2014 RTL brakes pulling to right

[Coolvirgo54]

Recently purchased a 2014 RT-L with low K's and in brilliant condition. Rode it home on Forrest highway 130km and it sat true and straight all the way. I was thinking I had misjudged the Kendas. (Fitted car tyres to our RT-S SE5 and it was a different bike). First ride 2-up with the guys on our back roads and it was all over the place. It also pulled to the right under hard braking initially and wobbled a bit from left to right which was really unnerving. Checked rotors and brake pads and toe-in. Toe-in was between between 0-1mm and pads were fine but noticed very light and fine scoring on both sides of all 3 rotors with the BRP pads. Rotors should be shiny on any vehicle. I lightly refinished the front rotors with coarse wet and dry on the lathe and put it back together and rode it. Better but still pulled to right a little and was unstable under heavy braking. Fitted new aftermarket pads and braked in a straight line but still unstable. Fitted Kumho 175/50 R15 (rear was already a car tyre)and immediately everything stabilised almost completely, sat on the road and cornered at speed with dead stable line on uneven paved surface. Rear of bike now did not feel good under heavy brakes but front was great. Replaced rear pads with same make as front and everything is now perfect and rotors are shining up. Braking effort is also much less. Looking at the BRP pads I noticed they were very hard with a lot of metal impregnation from manufacture. This probably explains the light radial scoring. So there were three things causing the braking instability. 1. The scoring of the rotors caused by the original pads being way too hard and abrasive. 2. The Kenda front tyres. 3. Uneven braking distribution between front and rear after fitting aftermarket front pads, until same sintered compound rear pads were fitted. I know from forums and posts on various pages quite a lot of people have experienced similar braking instability and replaced (and/or) rotors, pads, calipers and steering alignment chasing the problem. I wonder how many of those were simply pad compound and Kenda's. I also wonder if BRP used different pad manufacturers and there was a bad batch.

[Isopedella]

Good read. Ta.

What aftermarket pads did you fit?

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Recently purchased a 2014 RT-L with low K's and in brilliant condition. Rode it home on Forrest highway 130km and it sat true and straight all the way. I was thinking I had misjudged the Kendas. (Fitted car tyres to our RT-S SE5 and it was a different bike). First ride 2-up with the guys on our back roads and it was all over the place. It also pulled to the right under hard braking initially and wobbled a bit from left to right which was really unnerving. Checked rotors and brake pads and toe-in. Toe-in was between between 0-1mm and pads were fine but noticed very light and fine scoring on both sides of all 3 rotors with the BRP pads. Rotors should be shiny on any vehicle. I lightly refinished the front rotors with coarse wet and dry on the lathe and put it back together and rode it. Better but still pulled to right a little and was unstable under heavy braking. Fitted new aftermarket pads and braked in a straight line but still unstable. Fitted Kumho 175/50 R15 (rear was already a car tyre)and immediately everything stabilised almost completely, sat on the road and cornered at speed with dead stable line on uneven paved surface. Rear of bike now did not feel good under heavy brakes but front was great. Replaced rear pads with same make as front and everything is now perfect and rotors are shining up. Braking effort is also much less. Looking at the BRP pads I noticed they were very hard with a lot of metal impregnation from manufacture. This probably explains the light radial scoring. So there were three things causing the braking instability. 1. The scoring of the rotors caused by the original pads being way too hard and abrasive. 2. The Kenda front tyres. 3. Uneven braking distribution between front and rear after fitting aftermarket front pads, until same sintered compound rear pads were fitted. I know from forums and posts on various pages quite a lot of people have experienced similar braking instability and replaced (and/or) rotors, pads, calipers and steering alignment chasing the problem. I wonder how many of those were simply pad compound and Kenda's. I also wonder if BRP used different pad manufacturers and there was a bad batch.

Interesting - I haven't heard of OEM Pads causing scoring .... They aren't as good as the EBC pads Ron sells, but scoring - I don't think they did that ..... JMHO .... Mike

[Mikey]

No where in your post have you said if you have bled your brake system? You have hit all the bases and sounds like you have the old girl ready for a great time!!

[Coolvirgo54]

No where in your post have you said if you have bled your brake system? You have hit all the bases and sounds like you have the old girl ready for a great time!!

If there is any air in a braking system the pedal will "pump up". This wasn't happening. Also air in a system will not cause uneven braking as pressure, even inadequate, will be the same at each wheel pair, or front wheels in the spyders case.

[Coolvirgo54]

Interesting - I haven't heard of OEM Pads causing scoring .... They aren't as good as the EBC pads Ron sells, but scoring - I don't think they did that ..... JMHO .... Mike

I would agree but BRP don't manufacture pads and apparently, they use more than one manufacturer. I have never seen pads on any vehicle cause scoring like these nor have I seen so much metal in pad material. It was definitely the pads causing the scoring and pulling or new different pads would not have fixed the problem and polished up the rotors. Since others have experienced the problem, I am now convinced there was a batch of pads produced with the wrong compound and degree of sintering.

[Coolvirgo54]

Good read. Ta.

What aftermarket pads did you fit?

No-name brand pads from China. Before you say I'm crazy, be aware that most OEM bike and auto wear parts are made in China to OEM specs and are good quality. They choose to sell them direct for a variety of reasons. I have been sourcing parts for myself and others through AliExpress in China and also other countries for over a decade without issue at 10-25% of normal list price. An example is the purchase of lifters and a thermostat housing for an early Ford Explorer - list here AUD $2000 - from USA under AUD $400. Hyundai Sonata injectors AUD $1000+ here, AUD $47 from China - exactly same part down to the injection molding marks.

[Coolvirgo54]

Update. I have now replaced OEM pads on 5 different Spyders with sintered pads from China. In every case the rotors were dull and if you ran your fingernail across the rotor surface you could feel tiny radial score marks. Also, in every case the rotors now have the shiny surface they should have. Also, in every case the braking has improved very dramatically with far less pedal pressure required. A couple of these bikes, including ours, have done over 10K with these pads.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3296...Cquery_from%3A