Rubbing front breaks

bignew

I had a flat tire and took it to the shop and got it fixed. When I picked it up I noticed a grinding at low speeds but it stopped when I applied the breaks. I took it back and got it adjusted same thing when I took it home. I took the bike in for 15,000 miles and got everything adjusted and like the adjustments but the breaks are still grinding slightly. Is this okay or am I just paranoid.

Breeze3at

Front or rear? Whichever, the pads always lightly touch the rotors, but you should not hear it with engine running.

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joel

Take a good look at the edge of the rotor, and carfully run your finger on it to feel for any burr, any new groves showing up? You can use fine steel wool to deglaze the rotor surface, if you have a screan looking cover over the brake pads on the caliper you can remove that and use a flash light to see if any of the mounting / anti rattle clips are touching the rotor, also look at how the caliper is centerd over the rotor to see if it is off set, may be the caliper or a mounting bolt is touching the rotor slightly. Some bake pads can make a soft swish sound that seems to go away when appling the brake. If it was the rear tire the caliper may not be reinstalled above the swing arm on it's mounting pad, though this would make a clunking sound

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AcidRayn

my 03 king drove me crazy with front brake noise till i put the floating rotors

on it. noise solved

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NEWHD74FAN

Grinding is BAD, a light swish sound is OK...I would look for something like disc pad backing plate rubbing against the rotor...brake pads rubbing against the rotor would not make a "Grinding noise". Look here for servicing the calipers:

http://www.hdtalking.com/brakes_tire...intenance.html

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hoggy25

This may sound funny but check and see if they might have put one of the pads facing the wrong way (especially on single piston pads). Sounds unlikely but I've known it to happen. It was a front tire check and make sure they got the right correct spacer on the correct side. Grinding means something's wrong and as stated above swish is fine.

biscuit

You need to talk to Jim B;he's after info on floating rotors.

bignew

I might characterize it as a light swish but I never noticed it until I got my tire changed. A friend put a square to the rotor and thought that it was off on one spot. The guy who repaired it will work with it until I am fine with it. Riding weather in NE Ohio is almost over for the year so it might have to wait until spring.

ATOM

I heard a different noise as well. It was making a chirping noise. HD mechanic told me I needed to add grease to the fittting's located on the side of the caliper. I thought the pads were getting warned.

NEWHD74FAN

Atom, be careful what you "lube"...the caliper pins should be lightly lubed with high temperature grease. You remove the access plug, and the socket headed pivot pin that retains the pads can be removed and checked for wear, cleaned and lubed during the service procedure outlined below to help you physically remove and inspect the pads and backing shims (keep all parts oriented as they come out), as the inner/outer pads/shims should be installed exactly as before if clean and reusable. I like using a paint stirring stick and paint scraper to work the pads and pistons back into the bores after cleaning the exposed pistons with a shoelace or similar.

http://www.hdtalking.com/brakes_tire...intenance.html

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