Automotive Brake Discs are 8-12" in dia, generally 3/4" or so thick & vented to help rapidly disperse heat (one of the major wear factors) with the pads about 5-6" long & up to 3" wide, & they last maybe 100,000 mi if you are gentle & brake lightly most of the time..... many never achieve that sort of mileage!! :shocked:
Spyder brake discs are not quite the same overall dia albeit they aren't too much smaller, but they are significantly thinner & the swept area of the disc is only about 1/2 as wide at a max of around 1-1/2" wide, with pads that are about 3" long & 1-1/2" at their widest, so about 1/4 the same surface area; and while a Spyder is significantly lighter than most auoto's, we tend to ride them just a little 'harder' (even if you don't think you do, watch the traffic around you.... You generally accelerate a tad faster, brake a bit later, & stop a bit quicker - it's the nature of the beast!) And yet those brake discs & pads, with a swept area of something in the order of one quarter to one third that of the auto discs & pads plus the skinnier metal of the discs that means they get hotter & take longer to cool off & the lack of a fourth wheel to add to the total braking effort still manage to work at least twice as well (if not significantly more) as that of most auto brakes - so of course the pads wear quicker!!
Your Spyder brakes are bloody good brakes, they work well, they don't fade too much as they build up heat, they stop your Spyder significantly quicker'n most auto brakes (with bigger discs & a much bigger pad swept area) plus that extra wheel on the ground can manage, and they do it with less rubber on the road (hmm, that might be another reason our Spyder tires wear quicker) and less braking surfaces too!! So yeah, the pads will tend to wear out quicker, the discs will actually do the same, altho most Spyder Ryders will never work their brakes hard enough or long enough to hafta worry about that, & the tires that provide such an important (the
ONLY) contact with the road will too - but along the way you get miles more smiles & a whole lot more enjoyment & dare I suggest, excitement too?! :thumbup:
All that said, swapping the pads isn't a really hard task - here's a rough run-down from memory, so apologies if I've forgotten anything, but I'm sure some one'll pick any errors up quickly enough!
Beginning... once you've turned the ign off & got the front of the Spyder raised & the wheels are off, it's really just a few steps on a brake system that was designed for quick & easy pad changes!! Clean around & then Loosen the brake fluid reservoir caps (under the seat) & put a rag around/over them to catch any drips -that fluid is corrosive & you don't want it touching anything!! Later on, you do need to be careful not to overflow the brake fluid reservoirs when you push the pistons back to give you enough room to fit the new fatter pads into the gap, but it's not a biggie if you prepare now & are aware of it (some even use a small syringe to suck out a teaspoon or so of fluid first, then discard that removed fluid, & once the new pads are fitted, top up with fresh fluid!)
Back to the pointy end!! You can take the caliper off the disc if you want, there are a couple of bolts holding it in place, but it isn't essential, the brakes are designed to have quick pad changes done during racing without taking the caliper off the disc. Looking down on the caliper, there's a pin with a safety clip on the end clearly visible across the top of the caliper & the top of the pads; it holds the pads & the 'locator/tensioner' plate in the correct place so they sit in the right spot on the disc; take the safety clip out & then unscrew & remove the pin so you can then remove the locator/tensioner, but do take note of what way that tensioner thingy is fitted - get it the wrong way around when re-fitting & you are in trouble!!
And once that's done, it's a simple matter of grabbing each of the pads & pulling them both out, one at a time - use pointy pliers or similar to make it easy (can anyone remember if these pads/brakes have anti-squeal shims to worry about?? They are just thin metal plates that fit on the back side of the pad to stop noise - so if they are there, just take them off the old pads & fit them on the new pads) Then push the piston back into the caliper to give yourself room for the new pads (opening the pointy pliers in the gap between piston & disc is often enough, but you can get special tools to do this if you want); once the gap is big enough for 2 new pads & the disc, slip the new pads into place; fit the locator/tensioner across the top the right way around; screw the locking pin back in; re-fit the safety clip; then apply the brakes a few times to re-seat the piston& calipers on the pads & disc properly; top up the brake fluid if necessary; re-fit the wheels; drop the Spyder back on the ground & test ride!!
First time you do this it might take you an hour or even more, but the second time, once you have a basic idea of what you are doing, it generally takes much less!! Using the very same disc/pad design that your Spyder runs, race mechanics do pad changes, including removing/replacing the wheel, in about 30 seconds max!! That's from stopping the vehicle to getting it moving again!! So there's always gonna be someone out there who does it better & quicker than you, but hey, the satisfaction of doing something like this yourself is priceless!!
sorry for the saga, but hey, you asked!!
