Yesterday I heard a loud metallic click, click, click from the front brake as I was coming to a stop.  Repeated several times but not heard at higher speeds.  When I got home I saw the rotor was hitting something and getting marked here:



I took the caliper apart and the outer pad (piston side) was completely worn out.  A lug hanging down from the pad was marked, a corner was wearing away:



Do you think this is intended to be a final pad wear warning?  The piston side pad wears out first.  Intended or not, it works.  Another poster here reported the front rotor hitting in the same place and he too had badly worn out front pads.

I got over 24k miles from the OEM front pads on my 02 GS, gotta look into my riding habits.      3k miles from front pads is not acceptable, I was caught completely by surprise by their quick wear.

Hmmm....Same material as the pad backing???  Seems a little too dangerous from a liability standpoint to be an intended purpose   Isn't there usually a light aluminum peice angled to rub the rotor when the pad is on it's last legs   Maybe since the pad was worn out it had some play and slipped out of it's tracks allowing it to rub there

The brake pad should never contact the rotor buttons. Potential lock-up could occur. Sounds like you need to replace them soon, 'cause I know you will not slow down from riding.

Yup I was thinking lock-up or potentially shearing or loosening rotor bolts

gsjack you only got 3k out of them pads ? thats crazy . put it on the center stand and make sure that the back pad is not hanging . maybe you have a bad piston ? thats not going all the way back to where its suppose to so it just slightly pushing on the rotor and causes it to wear

Winter riding is hard on brakes and I used the 02 GS the past 2 winters, there's always something rusted together by spring.     But the pistons were not sticking, they pushed back in easy enough.  I had enough pistons sticking from pushing them back in dirty for new pads years ago and they just get tighter and tighter and eventually lock up the wheel.  I always pop the pistons out now and clean them up shinny when installing new pads.

Of course I didn't ride any further with that worn out pad, I was happy to get home without incident.  I've got a pile of worn out and almost worn out pads from 120k miles of GS riding and sorted thru them and found a decent one to put in.  One pin slider was hanging up a bit and the other was free, could have contributed to the faster wear of the piston pad if the inside one was not coming tight to the rotor.  I could then ride out in the country to Shade Tree and get a new set of pads to put in later this week, wife had the car for the day.

Front pad wear on this bike has been very disappointing but never this bad before considering that I clean everything up and make it good as new when I put new pads in.  Popping the pistons every time keeps the fluid fresh.  I looked at my service notes:

OEM pads replaced at 24.6k miles with
EBC Black pads that went 8k miles then
EBC HH pads that went 12k miles then
EBC Black pads that just went 3k miles.   

Just dug out my 97 GS notes:

OEM pads replaced at 16k miles with
EBC Black pads that went 27.7k miles then
EBC Black pads that went 16.3k miles then
EBC Black pads that went 17.5k miles then
EBC Black pads that are still on it at 80k miles

My rear pads have only lasted about 8-12k miles on both bikes. 

Geez, I used to get about 25-30k miles from front pads on my old single disc Hondas and replaced the fork oil soaked twin rotor pads on my 650 Nighthawk at 10k miles and they were still on it when I traded it in with about 60k on it.  Think I rode those old Hondas like a little old lady.   

+1 it shouldn't touch there.

My thoughts:

Incorrect brake pad size (maybe an order error),
Incorrectly fitted pads,

Less likely:

Incorrectly fitted caliper,
Warped disk.

"I always pop the pistons out now and clean them up shinny when installing new pads."

gsJack, could you elaborate on your procedure for installing new pads?  I have a new pair for the front coming Wed so I am curious.  By "pop the pistons out" do you mean extend them by squeezing the lever until the majority of the pistons can be cleaned, or do you actually dissassemble the caliper/piston assembly?

I have a strange wear mark appearing in my front rotor and a grinding sound from the front when braking.  Myself and others have not been able to see anything abnormal on the surface of the pads.  I hope new pads will resolve the problem.

Sorry for the thread hijcack but it is timely for me to read your comments about installing new pads.

Yes, I push the pistons out by stroking the brake lever.  It takes a few strokes and one piston usually goes ahead of the other.  I grab that one and hold it when it's almost out so the second one will push out.  I clean them up with those green kitchen pads, Scotchbrite I think they call it.

I start by unbolting the caliper from the fork and lifting it off, I don't take the brake line loose.  Then pull the pin at the trailing end of the pads and remove the pads and also the pinslider/mounting brkt to get it out of the way. Don't forget to remove the stainless anti-squeal shim from the back of the piston side pad and put it on the new pad.

After popping the pistons and cleaning them I hold the caliper with the piston bores open up and fill them to the seals with brake fluid and crack the bleeder screw open and then push the pistons all the way in.  The excess fluid will come out the bleeder into the oil drain pan below and then close the bleeder.  Doing it this way gets most of the air out making bleeding quicker and easier after caliper is back on.

Install pads, pad retainer pin with clip, and slider plate and put the caliper back on bike.  Then bleed brakes, I can reach brake lever with one hand and open bleeder with other to bleed brake so it's easy for one person to do it.

GSJack - drilled discs eat up brake pads. My maxim is on its original set at 24K and prolly will make it to 30K. The 89 GS I had gone through 3 sets of pads and 1 rotor at that time. Drilled rotors are harder on rotors too.
Cool.
Srinath.

OK, now update and true confessions time.      After putting a temporary thicker pad back in Sunday and going and getting a new set of pads, I went back yesterday and installed the new pads.  Found that one pin slider sticking again and it seems I put a little bit of grease on the slider pins last fall and the one at the trailing end is rubber bushed and grease has swelled the bushing a bit causing the sticking. I know better than that but don't always recall during senior moments.     

I removed the rubber bushing and may or may not go back and put a new one in.  Brake is working great and haven't heard it rattle yet without the rubber, took a good ride after job was done. 

Quote from: seshadri_srinath on May 08, 2007, 05:56:13 AM
GSJack - drilled discs eat up brake pads. My maxim is on its original set at 24K and prolly will make it to 30K. The 89 GS I had gone through 3 sets of pads and 1 rotor at that time. Drilled rotors are harder on rotors too.
Cool.
Srinath.

True Srinath and that could be part of the reason the GS pads don't last as long as the old Honda pads did with their solid discs.  Glad I looked up the pad life record I posted above, that last set of pads lasted much shorter time than all previous GS pads had.  Gotta pick up some of that high temp white brake grease that doesn't swell the rubber parts one of these days, if I can remember to get it.   

Quote from: gsJack on May 08, 2007, 05:41:54 AM
Yes, I push the pistons out by stroking the brake lever.  It takes a few strokes and one piston usually goes ahead of the other.  I grab that one and hold it when it's almost out so the second one will push out.  I clean them up with those green kitchen pads, Scotchbrite I think they call it.

I start by unbolting the caliper from the fork and lifting it off, I don't take the brake line loose.  Then pull the pin at the trailing end of the pads and remove the pads and also the pinslider/mounting brkt to get it out of the way. Don't forget to remove the stainless anti-squeal shim from the back of the piston side pad and put it on the new pad.

After popping the pistons and cleaning them I hold the caliper with the piston bores open up and fill them to the seals with brake fluid and crack the bleeder screw open and then push the pistons all the way in.  The excess fluid will come out the bleeder into the oil drain pan below and then close the bleeder.  Doing it this way gets most of the air out making bleeding quicker and easier after caliper is back on.

Install pads, pad retainer pin with clip, and slider plate and put the caliper back on bike.  Then bleed brakes, I can reach brake lever with one hand and open bleeder with other to bleed brake so it's easy for one person to do it.

Thanks for the info gsJack!