Uneven brake wear

[dtrider]

Is it normal to have uneven wear on the front brake pads? When I did my post-ride check after our trip up the California coast I noticed that the brake pads were about done, so I ordered a new set. Went to install the new ones last night and I found that while the pair on the left side was almost all the way down to the wear indicator, the pair on the right side still had quite a bit left. Probably could have gone another 5-10K. I went ahead and changed them anyway just to keep them matched with the left side, but now I'm wondering if I should be concerned about the left side wearing faster than the right.

Bike is a 2012 with 28K miles on it.

/dwight

[peppilepew]

The left and right front brakes are on separate hydraulic circuits. Foot brake actuates one set and hand brake the other. Stands to reason that whichever brake system most often used will be worn more than the other. I believe the left is hand lever and right is foot pedal.

[dtrider]

Um, no. The foot pedal controls the rear brake, and the hand lever controls both front brakes. Both front brakes are on the same circuit. Since they are both applied at the same time by the same system I would have expected fairly similar wear. Maybe not 100% identical, but not this much difference either.

/dwight

[peppilepew]

Um, no. The foot pedal controls the rear brake, and the hand lever controls both front brakes. Both front brakes are on the same circuit. Since they are both applied at the same time by the same system I would have expected fairly similar wear. Maybe not 100% identical, but not this much difference either.

/dwight

There must be something wrong with the brakes on my 12. I just flushed the system. Foot pedal for the right caliper and hand brake for the left caliper. I better have it checked out.

[Happytrails]

I think there must be a joke in there someplace but it went right over my head Last I knew the 2012's had linked brakes like the rest of goldwings.

[dtrider]

Yes, but that just means that when you apply the front brake, some of the pressure is also directed to the rear brake. There is (or should be) a hydraulic line coming off the left front caliper that connects to the rear system. The rear brake is mostly controlled by the foot pedal. Even with that linkage though I would still expect the front brakes to be applied evenly, and thus have fairly even wear. Am I missing something there?
/dwight

[dtrider]

Ok, I think I found the answer, and it does explain what I thought was uneven wear. The GW has an "integrated" system, not just a linked system. Essentially all the calipers are tied together through a set of valves.

The hand lever applies pressure to two pistons of the right front caliper, and one piston of the left front caliper. The left caliper will rotate and apply pressure to the secondary master cylinder, which then applies pressure to two pistons on the rear caliper as well as the third piston of the right front caliper.

The foot pedal applies pressure to one piston of the rear caliper and through a delay valve to the front calipers.

The end result is smooth controlled breaking, and depending on which brake control (hand or foot) I use, could explain the uneven wear that I was seeing.

So I guess now my question is, did I need to replace the right side pads to keep the same as the left side or could I have let them go until they did get down to the wear indicator?

/dwight

[peppilepew]

Yes, but that just means that when you apply the front brake, some of the pressure is also directed to the rear brake. There is (or should be) a hydraulic line coming off the left front caliper that connects to the rear system. The rear brake is mostly controlled by the foot pedal. Even with that linkage though I would still expect the front brakes to be applied evenly, and thus have fairly even wear. Am I missing something there?
/dwight

no, your not. My left pads wear, the right side is like iron. I rarely use the foot pedal.

[peppilepew]

I think there must be a joke in there someplace but it went right over my head Last I knew the 2012's had linked brakes like the rest of goldwings.

I stand corrected. They all work together.

[gipsy42]

I will talk about this because I have them both; GL1000 have a separate, pedal commands single rear caliper; right lever front dual calipers.
All GL1500 have linked system, pedal commands rear,and left front calipers while right lever does right front right disk.

[dingdong]

Here is the "proportioning" brake system for the 1800. Found this at another site.

[Bugmerc]

While complicated, that's pretty impressive.