A little help, ladies and/or gents, if you will:

On the advice of a few here I purchased Lyndal Z pads for the front and rear of my '03 FXST.

Bike had a little over 10k miles on it and the old pads still had life left in them, no metal/metal contact.

Replacing the tires so decided to replace the brake pads at the same time. I did not have the rotor turned nor did I replace it because the old were not grinding; I roughed the rotor up a little bit with emery cloth, both sides, and buttoned it back up.

Took it easy for the first 80-100 miles and made sure no sudden stops, etc. to break them in - all quiet, no problems. Went to MB last wkend and while stuck in traffic on the way down, and for the rest of the time there and back, the fronts are now squealing badly on every stop.

They don't squeal with light pressure or heavy pressure, only medium-pressure stops and they will squeal every time with the brake in that position.

Took the front end down today and I cannot see anything obvious on either the face of the pads or on the rotor that would seemingly cause this kind of squealing on every stop.

Thoughts? Do I/should I have had the rotor turned? Should I have it replaced? Scuff the rotor up some more, scuff the pads and put a little bevel on the leading edges (didn't do that the first time) and try it again?

Interestingly I did the same treatment on the rear brakes and I have no problems with them.... of course the fronts see heavier duty.

Thanks in advance for any assist or input you can provide. [8D]

 

Hmmm. I've never had a problem with the pads squealing too much. And when they do squeal, I usually just attach a pressure blower to my compressor and blow all the crap away. The pads you bought are softer than stock Harley pads. I wonder if that has anything to do with it. You can buy commercial brake cleaner. I've never done it, and don't know if it would cause any safety issues. Let's hope someone out here has experienced the same thing with your type of pads.

 

With the Lyndall pads that shouldn't be a problem. I'd contact them and see what they have to say. they say their pads are quiet and mine sure are. Maybe they can help you trouble shoot. Good luck and let us know what you find out.

 

I had the same problem with the Lyndall Z pads. Stock pads never squeaked at all. It was worse when they were brand new, but they don't squeak that much anymore. Not enough to bother me anyway. Maybe you just need to let them break in?

 

SLO - I'd actually decided to do just that but first I wanted to tear the thing down and see what the pads and rotor looked like. Well, they looked fine.

Spoke with Lyndal, and they reminded me that with the brakes came a tech bulletin/instructions about working the pistons on the caliper, allowing them to come out more than usual by taking the caliper off and squeezing the brake until the pads met. At that time you spray the pistons down real good with brake cleaner and clean any debris that might be hanging up the pistons, even slightly, because they've found that if the pistons aren't operating smoothly within their bores, allowing the pads to contact the rotor evenly, apparently the squealing can be a harmonic that develops under medium brake until both pads do make full contact with the rotor (hard/firm braking, noise goes away). Apparently it's a known issue for them with the Harleys because the HD calipers/pistons do not have dust boots to keep the pistons clean inside their bores....this gunks them up and inhibits their smooth movement in/out when the brake is applied. The guy sounded absolutely sure that he knew what my problem was, especially after I said 'doesn't do it with light or hard pressure, but always, continuously, under medium pressure'.

Frank - This may or may not have been your problem originally, can't say for sure.

They did promise that if cleaning up the pistons as their documentation indicates doesn't solve the problem that they'd send me out a new pair. I'm happy with that kind of Customer care.

I did all the work tonight, bike is back together. I'll have to put ~100 miles on it again to see if the noise returns or if following their advice fixes the problem. I'll keep y'all advised...thanks again for your inputs. [8D]

 

did u clean the roters off ...before you put on the new pads.. I believe ya need to get rid of the old brakes material that was left on ur roters..

 

yes, I did...scuffed both sides of the rotor with emery cloth.

 

I have had the problem before. Go to Auto Zone or another auto parts store. They have blue brake lub that goes on the back side of the pad touching the caliper piston. Do not get it on the pad side. Works. Try it first before you try an expensive fix. Comes in small packets and costs around 30 cents.

 

UPDATE 05/29: Over the wkend I did the service that Lyndall suggested, making sure the pistons are exposed and cleaning them generously to make sure they apply as they should when the brake lever is pulled. No joy.....squeal is back in very short order.
Also just to put it out there I took emery cloth to the pads and took them down to new material on both sides and I also used a bench grinder to put a slight bevel on the leading edge of the brakes to eliminate the leading edge as the possible cause.

Per Lyndall they do not suggest replacing the rotor as a matter of course to install new brakes - unless the old pads were down to metal and damaged them, of course.

Lyndall is shipping me out a new set of pads (excellent service, two thumbs up) and some adhesive for the backs of the pads to the pistons. Paul/Lyndall has suggested I not use the adhesive first thing but instead try the new pads with everything else remaining the same to see if it is possible a bad pad(s) that is causing my problem.


I'll keep y'all updated, hope I'm not boring anyone.

 

See above, Jeff...I saw your input, thx.