Brake pad mistake

[PhilCod]

As we all know one of the great thing about this forum is learning how to fix things and do mods. As we all share our experiences we all learn more. Not every mod is for everyone, and there are lots of different styles in riding and trails we all take.

That being said I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit a mistake I made when it came to keeping up on maintenance and making sure my brake pads were okay. The nice thing about the HondaSXS forum, there doesn't seem to be that "one guy", or guys, that post crappy comments and make people feel stupid. Maybe that is because most of us are a little older.

My Talon has about 1,500 miles on her. Most of that is trail riding in VA/WV/KY. We ride pretty hard, on and off the gas, up and down hills and braking pretty hard. I hadn't used the paddle shifter much to down shift to slow going down a hill or out of a speed run. But that will change. On my last trip to VA/WV, the Talon had 1,250 miles to start. We rode about 250 miles on that 3 day trip. I could feel the brakes rubbing some. I thought okay the pads are getting worn time to change them. I used the paddle shifter a lot to slow down on that trip as I didn't want to ruin the rotors. Well, it was too late. I took off all 4 wheels and checked the pads. Each wheel had 1 pad worn all the way down and was eating the rotor. So lucky me, I got to buy 4 new rotors at about $140 EACH! The Honda brake pads aren't cheap either. I went with the EBC set as I have had good luck with EBC, and they sponsored a road race team I was a pit crew member for back in the late 80's/ early 90's. I put the new rotors on this morning and will put her back together the rest of the way today.

So learn from my mistake. Check your pads! I know many folks will get lots of miles on their pads as they ride on different terrain, use the paddle shifter more, and ride at different speeds. But if your a heavy trail rider, and you didn't or don't use your paddle shifter to downshift, you will want to keep and eye on those pads at around 1,000 miles.

Going forward I am using the paddle shifter a lot more. I'll probably just change the pads once a year. That is cheap insurance. A lot cheaper than the close to $800 I just spent on rotors and pads!!

 

[Killer223]

Interesting read for me,
Are you sure you don't have brakes sticking? not moving freely?
i have 5K miles on my talon and the pads are about 1/2 worn. lots of trails and some decent high speed runs here in AZ.
i wonder if there is another issue to make yours wear so fast.? mud?

 

[PaulF]

I swap tires often between dirt and paddles so I look at mine every time. 3500 miles on mine and they are sill like new. 2000 miles in the dunes and 1500 hard trail riding and some rock crawling. I downshift A LOT, and mostly only "tap" my brakes here and there. Even on steep hill descents, I can manage in lower gear and only tap the brakes to maintain a slower speed. The most I ever used my brakes was in Moab coming down Moab Rim. I was on the pedal almost the entire way down because it is steep, down hill rock crawling and you can only go a few MPH. Had me worried but the brakes never faded and when we got to the bottom, they were not even hot.

@PhilCod, I agree with @Killer223. Especially concerned about the part you said 1 pad on each was worn to the metal. If only 1 pad is wearing and the other is not, this is a sign that there is something wrong. But, if 1 pad is to the metal and the other is almost to the metal, this is normal. Can you clarify if both pads on each wheel were "almost" equally worn down but just one made it to metal or was 1 pad worn and the other not?

 

[TripleB]

Interesting read for me,
Are you sure you don't have brakes sticking? not moving freely?
i have 5K miles on my talon and the pads are about 1/2 worn. lots of trails and some decent high speed runs here in AZ.
i wonder if there is another issue to make yours wear so fast.? mud?

He said he rides VA/WV/KY so mud has gotta be the main factor. That and not down shifting.

 

[PhilCod]

Good input form both Paul and Killer. Totally agree with TripleB, TN has Brimstone/Windrock/ and TWRA trails, very similar to WV/Ky.
So a few answers and points
1. My pads were all worn evenly. The ones that had a little bit left on were under a 1/16 left
2. I don't go through mud holes intentionally, but a lot of the outlaw trails we ride there is no other option. We also ride down by the river and through the river over the summer.
3. The first time I used the paddle shifter as a brake was last weekend. Otherwise it's been hard braking. (thus hard $800 lesson!!)
4. I don't ride at home or on the roads. Its 95% trail, so I get very little "soft wear" on the brakes.

Paul and Killer are both out west where it is a lot more dry, so that has to help the life on your pads. When I rode ATV's we changed the pads about every 1,000 to 1,500 miles, so this seems normal to me, or our riding group.

It will be interesting to see the wear I get on these pads now that I use the paddle shifter. I'll update at the end of this year when I do my yearly tear down.

 

[PhilCod]

I dug some of the pads out of the trash and took some pictures. My fingers point to two of the pads that had some life left in them. They were on separate wheels. Also a picture of one of the new rotors vs. the old one.

 

[1950Willys]

If one side of brake pad is worn way down and other appears new the slide pins may be sticking. I had a rear one stick in braked position and wore pad down to metal on one ride.

 

[McCarthy]

Those rotors are fine. You can keep running them if you want.

 

[JACKAL]

I swap tires often between dirt and paddles so I look at mine every time. 3500 miles on mine and they are sill like new. 2000 miles in the dunes and 1500 hard trail riding and some rock crawling. I downshift A LOT, and mostly only "tap" my brakes here and there. Even on steep hill descents, I can manage in lower gear and only tap the brakes to maintain a slower speed. The most I ever used my brakes was in Moab coming down Moab Rim. I was on the pedal almost the entire way down because it is steep, down hill rock crawling and you can only go a few MPH. Had me worried but the brakes never faded and when we got to the bottom, they were not even hot.

