Tires & Brakes

[pontow]

Had a bit of an experience this past weekend. Wanted to pass it along in case it helps anybody.

2015 RTS SE6 with 15,190 miles. Decided to get rid of stock front tires (yes, they still had about 1/3 tread left, just don't like them) and went with Federal Formoza AZ01. Decided at the same time to change out brake pads since I ride back and forth to work in city traffic every day and on the weekends we almost always ride two up (a lot of work for the brakes). Here are a couple of things I ran in to that you might want to watch out for.

Tires: Most motorcycle tires have an arrow that shows proper rotation. The mechanic knows this and looks for the arrow to know how to properly mount them. Since the car tires are bi-directional (I believe), the mechanic didn't bother to look for any particular "rotation direction". By sheer chance, I noticed that the tires did indeed have an "Inside" and an "Outside" marking because upon closer inspection, the tread design is NOT fully symmetrical so it does make a difference which way they go on. And yes, the mechanic mounted one of them backwards. If you go to car tires, watch out for this. Point it out to whomever mounts your tires and then check it when they are done.

Brakes: I had looked at my brake pads and didn't think they were too bad but since I was taking the front wheels off for the tire change and would have the bike in the garage for about 6 weeks (medical thing), I decided to go ahead and throw in some brake pads. Once I got them all out and looked them over, I found that they were anywhere from 0.100" of pad left down to 0.040" (the bare minimum) of pad left. The lesson for me here was that a brake inspection isn't complete unless you can see both pads on all three wheels and the leading and trailing edges of each pad. If in doubt, change 'em out!!

[Fatcycledaddy]

19000 on mine and when I went to change the tires I checked the brakes.
I am where you are, lower than min on the rear and very close to min in the front, so they are getting changed.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I went 30,000 on my rear ( 2014 RT 1330 ) my left pad ( closest to the sprocket ) was worn considerably more than the right. Did you notice how your pads wore ?????? ............. Mike

[pontow]

I went 30,000 on my rear ( 2014 RT 1330 ) my left pad ( closest to the sprocket ) was worn considerably more than the right. Did you notice how your pads wore ?????? ............. Mike

Mike - No, I didn't take note of "front, rear, left, right" or anything but I did put them all together and took this picture. Maybe you can tell visually where each pad was by it's tang configuration.

Brakes.jpg

[Fatcycledaddy]

I went 30,000 on my rear ( 2014 RT 1330 ) my left pad ( closest to the sprocket ) was worn considerably more than the right. Did you notice how your pads wore ?????? ............. Mike

The brakes on my trailer were not working properly on the last trip, so I am saying the faster need for replacement was due to that.
Inside pad on the rear was worn just slightly more than the outside, about 1/2 of a millimeter more.
Front pads look to be very even also. I didn't mic those but all looked to be wearing very satisfactorily.
I just thought as long as I was changing tires I would change all of the brakes too. Purchased pads from Baja Ron, just waiting for them to get here. USPS said they would be here today by 3pm, now 5pm and not here yet.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Mike - No, I didn't take note of "front, rear, left, right" or anything but I did put them all together and took this picture. Maybe you can tell visually where each pad was by it's tang configuration.

Brakes.jpg

Thanks ... the middle set are rear, the bottom pad is the piston side and has not too much wear , the other has much more ( like mine did ) and I would say they were ( to be safe ) ready to be changed...Note: the lines in the pads not only help with the squeaking but are wear indicators. Of course I can't tell the front sets apart , but they are more evenly worn than the rear .... You can still easily see the three grooves in both sets ( I think you had about 10,000 left in the front pads - they wear slower than the rear pads ) ... Brake pads in general wear slower as they age ...ask Ron ....... I'm very glad to see the front pads wore more evenly ...they are harder to get to ....... Hope this helps you and others .... Mike

[Dudley]

I had 57,000 miles on the brake pads on all three wheels when I traded my 2010 RT SE5. Guess it depends on how one rides and where one rides.

[Chupaca]

On the tires...they come with markings (yellow dot or circle) which shiuld be aligned with the valve stem for better balancing. This is one of the reasons folks have balancing issues and go to all the weight systems out there. glad your all buttoned up and good to go...