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04 F4i, about 15k miles.

I recently changed my front brake pads, and now there's a noticible brake shimmy.  Also, with the bike on a stand, there's a point in the wheel's rotation where the friction between the pad and the rotor is noticibly greater.  I suppose it's possible I some how managed to bend my rotors during the process, but I really don't think so.

So my questions are these:

Is there anything else that might cause brake shimmy besides a bent/warped rotor?
Would changing the pads make an existing brake shimmy more noticible?
Is there a way to determine true-ness of the rotors (or lack thereof) without a dial indicator?

thanks much!

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"I'm sorry our president is an idiot. I didn't vote for him."

B/Y 04 F4i - CW fender eliminator, Clear Alternatives signal integrator, Watsen Design LED front signals, Vortex frame sliders, LP dark smoke windscreen, Micron high mount CF exhaust, DG8 gear indicator, GPR stabilizer, Galfer SS brake lines, Öhlins PRCLS rear, PCIIIr, Custom map, Pazzo adjustable levers.

How many miles since the pad change? there is a break in period, in witch the pad seats to the rotor. The rotor will have micro grooves so to speak. Small enough not to notice, but you can freel break fade for the first day or so since the smooth pads ride on top of the ridges.  Just wonder if your not fully seated yet. My front pads are oem but on a stand there is a audible drag,  nothing to notice while riding other than a faint swishing noise from 15mph and under.

 

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CBR929-jardine race can, down 1, polished frame and swing arm,wheels polished, HELI bars, Sargent seat, Puig racing screen

commuting on a VLX600 shadow for now, 60MPG!!! I punched out the baffles, so it has that V-twin snap and crackle that made H/D so infamous. Except this little scute is rice powered!!lol

it's been 3 weeks.  this is more than just the negligible friction between rotors and pads when the brake is not engaged.

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"I'm sorry our president is an idiot. I didn't vote for him."

B/Y 04 F4i - CW fender eliminator, Clear Alternatives signal integrator, Watsen Design LED front signals, Vortex frame sliders, LP dark smoke windscreen, Micron high mount CF exhaust, DG8 gear indicator, GPR stabilizer, Galfer SS brake lines, Öhlins PRCLS rear, PCIIIr, Custom map, Pazzo adjustable levers.

How bad were the old pads? you probably didnt keep them did you? if they werent shot, i would be tempted to put them back on just to compare after the fact. did you change brands? lots of factors, I would get the rotors checked any way. just to see if they were warped

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CBR929-jardine race can, down 1, polished frame and swing arm,wheels polished, HELI bars, Sargent seat, Puig racing screen

commuting on a VLX600 shadow for now, 60MPG!!! I punched out the baffles, so it has that V-twin snap and crackle that made H/D so infamous. Except this little scute is rice powered!!lol

i went from stock to galfer.  they were pretty shot.  not quite metal to metal but perilously close.  i threw them away or else i'd definitely try your suggestion.  i'm gonna see if one of the autoparts stores around here will let me borrow/rent a dial indicator.

any one selling front rotors for an 04 f4i?  ;)

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"I'm sorry our president is an idiot. I didn't vote for him."

B/Y 04 F4i - CW fender eliminator, Clear Alternatives signal integrator, Watsen Design LED front signals, Vortex frame sliders, LP dark smoke windscreen, Micron high mount CF exhaust, DG8 gear indicator, GPR stabilizer, Galfer SS brake lines, Öhlins PRCLS rear, PCIIIr, Custom map, Pazzo adjustable levers.

What you could do is get a Sharpie, and draw lines/circles around the rotors, then with the front end up on a stand, spin the front wheel and see if the marker is cleaned off the rotor -all the way around the rotor in the same manner.

Were the pads worn evenly on all four?  (all of them had the same amount left before removing them?

Why do you think you could have bent the rotors after changing the pads?

Jeff

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My bike-2002 F4i-With OEM CCT......And no rattle
"Life would be boring if everyone was perfect"

first off, did u scrub your rotors clean before installing the new pads?? 

second and more important to this problem, did u give the caliper pistons a good scrub down as well??  w/ the pistons compressed more than previously due to thicker pads, they are prob not moving freely anymore when u let off the brake lever.  this would cause any slight warp in the rotor to be drastically noticeable and ruin your initial bite as well.  also, all that extra gunk in there is also going to destroy the piston seals, so the calipers may end up leaking. 

id give everything a nice cleaning first.  simple green and an old toothbrush go a long way on the caliper and scotchbrite and brake clean will take care of your rotors.  if the problem doesnt go away, rent a dial indicator... and im pretty sure ive got one F4i rotor lying around somewhere

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Naked 93' F2...... RIP -- 04/12/07
04' 600RR Black - currently stuck between track and street usage
- Brembo Master, Sato's, & Ohlins out back

It seems that the rotor is somehow not correct. Did you pull the tire off when you did the brakes if so did you put the spacer on the correct side. Now if you didn't pull the tire off while putting the Caliper back on did you force / Bend the calipter onto or off the rotor. If you did maybe you off centered the out piece of the rotor from the center. The rotors flot on those small rings of the disk. If you pull hard on the rotor you can feel it click back and forth, it maybe not centered. This is a long shot you may just have had a warped rotor and just didn't notice it.

