Discs on fire

[pof]

Took the bike up to the petrol station last week after a few weeks. Felt a dragging, thought it might be down to doing something wrong when i put new cush drives in. When i got to station and checked over it ended up being the front end binding. I pumped the front brake to try and release it and seemed to work as i got to work with no more issues. Got home though and 1 disc was red hot again ffs. I take it its just a case of front wheel off and pads out and clean up pistons? Anything else it might be?

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[fast_ryan]

Front Brakes

Your best off removing the brake pads and giving the calipers and pistons a thorough clean. If you have the time it may also be worth removing the calipers entirely and giving them a complete service and then reassembling them. You will then need to bleed the brakes once you have refitted them to the bike. If your using new brake pads you may also want to give the brake discs a good clean.

 

[alex]

Non-removal process.
Toothbrush and brake cleaner required.
Take off only one caliper. resevoir cap off.
Take out the pads.
Stick something about 10mm wide between both sets of pistons so that they will grip that and not fall out the recesses. Pump the lever to get the pistons out, make sure none go past the end of the casting blob which holds the pad.
Liberally spray with brake cleaner.
Brush with tooth brush.
Rinse with brake cleaner.
Now comes the fun. Trying to get all 4 pots back in.
Everytime you push on one the other 3 may try to move. So lock a pair with the device used before and work on the 2 opposite each other. Ease both back in, out, in out. Until you're satisied they are at least not stuck.
Get all 4 pots back in - refit the caliper...before doing the other side.

 

[DL84]

I've had this twice now pof, this piston are **** if you use the bike in wet /salty weather they will bind and that's with regular cleaning I have just ordered another set of pistons and seals from rainbow bmw for this very reason.

 

[pof]

Ive done caliper refurbs before on the r1 infact i have the calipers apart as we speak cleaning pistons and fitting new dual carbons. I changed the pads on the beamer back in the summer (without taking calipers off). Maybe i should have done

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[DL84]

alex is spot on try that first mate, if they are like mine ie f@#king soild you will need to replace them

 

[soofsayer]

Took the bike up to the petrol station last week after a few weeks. Felt a dragging, thought it might be down to doing something wrong when i put new cush drives in. When i got to station and checked over it ended up being the front end binding. I pumped the front brake to try and release it and seemed to work as i got to work with no more issues. Got home though and 1 disc was red hot again ffs. I take it its just a case of front wheel off and pads out and clean up pistons? Anything else it might be?

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Thats the most likely remedy. You should be able to see and feel if the pad is binding before you start taking the calipers off, but based on your post, I'd give them a good clean anyway .

 

[pof]

Cheers guys, was just checking it wasnt something else other than crap building on the pistons

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[Gaffa22]

Spot on Alex
the only thing I would add is a quick spray of GT 85 to the pistons
i have serviced lots of bikes that are used through the winter and GT85 definitely helps to keep the pistons free

 

[bananaman]

Had this numerous times in the 5 yrs I had my gen 1. In the end, if I stripped it down the only way way was to fit new pistons and seals.
Just starting to get this on my '15...

 

[pof]

**** news

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[P0u1]

My calipers were binding, only done a thousand or so miles since buying the thing of bmw, took the calipers off and they were a mess, tooth brush and brake cleaner solved my problem.

Rain and gritters really play havoc on bike brakes!

 

[pof]

Agreed , never had a problem all year. Twice ive been out on the damp salty roads and "booom" caliper issues

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[roadrunner]

Best get 'em sorted pof, I think we've all had sticking/binding brakes at some time or other, but I've just watched a video on youtube where this lad was riding a dirt bike on the road, when the front wheel locked for no apparent reason and of course, he crashed! When he picked the bike up the wheel was still locked solid! Might have been brake or even wheel bearings, but it made me think I can tell you:subdued:

 

[roadrunner]

Whilst we're discussing Discs on fire.........I'd like to tell you a little story, as Max Bygraves used to say. (Who's Max Bygraves, I hear from some of you?..... only some, mind!:highly_amused
In my other life as a mechanic, I was taking a customers Ford Cargo truck for it's annual MOT. I had, had the vehicle steam cleaned (an MOT requirement) and had carried out all repairs necessary to enable it to pass it's test. My garage was situated in Hull, and the test station was in Beverley, a distance of some 7 miles or so. Now anyone who has worked on trucks will know that steam cleaning will soak the brake linings/shoes and will cause the brake drums and discs to get contaminated with crud and stuff, and will also rust quite badly! So to overcome this problem, I would drive along for a bit, on my way to the test station, applying the foot and hand brakes to generate heat to dry them out and to clean off any crap that had found it's way onto the linings. It had always worked a treat, until that day! So I was driving along, having finished my drying out procedure a few miles back, when I noticed a car behind me furiously flashing his headlights! This went on for maybe half a mile before I eventually pulled up to ask why he was flashing his lights, presumably at me?
He said you are on fire! do you want me to ring the fire brigade? I looked back to see that my near side rear wheel was on fire (obviously the brake) I told him not to bother as I would sort it. (God knows how) Then I remembered there was a hard hat in the cab (scaffolders truck) and luckily it was winter! I grabbed the hat, ran to a ditch along side the road and after two hats full I had the fire out! I thanked the car driver and thought that as I had come this far, I might as well carry on and at least have the MOT carried out to see if there was anything else, other than the brakes, it might fail on. It was obvious, right, that the truck was going to fail it's test! the rear brake disk was glowing red, the rubber bellows around the caliper pistons were like carbon and the pads smelled like burning clutch linings. Anyway I drove the last mile or so to the Ministry Test Station, presented the vehicle, and the bloody thing passed!!!
No kidding, this was a proper Ministry of Transport test station, so there was no back handers or fiddles. The smell of burning was unbelievable!
What this episode showed me, was that brakes can take a lot of abuse, more than you could ever imagine, and unbelievably, still work.
Obviously I didn't leave the brakes like that. When I got back to my workshop I tried to find out what had caused the the brake to catch fire but was unable to find the reason, though Ford Cargo's at that time, were well known for rear brakes binding. So I replaced the disc, the caliper and, as a precaution, the brake master cylinder.
OK...nothing to do with bikes, but I thought it was an interesting tail :apologetic: