hello guys. so i got an 04 f4i and recently had my tire changed along with rotors, an axle (it was bad) and brake pads few months earlier. after the job was done, with the engine off, i can hear and feel a form of grinding in the front wheel which is slowing me down. it was not like that before, even with the bad axle. is this normal? should i not worry about this? i wonder what could cause it, b/c as i've observed, nothing was in the way as far as brake lines go. everything was put back the way it was (at least i hope so lol). any help greatly appreciated.

 

How much is it slowing you down? It could be your brake pads making contact with the rotor. I know my pads touch slightly and make a light noise any time I'm moving, but it's by no means significantly slowing me down. I guess first check would to be to make sure that nothing is touching your rotors and to see if you have any space between your pads and rotor.

 

Check your pads.

Nothing should be slowing your wheel down. Put the front up on stands and spin the front wheel. It should spin freely. If not, listen closely to the sounds and see where it is coming from. When my pads were done for, I replaced them. Once i released the air pockets in the brake lines out, I noticied no more grinding. Could be an air in the brake line(s).

 

It seems it's the pads and rotors. How can I fix that? How do I release air pockets in the brake lines?

 

Well I'd start by making sure that your calipers are bolted on properly and centered. Is the pad on one side of each rotor dragging and the other one not at all? Check this for both pad/rotor sets. If this is the case, check the wear indicator on your pads to make sure that this hasn't worn it down too far past its safe usable amount of pad.

If you pop your calipers and pads off, you can also make sure there's no dirt or anything stuck in the brake piston causing the pads to be closed too far. You can also make sure that the pistons are properly actuating. If they are stuck, this is probably yet another reason why your brakes are dragging (which can probably be caused by air in the lines).

You also may want to bleed your brakes if you do believe there is air in the lines. I'm sure you can find tutorials on here by searching, and possibly in our F4i service manual. Here's a couple generic ones I had found some time ago.
http://www.motorcycle.com/how-to/dis...-tech-3437.htm
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/maintenance/brakes.htm

Even if you don't think there is air in the lines, if your fluid is old and pretty dirty, it's definitely something good to do for your bike.

 

Hmm, you said you had the parts changed a few months ago. Did this just start happening recently or since the parts have been changed?

In addition to checking pad weardown, check if its wearing out evenly, or some what even.

You can't always trust your dealers work 100%, I'd look over all the bolts and screws of the parts that were replaced, or even missing parts. Maybe a spacer or bearing for the axle that was replaced.

 

I've changed the brake pads like 2 months ago, but had the rotors, axle, and tire changed recently by a friend. The slowing did not happen so severely as now.

 

My guess would have to be the caliper pistons and/or piston seals. Or the retainer plate that is holding the brake pads. It sounds like the pads are not seperating from the rotors.

 

right.. i should take the brakes apart and see whats up. i'll do that now.

 

ok so i know for a fact that the brake mechanism is at fault. i took the calipers off and pressed the pistons in all the way, but that did not fix the problem. the wheel turns freely with calipers off. the honda manual says "check the brake fluid level in the brake master cylinder reservoir as this operation causes the level to rise." should i bleed the fluid a bit? as far as the caliper pistons go, i did not know there are some kind of piston seals... how should the retainer plate be positioned? perhaps i screwed that up when putting new brake pads in. from what i see, the pistons do not go back as, to my understanding, they should.