Being able to perform basic maintenance on a motorcycle is a very rewarding and useful skill, it will save you money, give you more time to ride the bike and allow you to become better acquainted with the state of your machine. This article explains how to perform perhaps one of the most common service procedure there is; changing the brake-pads. This task is very simple and do-able by anybody with some basic tools.A motorcycle dealership could charge you £120+ for the this service to be done by them, when it need only cost you the price of brake-pads, which for the sake of this article was £60, though that's for top-of-the-range race pads, both front and rear. It'll cost you about thirty or forty-five minutes of your time. Why not do it yourself? To complete this basic form of servicing, you will typically need the following for a sports-bike:
· Replacement brake pads (typically three packets, front & rear)
· 12mm (approx) Socket
· 5mm (approx) Hex-key
· Brake Cleaning spray product
· Dirty rag
· Pry-bar (not essential)Why should you change your pads? You should them because pads are just solid blocks designed to grip the discs and slow you down. These pads wear down over time and need replacing. What pads you choose to replace them with is up to you, though if you have performance in mind, then it may be of interest to have a look at pads which are 'sintered', or designed to withstand a higher operating temperature, and minimise fade.
You can pay anywhere from £30-200 for a set of brake-pads to cover the front and rear wheels. for normal road-riding, the stock pads are fine, with a common brand being EBC. The pads installed in this article are Carbone Lorraine SBK5's, race pads. Designed to withstand the abuse track riding puts on the brake system. Whatever bike you have, and whatever pads you choose, the procedure is basically the same.
When should you change your pads? When You should change your pads when they are wearing low and approaching the wear-marker. This is determined by looking at the disc and caliper. Put your head down to the center of the wheel, head-on to the bike and you'll be able to see the pads sitting either side of the discs. If the groove inbetween the pads is about to run-out, then you should change your pads.
If your brakes offer little stopping power and squeek a lot, then that means your pads have run out and the bare metal of the caliper pistons or brake-pad backing is gripping the disc. Not good; change your pads!
Step 1Raise the bike onto some paddock-stands, or centre-stand if you can. This helps gain access to the brake systme. It helps to have a mat as well to cusion yourself on, and some sunshine, though considering this is Britain, you might have to make do with a fleece and hot cup of tea.
With the bike on stands, identify the calipers. These are the gripping devices that sit on the discs and push the pads into the disc to slow the bike. You will first need to loosen the two small pins that hold the pads in. These are located at the outer edge of the calipers. This typically requires a hex-key. Do this now to make life easier later.
Step 2Undo the calipers from the fork-legs. This will typically require a 12mm socket and two bolts. When the bolts are out, being careful, remove the caliper from the disc. This may become tricky when the caliper is near the wheel edge. Just wiggle it about and you'll find out how to remove it. When it's removed, you can either let it gentle hang from the brake-hose, or support it with some string from your mirror. Be careful not to stress the hose.
At this point, you can also optionally check that the disc surfaces are free from corrosion and are within thickness tollerances. If there's any corrosion, a wire-brush can be used to get the surfaces clean. To check the thickness, you will need a caliper tool. I haven't got one, so can't show you any pictures in this guide. Your owners manual will tell you what the recommended thickness is, as over time, the discs will wear down, though this is a much slower process than it is for the pads.
Step 3With the caliper removed, you can now look at removing the current set of pads. Though before you do this, you'll be wanting to note the state of the caliper. At this point, they'll be filthy, as when the pads wear down, the material turns to brake-dust, which is like a coating of coal. The next task here is to observe how things sit.
Currently the distance between the two pads, where the disc fits, is wide enough for the spent pads, but when you put the new pads in, they'll be thicker and thus the distance between them will most likely not be wide enough to get the caliper back onto the disc. With this in mind, you should push the pads and pistons back into the caliper body. It's easiest to do this now, as you will most likely damage the spent pads. To do this, you can probably push the pads back using your hands, though if you can't, we recommend using a set of big grips with a sheet of packing cardboard to protect the caliper. Push them as far as they will go.
To remove the pads, you will need to remove the two (typically) retaining pins that hold the pads in at the top of the caliper. You've already loosened the bolts here, so just remove them and keep them to one side. When the pins are out, you will be able to pull the spent pads out.
Some pads have a thin metal backing piece. This is designed to help with heat transfer and cool the discs when they get very hot during heavy braking. Give these a clean and keep them to one side as they'll be re-used. Throw the old pads away, they're useless now.
Step 4With the pads removed, you've got a bare caliper. Now is a good time to clean off all the brake-dust that's accumilated over time. There's two ways to do this, depending on whether or not you have a piston-pusher or not. This is a small device that can push the pistons back into the caliper body. This would be used so that you could extend the pistons (four normally) in the caliper by pumping the brake lever. With the pistons extended, you could thoroughally clean the inside of the caliper, including the piston walls. Because the brakes are hydaulically powered, pushing them back in by hand would be extremely difficult, so only do this if you are sure you can push them back safely.
Don't worry if you only have basic tools, just get a spray-can of brake cleaner and soak the caliper in it, then get a rag and some water to clean it all off. This is probably the part you'll spend the most amount of time on. Be methodical, a build-up of brake dust can affect the smoothness of the brake system.
Step 5Get the new pads, put on any backing sheets that may have come off the old pads, and offer them into the caliper, see how they fit, then when you're sure they sit right, get the retaining pins and ensure they're clean. A lot of manufacters nowadays don't copper-grease parts like this, but most good mechanics will tell you they should be, to ensure a smooth operation and to minimise squeeking of the brakes. So if there's no grease on these, get some copper-grease and smear a small amount along their lengths.
Slide the retaining pins back into the caliper body, securing the pads in place. Do the pins up, but don't worry about them being tight, you won't have enough purchase on the caliper in your hand, we'll secure them later.
Step 6The pads are now changed, all that's left is to fit the calipers back to the fork leg. Offer the caliper back up to the disc, slide it on, and then secure it back in place with the caliper bolts. Ensure they're done up to the correct tightness. In the professional trade, this is called torquing to the specified amount. For most of us without expensive torque-wrenches, this means doing them up tight until they're secure, and a fraction more to lock them. These bolts should not be loose, be sure they are tight, they are the most safety-critical part of your bike!
Now the caliper is secured, tighten the retaining pins as well, as we only hand-tightened them before. When this is done, you've done one third of the brake pad change! Perform the exact same procedure for the other front caliper, and optionally the rear caliper as well, which is basically the same, except you have to remove the wheel to get access to the caliper, which can sometimes sit on a rail along the swing-arm.
ConclusionSo you've changed your pads, wonderful, you should feel very satisfied with yourself. Before you get on the bike and ride-away, remember to pump up the calipers by pumping the brake lever. At first it will be shockingly slack, needing pumping to push the calipers back into their ready-state.
Also, remember that brake-pads need breaking-in (get it?) carefully. Your pads need to be used slowly, lightly and progressively at first, to ensure they wear in nicely with the discs and allowed a chance to get up to their operating ideals. Just like tyres, they need running-in before they offer best performance. Use this period to make sure you've done everything properly. There's nothing more important on a bike than the brakes.
Check out the additional photos at the top of this article for step-by-step photos of what's involved!
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