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[kphonik]

Zero is having trouble getting replacements to the dealer for the front brake pads of my brand new FX.

Anyone replaced theirs by chance and know what options I have on the aftermarket? It's been 2 weeks already and my patience is thinning every time I grab the front brake on my brand new bike.

[rayivers]

Do you know what pads are on there now? 

I don't know if this helps or not, but my '14 came with Nissin TT2508HH (very noisy), which I replaced w/Honda 45105-MY6-415 (Nissin TT2501HH, better), and now I'm running Yamaha 5XC-W0045-00-00 (Nissin TT2952HH) which are almost acceptable noise-wise.  All these pads have decent stopping power.

Ray

[kphonik]

While I'm perfectly happy tearing things apart I've never tinkered with disc brakes so I haven't looked at the pads myself. The dealer pulled them and immediately ordered a warranty replacement, but we're past the 2 week mark on that already. I absolutely need to get comfortable with servicing them so I'm not in this spot again.

By noise do you mean vibration moan? My current pads sound like the drum brakes on an old school bus. There's a good bit of feedback in the bars too I'm not sure if it's actually chatter or just high frequency vibration from the noise. I've never had this issue with brand new dry brakes - even on my larger adventure bikes that weigh twice as much.

I'd like to be able to get down on the front brakes with NO noise if possible :-) The model numbers you provided will help me with a place to get started!

[rayivers]

Yes, the moan - that's a good word for it.  On my FX it sounds like a combined resonance of the pads/rotor, caliper/pistons, forks, and hub/spokes (which give it that interesting reverb effect).

I'd never worked on disc brakes before I changed out the pads on the FX, but it was quite easy - unscrew the pad-pin cover, unscrew & remove the pin, slide out the old pads, then in with the new.  I watched a couple of YouTube videos first, of course.   I was very careful about not touching the front brake lever with the shoes out.

I'm working on - or with - the following solutions for the noise:

1) different pads, as mentioned
2) LocTite Disc Brake Quiet stick applicator for the backs of the pads (on the way; I'm not normally a fan of 'goop-based solutions', but hey, it if works...)
3) semi-floating caliper, w/thick Belleville washers under the bolt heads (using this now; it reduced the duration & intensity of the noise about 50%)
4) semi-floating rotor, using countersunk rotor bolt holes / Belleville washers / copper centering washers / thin locknuts (if above fails)
5) machining .020" off each side of rotor swept area (will probably combine with #4 above when the time comes)

Ray

[kphonik]

Wow that's a LOT of tinkering for a brake problem and probably a good bit farther than I should have to go on a brand new bike.

I don't recall the brakes moaning on the "natural sound" videos that Zero has published! I'm going to swing by Yamaha and pick up a pair of EBS pads to try out this weekend to see if that makes any difference while I wait for the dealer to get things straight with Zero.

A few compromises here and there are fine but they're going to have to make the brakes right one way or another.

[kphonik]

Anything about these look troublesome? There's a patch of what I first though was brake dust on the disc but it doesn't seem to want to come off - and then what looks like a well broken in surface on the pads. Not sure what they should look like at 300 miles though.

[rayivers]

Those parts look very different from mine when I replaced them, around 550 mi. Your pads appear to be breaking down at the edges, and possibly adhering to the rotor during braking.  My pads were evenly worn just a bit with very little dust, and the rotors had that normal 'machine shop' look on both sides with no deposits or discoloration.  I guess those are Nissin pads?

Hopefully at some point the FX will get a modern semi-floating front rotor like all the other Zeros have, instead of this 70's-era design.

Ray

[BenS]

One old trick to freshen up the surface of the pads is to rub them on some concrete. Have you tried brake-cleaner to clean the disc?

[kphonik]

Our local dealer was kind enough to swap the pads out with the FX on the floor while we wait for the replacements to arrive next week. I cleaned the rotor with denatured alcohol and installed the almost brand new set of pads and there's been a substantial improvement!

Unfortunately they still moan when the pads are cold. I would expect the pads to remain at some temp when the bike is moving but if I haven't gotten down on the front brakes in a few miles I'll still get a moan. Any chance my calipers aren't adjusted to rest on the rotor correctly during travel?

When "testing" the newer pads (higher speed then full front brake) the sound now goes away entirely and I can finally lift the back wheel up so I'm pretty sure the original pads had issues that go beyond the noise they generate - I don't think they were grabbing the rotor well?

[BenS]

The manufacturers say that "metal sintered" pads take a bit longer to warm up, but have "higher heat performance" compared to "organic" pads.