Took off the front tire so i can get it changed and for kicks i checked the brake pads. This is what i saw.

Front Right Brake Caliper



Correct me if i'm wrong, but one of the pads is like totally gone, a few more miles and its non-existant. Does anybod know why one side would wear down and not the other.

The left one looks okey



The rotor on the side of the problematic brake pad looks funky, looks like only half of the rotor is making contact.



I bought this bike not too long ago and its full of surprises. Runs fantabulous, i love it but the prev owner didn't tell me, i didn't ask and i'm learning from my mistakes. Anyway, does it look like i just need to replace both brake pads on one side or is there other problems that i need to address?

Thanx for your help, you guys have been great in the past. One more thing, my front tire is wearing out kinda weird. Still has good tread on the sides but in some areas the tread is olmost entirely gone. Right there where the pointy thing is, the tread is olmost entirely gone. Its like that thruout the wheel. Would you guys ride on it?





Thanx again.
NOTE - tread worn way down in the middle, perfect on the sides. If i didn't know any better i'd call myself a squid.

 

Are your tired balanced?
Frame straight?
Rotors bent/wrapped?
Piston in calliber not engaging right?

 

You deff have a problem other than needing new pads there. I would start by taking the caliper off and checking to see that its operating properly.

 

your pistons look a bit dry to me mang...
remove the pads, clean off the pistons (i use brillow pad and sand them smooth. they should be black not all rust like yours, extend them one by one and lube them with high temp stuff if you can. this way the pistons slide in and out but the stuff doesn't fling or get off on your pads.

 

definitely get the rotor checked, and clean and check the caliper, replace pads and see what happens

 

It looks like the tire is worn right down the center. Aside from doing stoppies, it would take a lot of dead straight riding to wear it like that. Is it worn like that all of the way around?

 

Check to make sure the suspension is correct and balance on the forks, left and right have to match or you will get an uneven wear as well as uneven brake and rotor wear...

 

Thanx for your help. I'l deffinately look to see if there are any problems before sticking in new brake pads. I don't trust the tire, only reasone i mention it is the dealer guy said it still had some life in it. I do drive it straight, its 90% highway use, straight and fast.

 

The brake pad is worn like that because you have a piston sticking. That often happens when someone puts on new pads but doesn't full push the pistons back into the caliper. The seal gets a bit off and then the piston will stick and wear down one pad.

As far as the tire goes -- I'd change it. I do most of my miles on the super slab also but I've never worn down the middle before I cupped the sides

 

guaranteed you have a sticking piston in the caliper.. my favourite stuff you use to clean stuff up like that is scotch brite padds, they don't mar or scratch the surface, i would defintiely not use sandpaper... fine steel wool may work as well.. I don't think your brake rotor is damaged, but check the thickness of it, particularly the one that had the "good" brake pads on it since it was probably doing most of the effective braking.. I'm not sure on your bike, but if the caliper is supposed to be able to align itself by sliding back and forth on a pin.... i'd check that it is able to.. if it's solidly mounted, then it's the piston that's not working... or some combination of the above... i'm about to do my brake pads on my bike as well

if your tire is worn that way all the way around, I think it would be riding style that causes it.. if it's not worn the same all the way around, check for brake rotor thickness at several points around it's diameter, it could be that it's worn more on one half than the other, causing the brakes to apply mor epressure at one point than another, but this would be accompanied by a pulsating brake lever as well. it could also be an out of balance rim