@PhilCod, I agree with @Killer223. Especially concerned about the part you said 1 pad on each was worn to the metal. If only 1 pad is wearing and the other is not, this is a sign that there is something wrong. But, if 1 pad is to the metal and the other is almost to the metal, this is normal. Can you clarify if both pads on each wheel were "almost" equally worn down but just one made it to metal or was 1 pad worn and the other not?

Your pads should have little metal clips that are situated on the upper side of the inner pad. The clips are easily bent so that they contact the rotor and make noise as the pad wears down. I try and set mine where they will make contact with the rotor at about 80% wear. They typically make enough noise you can hear it before the pads are completely shot. I just put a set of EBCs on mine this week and they had the clips just like OEM.

Hope that helps avoid eating the rotors up again.

 

[PhilCod]

Those rotors are fine. You can keep running them if you want.

I think if you ran your fingers across them you may not feel that way. It doesn't matter now, all 4 new ones are installed.

 

[PhilCod]

Your pads should have little metal clips that are situated on the upper side of the inner pad. The clips are easily bent so that they contact the rotor and make noise as the pad wears down. I try and set mine where they will make contact with the rotor at about 80% wear. They typically make enough noise you can hear it before the pads are completely shot. I just put a set of EBCs on mine this week and they had the clips just like OEM.

Hope that helps avoid eating the rotors up again.

Yea the stock pads do have those clips, but for some reason I couldn't hear the warning screech when they got low. Could be I wasn't paying attention. Good info on the EBC pads. I should have those tomorrow and I'll put them in. As long as I like them I'll buy a 2nd set so I have them when needed.

I think the best thing that will come of this is what my pads look like in 6 months, or after my fall riding season. Now that I plan on using the paddle shifter to slow down more, maybe I'll get 2,000 miles out of the next set of pads. Honestly I'd be happy with 1,500.
I see you live in Pioneer. I'm sure we have ridden some of the same trails down there. I haven't been to Brimstone in over a year, I heard it was really torn up. I do like the TWRA trails.

 

[CID]

Thanks for the heads up, Phil. 👍

Up until this week, all my riding has been in Colorado; we have two trail types there, smooth gravel which would be great fun if it weren’t for being a high impact area so I keep my speeds down. The other is the rocky high country where speed is impossible. In both of those situations, I rarely use the brakes. Surprisingly, for whatever reason, I also don’t ‘paddle down’ much either as the DCT programming is spot on for me.

This past week in the Utah desert, however, Ive been using my brakes a LOT more - it’s much more open and speeds are dramatically increased. Most of the mileage has been easy, well groomed, twisty forest roads (without the forest), so much so that I’ve hooked up my quick disconnect sway bar for the first time since I’ve had this Talon.

Something I’ve learned - I get better downhill braking in 4WD. Since the rear axle is unweighted on steep downhills, I’m getting some tire skid if only in 2WD - I can’t feel it but braking increases noticeably when I engage 4WD.

fwiw: i got over 1000 miles on my Uni prefilter in Colorado before it needed cleaning (badly). I’m only at 600 miles here and it’s equally as filthy. Same solo riding, the one difference is that it’s been chilly and my windshield has been down a lot more so I’m back drafting the filter with my own dust.

 

[Montecresto]

As we all know one of the great thing about this forum is learning how to fix things and do mods. As we all share our experiences we all learn more. Not every mod is for everyone, and there are lots of different styles in riding and trails we all take.

That being said I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit a mistake I made when it came to keeping up on maintenance and making sure my brake pads were okay. The nice thing about the HondaSXS forum, there doesn't seem to be that "one guy", or guys, that post crappy comments and make people feel stupid. Maybe that is because most of us are a little older.

My Talon has about 1,500 miles on her. Most of that is trail riding in VA/WV/KY. We ride pretty hard, on and off the gas, up and down hills and braking pretty hard. I hadn't used the paddle shifter much to down shift to slow going down a hill or out of a speed run. But that will change. On my last trip to VA/WV, the Talon had 1,250 miles to start. We rode about 250 miles on that 3 day trip. I could feel the brakes rubbing some. I thought okay the pads are getting worn time to change them. I used the paddle shifter a lot to slow down on that trip as I didn't want to ruin the rotors. Well, it was too late. I took off all 4 wheels and checked the pads. Each wheel had 1 pad worn all the way down and was eating the rotor. So lucky me, I got to buy 4 new rotors at about $140 EACH! The Honda brake pads aren't cheap either. I went with the EBC set as I have had good luck with EBC, and they sponsored a road race team I was a pit crew member for back in the late 80's/ early 90's. I put the new rotors on this morning and will put her back together the rest of the way today.

So learn from my mistake. Check your pads! I know many folks will get lots of miles on their pads as they ride on different terrain, use the paddle shifter more, and ride at different speeds. But if your a heavy trail rider, and you didn't or don't use your paddle shifter to downshift, you will want to keep and eye on those pads at around 1,000 miles.

Going forward I am using the paddle shifter a lot more. I'll probably just change the pads once a year. That is cheap insurance. A lot cheaper than the close to $800 I just spent on rotors and pads!!

I’ve got the same mileage on mine, and I’ll be pulling the back wheels this week to install spacers. I’ll certainly be looking at those rotors. But 1500 miles seems not right for that much damage....🤔

 

[Enigma]

Nice call on the clips Jackal. I did not know that. I will need to check these in the future. Again, great piece of info.

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

I always use my cheap brakes and save my expensive transmission.

 

[Hometeam]

I always use my cheap brakes and save my expensive transmission.

Love your new picture next to your name!!! 🤣