Riding GFR#1 at Cadwell last Wednesday made me realise just how poor the front brake on recently acquired GFR#2 is. A quick look this afternoon reveals why. The pads are as awfully oily/greasy. Reason 1 is the slightly weeping fork oil seal above the caliper (being tied down on the trailer for 100 miles won't have helped). Reason 2 is that someone has put more copper grease on the back of the pads than I would butter a doorstep crust with (not that I eat coppaslip on bread, though I didn't use to rule out lard with salt and pepper). The pistons operate fine and the caliper will clean up easily with brake cleaner. So will Lucas brake cleaner be sufficient for the pads, or do I need to take more drastic action like simmering them in soapy water or suchlike? They are marked 'Frendo 222' and have plenty of meat on them, which makes me think they might be Brembo OEM as the bike is low mileage. They seem to be really sort of soaked and ingrained with oil IYSWIM. So one option (probably the best actually) is to get a new pair from Uncle Bob Wright, as the ones he supplied for GFR#2 work really well (can't remember what make). -- +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------+
That's certainly the recommended option, but if you were stuck in the Ouchback and simply had to clean them up I'd lob them in a degreaser tub and let them soak for a while, iiwy. I've had to do that with rear brake shoes, but never did it with front pads - wouldn't trust them after that, tbh. You never know what effect any chemical cleaner might have on the bonding agent of the pads to the backing or on the structure of the pad material. -- Dave GS850x2 XS650 SE6a Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the river cleaned out in a day.
Of course I mean supplied for GFR#1 (but you realised that). Ah! An excellent point. To be charitable I am wondering (now I know more of the machine's history) if a previous owner greased it up so copiously to go in to storage and the chap I acquired it from didn't realise. New pads it is then. I must confess to once re-bonding the linings of the shoes in the old SWM. Some kind of high tech( for the time) adhesive and a gentle cooking in the oven whilst clamped up with g-clamps was my strategy. For the rear brake of a hill climber it was sufficiently effective to satisfy the scrutineers. -- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Visit my Home Page : http://www.flarefox.com/Lesbordes | | "Do not adjust your mind - there is a fault in the reality" | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
I'd chuck them - degreasing them may remove superficial contamination but if they're really soaked you won't get all the crap out. Which you'll most likely notice when you really, really need the brakes to work at full capacity.
OK I'm convinced. Fortunately they are a very standard item and not composed of GFR unobtanium. -- +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------+
Heat with a blow lamp and clean with brake cleaner and repeat until clean. Works fine on the OE Brembo pads in the Guzzi's rear caliper - the ones that get soaked when the breather dumps the sump into the rear wheel.
Done the same with push bike pads that were contaminated. That said, it was just surface grease. If they were really soaked, I'd bin em.
Never had that problem on the Mille, but if it was the rear pads I would be happy experimenting with that method. As it is the front brake on a surprisingly quick two stroke I think I will bin them. -- +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------+
If after cleaning they work I'd keep them - if they don't then bin them. Obviously this is all subject to cost/effort analysis. I don't fret too much about brakes; so long as they work.
I had a go at car brake pads a long time ago; but in my defence it was my car and it was a 1965 Humber Sceptre: therefore parts were hard to come by when the shiny old shed was 16 years old. The pads were deeply slimed with brake fluid due to weeping seals, so I scrubbed them in a parts washer before drying them (until they smoked) with a gas torch, three times each. They worked very well after that, which is just as well as I'd only looked at them during the fitting of a 'half-race' Holbay Hunter GLS engine which had been dynoed at a breathtaking 125bhp. They worked very well, but in the same way as super-sticky race tyres work: briefly. When the graunch of metal on metal took the place of the usual FRNs, it had to be when approaching a Give Way, with a car approaching fast from the left. No retardation seemed to be available, so I moved the big yellow boot one pedal to the right and planted it there instead and shot out under the nose of the oncomer, the driver looking more than a little startled. I wouldn't do it again.