 

Good luck

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01 CBR929 Erion "Hers" Full High EXT Yosh TRS, SS Undertail, PCIIIusb, Custom Map, Flapper Mod, PAIR Mod, GPR, Polished rims, Frame Sliders, SS Brake Lines.
01 CBR929 RR "His" -1 Front +2 Back, Full High EXT Yosh TRS, SS Undertail, Intergrated Tail light Blinkers, PCIIIusb, Custom Map, Flapper Mod, PAIR Mod, GPR, Polished rims, Frame Sliders, Speedo Healer, SS Brake Lines, Ohlins Forks The Bikes
Protect your Melon...Wear a helmet!!

I bought a dial indicator.  Couldn't find one to be rented.  The right side is out about 14 100ths, which I'm pretty sure is way outside of specs.  The left side is out about 3.5 100ths.  (I think it's 100ths.  Not 100% sure.)

I didn't clean the rotors or the calipers when installing the new pads.

I didn't remove the wheels at all to change the pads.

Now I'm looking for new rotors, and the ones I think I want are the EBC XC Contour series, but I can't find them anywhere except from one store in the UK: click

Anyone know where I can get a set of these in the US?

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"I'm sorry our president is an idiot. I didn't vote for him."

B/Y 04 F4i - CW fender eliminator, Clear Alternatives signal integrator, Watsen Design LED front signals, Vortex frame sliders, LP dark smoke windscreen, Micron high mount CF exhaust, DG8 gear indicator, GPR stabilizer, Galfer SS brake lines, Öhlins PRCLS rear, PCIIIr, Custom map, Pazzo adjustable levers.

most dial indicators can measure in 1000th of an inch.  there should be a decimal # usually in the center of the dial telling u wat the measurement is.  if its a really cheap dial indicator, maybe ull c a 0.01 or .01 meaning 100ths.  but u never kno.  14 - 100ths would be visible to the naked eye and would def cause a problem.  however, 14 - 1000ths is still within spec IIRC.   

p.s. - u should always clean/scrub rotors when installing new pads of a different compound than the ones previously used, ie OE to Galfer.  ure braking power suffers dramatically if u dont.  this can also increase brake drag too.  ask me how i kno

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Naked 93' F2...... RIP -- 04/12/07
04' 600RR Black - currently stuck between track and street usage
- Brembo Master, Sato's, & Ohlins out back

yep.  you're right.  it's in 1000ths.  so divide what i said by 10.

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"I'm sorry our president is an idiot. I didn't vote for him."

B/Y 04 F4i - CW fender eliminator, Clear Alternatives signal integrator, Watsen Design LED front signals, Vortex frame sliders, LP dark smoke windscreen, Micron high mount CF exhaust, DG8 gear indicator, GPR stabilizer, Galfer SS brake lines, Öhlins PRCLS rear, PCIIIr, Custom map, Pazzo adjustable levers.

  So what is the runnout?   Actually, when you set the indicator to 0, did it read  14 past the 0?  which means you had .014"  which is out of spec.  max runnout is .008" ( a human hair  has a thickness of  .002"  which will put the runout into perspective.)   BTW  if you  did have .140"  the wheel wouldn't rotate....LOL.

Jeff

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My bike-2002 F4i-With OEM CCT......And no rattle
"Life would be boring if everyone was perfect"

The runnout on one rotor was .0035 or so, and .014 on the other. ... I think.   Heh.

Keep in mind, I'm not a mechanic, and this is the first time I've used a dial indicator for anything.  Here's what I did.

I "mounted" the DI so that it was compressed slightly, and perpendicular to the rotor.  I didn't actually "zero" out the DI.  I just watched the high and low points as the wheel rotated and subtracted one from the other, and came up with 14 ticks.  For example, the DI might have said 35 at its "low" point, and then 49 at its "high" point.  I don't remember, and I can check later, but it might have been like .009 out and .005 in, or vice versa, where the majority of the time through the rotation of the wheel, the DI would have read near 0 (if i'd bothered to zero out the DI).

Hope this makes sense... ;)

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"I'm sorry our president is an idiot. I didn't vote for him."

B/Y 04 F4i - CW fender eliminator, Clear Alternatives signal integrator, Watsen Design LED front signals, Vortex frame sliders, LP dark smoke windscreen, Micron high mount CF exhaust, DG8 gear indicator, GPR stabilizer, Galfer SS brake lines, Öhlins PRCLS rear, PCIIIr, Custom map, Pazzo adjustable levers.

ure method sounds good.  i would 'zero' the DI and re-measure just to make sure u have an accurate measurement.  sounds like u need a new rotor though.  aftermarket setups are expensive, and u can easily buy straight used rotors... or theres a place in Anaheim that will straighten them for like 60$ each.  http://www.drjohnsmfs.com/ id call em before committing to spending 600$ on aftermarket rotors that will hardly be an upgrade.

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Naked 93' F2...... RIP -- 04/12/07
04' 600RR Black - currently stuck between track and street usage
- Brembo Master, Sato's, & Ohlins out back

yeah.  i've been scouring ebay, and there's lots of used oem rotors i could buy.  i know i can use any from an '01-'05 F4i.  But I'm wary, because I might just be buying another set of warped rotors.  Then there's the fact that i can always use a little more bling... ;)  unfortunately, the rotors i want, the EBC XC Contours can't be found anywhere.  if anyone knows where to get a pair of these, please let me know where. 

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"I'm sorry our president is an idiot. I didn't vote for him."

B/Y 04 F4i - CW fender eliminator, Clear Alternatives signal integrator, Watsen Design LED front signals, Vortex frame sliders, LP dark smoke windscreen, Micron high mount CF exhaust, DG8 gear indicator, GPR stabilizer, Galfer SS brake lines, Öhlins PRCLS rear, PCIIIr, Custom map, Pazzo adjustable levers.