Squeeky brakes, starting to piss me off.

[TattooedRedHead]

Only 2400 miles on the bike and the front brakes are starting to squeek.

Pads are good and no rust on the rotors as she sleeps inside every night I treat my daughter well.

Any suggestions? Anything I can do short of replacing the pads as I look really foolish squeeking my way to a stop at a red light.

--Kory

[Calliway]

clean the dust off of them.

[bakwheeltango]

Originally Posted by Calliway

clean the dust off of them.

Calliway please elaborate... what do you use? just the discs?

[Calliway]

Brakes dust. When you apply them the charged particles stick ot your rims, your rotors and your pads. Most pads are slotted and champfered and people think that is for heat, which it is but the slots alos help channel any dust away from the pad surface.

For the rotors you can use CRC or Kleanflo Breakclean BUT don't get it on any painted surfaces and don't get it on the pads. The pads usually clean up ok with water but if you want to do a thurough job takes the pads off and use a soft metal bristeld brush to LIGHTLY rescuff the surface of the pads and get rid of that compacted burnt brake dust. If you dont have a metal bristle brush and I don't mean steal but bronze brushes you can get from welding supply stores you can use those nylon brushes that have stiff bristles and just brush the pads off. You just want to lightly do it. You can ruin pads this way as well.

Rotors should have a slight ruffness to them and not be polished. If they are polished your brakes will squeal and you need them resurfaced. If they arent warped you can do that with a 3M Red Roloc disk. You wont be removing any metal but you will be scratching the surface of the rotor and getting rid of any glazing that has appeared.

This is all extreme scenarios and after you have done any of this you need to let your brakes break in again for a little bit. You cant mess around with brakes.

After a good ride let your bike cool right down and use a little water to wash away the brake dust.

When you replace your pads make sure you go to a ceramic based compound. It lowers the dust, increases the stopping power, decreases the break in time and last longer.

It's brakes so don't go extreme with cleaning cuz you dont want to jeapordize the integrity of the pads so just go easy less is more here.

There are also break in sprays from Kleen Flo that help in the break in period and also cut down on glaszing which is one of the causes of squeals. That stuff you follow the directions. I cant remember if it goes on the pad of the rotor or both.

http://www.kleenflo.com/en/index.htm

Also make sure your caliper pins are lubed up with a brake specific lubricant.

[redonblack]

I had the same problem on a previous bike - a Honda hornet (forgive me... I now see the light). My problem was due to me being too soft on my brakes and they glazed up. Try doing ten or so HARD stops... It worked for me....

[mattigar]

I have an 06 Sprint with just over 3000 miles. Same problem. Dealer said to keep an eye on them and even apply softly on slow rides quiet them up. They still squeak.

[F4sSprintST]

Pull the pads and lightly sand them

[CLB]

I had the same problem. I was glazing the pads as mentioned earlier. I changed to the lower operating temp EBC pads. Same part number but without the HH suffix.

No more squeaking but it isn't all good. The softer pads tend to grab the holes in the discs as you roll to a stop. This causes some vibration or shudder that the stock pads didn't have. It probably isn't as obnoxious as the squealing. The alternative is cleaning the harder pads every couple thousand miles.

I would expect the sintered HH pads to be noisier than the Triumph pads. Anyone that knows better is more than welcome to correct me.

[MickSprint06]

I just use brake clean on the calipers and a good hose off with the jet spray afterwards (don't use WD-40 as someone claimed they did on a post I saw somwhere). This keeps them squeak free for a few thousand km.

[DaveM]

BUT,
I do change my tyres every 3000kms and clean my brakes with Motul brake clean.

I also use my brakes a lot and hard with only mountain riding.

DaveM