bike after 2700 miles, I mentioned the dirty rear wheel to the owner and asked him if "they all did that." His response was that BMW uses a very soft material in the rear brake pads and they wear very quickly.

Maybe they designed the rear brakes to last as long as the rear tire so you could replace both at the same time

[deilenberger]

I wondered about the brake dust on the back wheel - then someone commented to me - look at where the caliper is located. On the front wheel - the calipers are outside the wheel. On the rear wheel - the caliper is within the wheel so the dust has nowhere but on the wheel to go.

[ShinySideUp]

Do you do a lot of town / slow riding? I steady the bike on the back brake a lot.

Yes, San Francisco, hills and every intersection controlled. Also, fairly brisk rides on weekends.

But I rode the same routes with my Honda ST1100 (200 lbs. heavier) and, while the pads wore much faster than when I used to ride it on the freeways only commuting, they still lasted MUCH longer than 6K, about 3X if IIRC.

I'll be interested to see how the sintered pads affect the dusting of the rear rim. At least the dust color should match the rim color!

[8b]

I had read somewhere that this is totally normal. I started my bike the other day in the garage but didnt ride off. I noticed the light flashing, even after 5 minutes of idling. What makes it go off, do you need to hit a certain speed or gear? (I assume all this is normal, I cant find the thread on this known issue).
Any info to add on this for me?

[TAG-Caver]

Part of the ABS self diagnosis is the wheel sensor. According to the manual the bike must be going at least 3MPH(5KPH) for the self diagnosis to complete at which point the light should go out.

[yim4]

ShinySideUp, just had my 6k done and rear brake is at 40%. I believe the SF hills and controlled intersections are mostly to blame as I find I'm riding the rear brake sometimes on the down portions of those hills.

[ShinySideUp]

I think the hills are the culprit.

However, I now have about 2500 miles on the 3rd-party sintered pads and they look like new. WAY less dust on the rear rim too.

We'll see how the rotor holds up.

I'm also using Don E.'s tip of just using the front lever and let the system distribute the rear/front braking force. Rarely, in the rain mostly, I'll use the rear brake only, and, of course, to hold the bike when stopped on hills (which causes zero wear, to state the obvious!).

[mechanic savant]

Also have someone follow you on a day ride & make sure you aren't accidertally "resting" your boot edge on the brake pedal,one of the guys I ride w/does this ..also does a different pad compound alter abs performance or linked brake performance???I think many beemers spec. a different compound between abs & non-abs systems

[ShinySideUp]

Also have someone follow you on a day ride & make sure you aren't accidertally "resting" your boot edge on the brake pedal,one of the guys I ride w/does this ..also does a different pad compound alter abs performance or linked brake performance???I think many beemers spec. a different compound between abs & non-abs systems

Thanks, Savant, for the good question.

First, I'm very sure I don't rest my boot on the pedal. Checked many times after experiencing the short OEM pad life.

I never knew about the possibility of different pad specs for ABS/non-ABS. After doing some test panic stops and feeling the ABS kick in and stop the bike like, right now, I probly won't bother doing the homework to track down this issue. But if some other BMW techies know the answer, I'll surely have open ears.

[Bill Stevenson]

I am convinced that the rear brake pad life issue is unique to models built since 2002 that have integrated brakes. BMW has too much proportioning of the total force going to the rear brake. Personally I wish there was a viable way to go back to the separate control for front and rear brakes. My guess is that if they did that, the rear brake wear problem would disappear for all of us.

Mind you, this is just my opinion and the only data I have to back it up is my own anecdotal experience.

Regards,

Bill

[Lost Rider]

In pursuit of greater pad life, I switched to sintered (HH) pads. After finding that BMW wants $84 for theirs, I went after-market: EBC pad No. FA363HH from http://www.cyclebrakes.com, on sale for $30.69.

Their salesperson said my rotor wouldn't be unduly worn by these pads. We'll see.

?

Any updates on the performance of the EBC pad's?

While changing out my tires today I noticed that it's time to replace my front pads. At over 31,000 miles with the way I roll I think that the life of the OEM pads is good... but I am always looking to save some cash where I can.

According to the web site the 1200R uses the same pads as the R1150R... part # FA294HH
Is that right?

http://00a660c.netsolstores.com/index.a ... =GO&Page=1
-Joe

[ShinySideUp]

Joe -

So far, so good on the EBC HH pads. I see no appreciable wear on the EBC rear pads in the last 2500 miles.

I'm not sure about the stock number for the front, since I haven't replaced those yet. I think the best bet is to call the dealer and ask, since all I managed to find in my online research was an EBC .pdf file of applications that failed to list the R1200R, but the date on the chart is 2006.

[ShinySideUp]

Correction -

I found a later (2007) catalog on EBC's website here:

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/catalogues.html

The catalog lists this on page 71:

"R 1200 R Sport 06-07 FA294HH*"

This is the sintered pad for the front brakes.

[Lost Rider]

I found the same thing...


Good to hear I shouldn't be worried about ordering EBC pads....

I found them for 23.99 a pair online....
Not being able to find anything negative to be said about them I'm going to order a set tomorrow, but I'm going to call it in, just to talk to a sales rep and be sure....

Thanks

-Joe

[ShinySideUp]

Well, given how you ride, be sure to let us all know how they fare on the front.