A Noob Brake question

Hey all, New here and would appreciate any info you can give me. I have tried the brake squealing solutions here on the site. I have used the gasket maker silicon, the anti squeal disc brake spray, sanding both the pads and the rotor and they still shriek like a banshee with her finger caught in the door. I was wondering if any of have had luck with pads made of other materials such as kevlar and the organic pads and squeal.

the bike is a 76 kz 900

After several failures attempting to halt horrendous disc brake squeal using various other products and procedures, both KZ900 and Z1 front brakes have stayed mouse-quiet since using Permatex Copper Hi-Temp behind pads in conjunction with caliper overhauls.

This was a couple of years ago, fitted with whatever aftermarket pads (and caliper restro kits) Z1E had available at the time, and I can't make them squeal, wet, damp or dry, regardless of application pressure.

Had no success whatever with the typical thin watery automotive style anti-squeal products.

Ymmv, but for me, this was the Miracle Cure (see pic below).

Good Luck!

I use that Ultra Copper for everything, great stuff.

There is no cure, putting stop squeel will do nothing. All the stuff you've tried will do no good as you've found out. The only fix is to use a different brand pad and pray heavily. If they squeel, throw them in the trash and try another brand. Kind of expensive and rediculous. The dumbest thing is you can try 4 brands of brake pads and on the 4th try your prayers are answered, they don't squeel. A few years later the pads need replaced so you buy those exact same pads and people are running for cover at 100 yds from the squeel. I know I have a bad attitude on this, but I've been there, done that many times with these brakes. The only real fix is use Kawasaki pads, but they are NLA according to Kawasaki. It looks like we are not long for this world on KZs because they are discontinuing basically everything.

:laugh: :laugh:

I wonder if the actual solution is to understand what is making the noise.

I am not a harmonics engineer but is it the rotor being stroked by the pads and it resonating or the pads are being stroked by the rotor and are resonating.

So is it the pad material or is it a vibration set up by a rotor. I know by putting some kind of dampening material behind the pads it can reduce or eliminate the squeal. but maybe retorquing the rotors or having them refaced would also help.

also if the cylinder action is not real smooth and the piston does not return to a pressure neutral position. it will rub on the rotor. or not apply equal pressure on both sides of the rotor, that cant help the situation.

just tossing out musings of a sick and congested mind.

OregonMatt wrote:

Hey all, New here....

Hello, OregonMatt, and WELCOME to KZR!
We're glad you're here!

We could hear you coming! :laugh:

Good Luck!

Thanks for the advice. I am going to rebuild the caliper and get new pads. The copper stuff was the last thing I tried to no avail. The weather here has been great for riding and I don't really want to take the bike apart.

The other night I replaced the front pads on the 650. The OEM original pads were worn out and squeeling. I had bought an old set of EMGO pads a few years ago, and I'm sure these pads were from the 80's. Anyway I used the UltraCopper Permatex on the metal clip on the back (just to hold it in place as I installed it) and I have no squeel.

OregonMatt wrote:

Thanks for the advice. I am going to rebuild the caliper and get new pads. The copper stuff was the last thing I tried to no avail. The weather here has been great for riding and I don't really want to take the bike apart.

Perhaps already done, but I used the Permatex Copper behind both pads, and on the mating surface behind each pad, and had also scuffed both pads with sandpaper to remove any glaze, and also lightly wet-sanded the disc to remove any traces of whatever.

Good Luck!

RonKZ650 wrote:

There is no cure, putting stop squeel will do nothing. All the stuff you've tried will do no good as you've found out. The only fix is to use a different brand pad and pray heavily. If they squeel, throw them in the trash and try another brand. Kind of expensive and rediculous. The dumbest thing is you can try 4 brands of brake pads and on the 4th try your prayers are answered, they don't squeel. A few years later the pads need replaced so you buy those exact same pads and people are running for cover at 100 yds from the squeel. I know I have a bad attitude on this, but I've been there, done that many times with these brakes. The only real fix is use Kawasaki pads, but they are NLA according to Kawasaki. It looks like we are not long for this world on KZs because they are discontinuing basically everything.

ditto

PLUMMEN wrote:

RonKZ650 wrote:

[The world is ending]

ditto

So that explains why always point to and laugh at the guy alongside so everybody will think the noise is coming from him. :laugh: :laugh:

Smeller's the feller! :laugh: :laugh: