Rear brake pads wear quicker than fronts - anyone else? Problem?

[Dmetcalf]

I noticed on my RT that the rear brake pads wear out a lot faster than the front pads and not only on mine but a buddies RT noticed on the rear pads one wears out quite a bit more than the other. Indicating that one pad could not be releasing as much as it should when the brakes are not engaged..? Are any of you experienced the same ..?

[Little Blue]

...My rear pads seem to be wearing down a little more than the fronts. Not sure why. Generally the front pads are the ones that wear more. This is my experience with the car and truck pads.

Always learning. ...... : )

Maybe BajaRon can give us his thoughts
on this....

[Mikey]

I think it has something to do with the way they have it valved to the rear more for a more stable stop, you would not want it to hit harder in the front you would stand it on its head and have a hard time steering threw it!!

[safecracker]

I am still on my original front brake pads on my 2011 RTS. I usually change rear pads every riding season. I ride two up 90% of the time. I have 90,000 miles on the Spyder. For me it is just the way it is. Brakes work great.

[larryd]

Remember you have 2 wheels braking on the front...I find that I replace the rear one twice to one set of fronts...larryd

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I am still on my original front brake pads on my 2011 RTS. I usually change rear pads every riding season. I ride two up 90% of the time. I have 90,000 miles on the Spyder. For me it is just the way it is. Brakes work great.

90,000 + mi. on front pads .... This has to be a record amount .... On my 14 RT I changed the rear pads at 30,000 mi. they wore evenly but were almost Toast at 30,000 ....the fronts went to 42,000 + and were at safe thickness, but I changed them anyway. .... I have noticed that Ron's EBC pads wear much better, I now have 36,000 + mi. on the rears and will check again after this riding season ..... good luck .... Mike .....

[pegasus1300]

Seems to be a characteristic of the Spyder. Mine have always worn 2 rears to one front. 2012 RTL WITH 69,539 miles.

[RayBJ]

My '20 RT ate the rear pads in less than 10k miles. one pad wore down to metal and scored the rotor. I replaced the rotor and pads with EBC parts. I suspect the caliper puck was sticking but after replacement & cleaning I've logged ~9k miles with normal wear.

[PaladinLV]

A CanAm is NOT an MC where the front provides the main braking power.

Additionally, You have twice as many pads in front (2 wheels) so given even equal power across the 3 wheels, the front would THEORETICALLY wear 1/2 of the rear over a specific period of time all things being equal.

AJ

[EdMat]

You would think weight transfer under braking would cause more wear on the front, but maybe that wide rear tire vs front and the amount of force applied to the caliper might have a say in that. Just thinking out load.

[Navydad]

OK, here's some of the scoop and this applies to a lot of big touring bikes. Heat and dirt are the enemy of brakes and most mechanical components. The front brakes live in an area that gets plenty of cooling air while riding down the road. They also get less dirt, grit, road grime, whatever you want to call it. Look at your bike and you can see the front calipers right there looking back at you. The rear brake lives in a nasty environment back under the saddlebags and pretty close to a hot exhaust. It doesn't get cooling air and it DOES get a lot of the dirt kicked up by the front wheels along with the crud kicked up by the rear wheel. DIRT and HEAT. You have no doubt noticed how the rear wheel seems to get dirtier much faster than the front wheels? Well, the same goes for the brakes. The extra dirt and heat on the rear contributes to the quicker wear as does to a degree the linked braking system on the big bikes including the Spyder. You live and work in a hot, dirty environment you wear quicker. On my bikes without linked brakes it wasn't as big an issue because I used the front brake more than the rear. On my bikes with linked brakes, Goldwing, BMW RT, and Triumph Trophy SE, etc it was an issue. Linked system, more heat and dirt equals quicker wear.

[BajaRon]

The rears will wear faster than the fronts. This is not as bad on the Brembo system used on the (2013+) Spyders. It is much worse on the Chinese system (2008-2012). The biggest reason is the Front to Rear bias. The rear brake comes on first and goes off last. This helps to stabilize the machine. So, in soft stops, stop and go, etc., the single rear pad is doing the lyon's share of the work. However, in hard or panic stops. The fronts do much more braking than the rear as there is a great deal of weight transfer, pad/rotor surface area and footprint with the pavement at the front.

But most people are not very hard on their Spyder/Ryker brakes. This tends to wear the rear faster. And the reason I recommend 'Bedding In' new pad sets. If you do not bed them in, it will take a long time with normal braking to cure the high performance EBC HH pad sets.