I have a lot of swoshing sound at low speed and a squeal when braking with the front.
It's a 04 road king custom. Bought the bike used last year,.. has a total of 5,500 miles.....the pads have plenty left but the front brake squeal is starting to annoy me. Would love to have a quiet front brake.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Replace the pads with Lyndall Z+ pads.

 

Appreciate it,..I will look into it.

 

The only think I can suggest is to go ahead and pull the caliper and clean up / inspect pads and lube pistons. You can scuff up the pads if they look glazed. Use a moly-based dry lube on the back of the pads to help dampen them.

 

Thanks clicker, yeah it seems like they do not fully retract and that is what the swooshing sound is.

 

As you apply and then release a disk brake, it will only back off until there is no more pressure. In other words there will always be a slight contact with the rotor. Unlike old drum brakes with brake shoe return springs.

You have a free floating calipar... make sure the slide is clean and as mentioned that the pistons are not binding due to dirt/rust and the like.

Charlie D.

 

The Dealer should have the moly lube in small packets (2010 catalogue) for about $4. Mine didn't know it was available.

 

Anyways, let us know how it works out and what ultimately turned out to be the culprit(s).

 

its gonna take a week or 2 before i have the time to look at it but i wiil repost asap with my results.
I appreciate all the responses.

 

As Click said, let us know what you find out. Like you I have an 04, just 7,000 miles. When rolling the bike around you will hear the rotor and pads scraping, but that I beleve to be just "contact". It doesn't bind at all. My buddy's 02 RKC does the same.

But after winter storage now, I get like a hum from the front brakes just before I stop. Pretty loud too, not a squeal. Getting embarrassing now